Paying Bills

[Gail and Paul<P>GAIL and Paul<P>]

We have recently purchased our property in Lauraguel. 

We wanted to open a bank account but was asked for a utility bill etc. 

We have since received our first two bills water and electricity.

Any ideas how I can pay these bills without a cheque book?

My parents tried to pay them for us while staying at the house but cash was unacceptable.

Frustrated

 

 

[Dick Smith]

Firstly open a French bank account as soon as possible! Ours is based on our UK address (Credit Agricole Normand)

You could pay by credit transfer, but it will cost you dear. You may be able to write a cheque from your UK bank (I did that to buy my place - but that was Francs not Euros) and you will pay a bank charge. Remember that late payment can incur an extra charge - has anyone any direct experience of this?

When you have a French account you can pay by cheque or by RIB - direct debit.

[Guest CFrost]

Hi Gail and Paul

We opened our French account with the Credit Mutuel just after we purchased our property.  We took our passports etc and also the copy of the certificate from the notaire which says we had bought our house (which apparently you get until all the final papers six months after purchase). We didn't need a utility bill, but we had taken them from our house in the UK just in case!  We have used said certificate for proof of residence and ownership etc.  We paid our first bills by cheque, which we found was the only way and have set dd for remaining bills (it is a lot easier!)

Hope this helps

Kimberely

chadeniers 17

[moon]

We took copies of our passports and a copy of our french house insurance, for which we had paid in cash, that was all they needed at Credit Agricole.

Enjoy your home.

Bob

[Paulhogan]

Hi Gail and Paul

Not sure if you are in France or UK but we paid our first utility bills in La Poste. I seem to remember on the back of the bill are listed the methods of payment and one was over the counter at La Poste.

Hope this helps

Paul

[Audois]

The EDF/GDF you can pay over the counter at the post office.  In this area it depends if you are with SAUR, LYONNAIS DES EAUX or other as to where you can pay it and with what form of money.

 

Best to get an account open ASAP, try Credit Agricole or Banque Populaire in Limoux ... both are good but you will need some French!

[Will]

It depends whether it's a holiday home or a permanent residence. If a holiday home it's best to open a 'compte etranger' using your permanent address in another country. You still need evidence of identity and address to do this, because of international money laundering rules. It can be done from Britain via a service like Britline, or by visiting a bank branch in France. Statements, correspondence etc will be sent to your permanent address, which will avoid urgent or confidential correspondence sitting in your French mailbox for weeks at a time.

Otherwise, you can use your French address and open an account just like any French residents. You still need evidence of identity (e.g. passport etc) and address. For the latter, copies of utility bills are normal but for people in your situation a copy of the attestation which you receive from the notaire when you purchase the house, to prove that you are the owners, is even better.

A black mark to the bank where you tried opening an account for not knowing, or not telling you, this. Or maybe there were communication difficulties? I would try another bank if I was you.

Be aware that most French banks are organised on a regional, rather than national, basis, so do make sure your chosen bank is near you, because although other nearby banks may appear to have the same name you will not be able to use them for things like paying in money.

 

[Liz]

"Remember that late payment can incur an extra charge - has anyone any direct experience of this?"

Not much 'can' about it Dick, more like 'will'. We once put one of the thirds for the Tax bill on one side to post later and then forget about it. We then received a second bill which had a percentage added on. I can't remember how much it was but I know a friend has mentioned to me that 10% is added to any of the utility bills if you don't pay promptly, and they don't give you very long either. I don't know if it says anything on the actual bill as the payment slip with all the detail on is normally the bit that gets torn off and sent back.

Liz (29)

[Will]

We find that in general if there is a good reason for late payment - like bills being sent to a maison secondaire rather than the owner's British address - then utilities etc can be reasonably flexible if you (or you get somebody else to) phone them, in French, and make suitable apologies. It does, though, depend on the attitude of the official dealing with the matter. Once a late payment charge has been added to a bill it is difficult, to say the least, to get it removed.

We recently got a 'rappel' for a water bill that hadn't been paid on time, and there was no extra charge on that particular bill. In this case the reason that the bill hadn't been paid was that we have a prélèvement (direct debit) that the water company had overlooked. Phoning to ask why they hadn't used the prélèvement cleared the matter, though we still had to send a cheque immediately, and we would have definitely contested any surcharge as it was the water company's fault (but try getting a French official to agree with that).

[Ron Avery]

Glad to see admin keeping to the point........  anyway, how to pay bills

Once a bank account has been opened (and you have now been advised how this can be done without a utility bill), you can pay by cheque or at La Poste, or you can complete and sign the TIP which is at the bottom of the bill.  On receipt of the TIP, the utility company debits your bank account, or you can set up a prelevement ( standing order) by sending a Releve d'Intentite Bancaire (RIB) with the TIP form.  The bank will give you lots of RIB's   or you can print them off yourself if you have internet access to your French Bank.  CA is good for this.  Some of the luddites who don't trust Johnny Foreigner will caution against preleves but I think most people on here use them with no problems whatsoever.

[Will]

Sorry, must be me being stupid again, but I don't see why forum moderators should not attempt to answer questions (even those which go off at a tangent from the original post).

A word of caution - different water companies, EdF regions etc can have different payment arrangements. It isn't always possible to pay cash at post offices (often, but far from always, you can pay bills, particularly water bills, at a Trésor Public as well). What is certain is that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to pay bils and run a house in France without a cheque account.

And the French prélèvement system works very similarly, with similar safeguards, to the British direct debit system so there is no need to be too worried. The main danger for holiday home owners is with postal delays which mean you may not have time to prevent an erroneous prélèvement being taken. At the risk of again being accused of not keeping to the point, a friend of ours had an electricity bill for several thousand euros a little while ago, and we had to check this and stop it being taken. But banks are aware of situations like that and you certainly would not get blacklisted for going overdrawn after a dodgy prélèvement.

[Tourangelle]

I once didn't pay a France telecom bill, we lost it, and we realised after about a month that it hadn't come off. We rang FT and they said no problem it'll just be added on the next one. I was really surprised, and although I wouldn't recommend not paying bills, I was surprised at how accomodating they were.

Certainly my half French household does not go in for direct debit, I don't think it is such a widespread thing here, as you can pay by TIP easily, which is a good compromise, you don't have to write a cheque, but you chose when you send it. Unless you don't send it at all of course.

[Julie & Steve]

Hi

We had exactly the same problem recently and had to ask a fluent French speaking friend to phone and she paid it using her credit card!  Now we have a cheque book etc. with Britline (Credit Agricole) but even thought its 'Britline' its not easy to understand, all the bills and statements are in French.  However there is a phone line where they speak English (think its a call centre in India actually).  It took ages to open the account however.

I know its our fault for not speaking French, we are learning but its very difficult at first.

 

[Gail and Paul<P>GAIL and Paul<P>]

:Thank you for all your help and advice.  It is very difficult sometimes because of the language barrier,