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Catch 22--Long term Let and French Bank Account


terdancamlog
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Greetings,

We are looking for a long term rent around the Limoges area to settle the kids in school before a permanent move, post summer 2010.

This will also provide a base of operations for property searching hopefully bypassing the need try and cram in viewings over long weekends!

I will still be working in the UK and travelling back probably every other w/e.

We are currently renting in the UK, after having downsized quite massively!

Been a subsriber to the mag for over a year now and unfortunatley i`ve not seen anything about how we actually open a french bank account from the UK!

I may have course of missed it.... :P

I`m under the impression that we need a bank account to rent, but we can't open a bank account unless we have an address in FRance--hence the catch 22.

I`m almost fearful of the answer, but i`d appreciate some help, a magazine feature or pointing in the right direction!

Thanks in advance

Dan
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You do not need to have an address in France to open a French Bank account: however you will need proof of AN address, (eg in the UK) by means of utility bills etc.

You can walk into a bank in France and open an account, so long as you have ID and proof of address, inside leg measurement, etc. It would be a good idea to have the account in a bank branch that is local to where you intend to buy - SocGen for example charges you if you pay money into the account at a branch which is not the home branch of the account..

Regards

Pickles

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MAny thnaks for the advice and the welcome.

I`ve seen the CA branches in places like La Chatre in Indre, so they seem to be very widespread.

Given that banking in France has a lot more charges than the UK, i have another question.

I`m under the impression that banks like "history", but i`m wondering whether it is worth opening an online account now and suffering a few charges for, say, a year, or whether there is no benefit in that and simply opening up one just before we "set sail" would be just as good?

Thanks again.

Dan
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I have a Britline account, and it has worked well for us for 5 years. No complaints. The only disadvantage is that the bank is based in Normandy. This isn't normally a problem as the online banking service works well, the helpdesk is English-speaking, and you can pay by "carte-bancaire" or by cheque, but when you need to pay money in (not often in my case  [:-))]) you have to post the cheques to Normandy. You can of course arrange transfers. CA has branches all over France but they're not simply branches of a nationwide bank, they're more like autonomous companies in each region, and don't seem to "talk" to each other. If you wanted mortgage help etc you'd be better off with a local bank perhaps, although Britline offer all the usual services.

You can open the account by post.

Sid

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Hi,

We had long term - 3 month stay - guests in last year who wanted to open a bank account whilst they were here househunting.

I asked at our branch of Credit Agricole, explained their situation and was told that they could open a bank account using our address as long as we asked our marie for an attestation stating that they were staying with us. I would think most branches would offer the same service. They could of course change the address when they moved into their own place.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Tony

 

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I use Britline, for about 10 years now, and the charges are very minimal(I do not have a card though just a cheque book).

To pay in, I either use Bank transfer (£20 at Barclays) or an FX company for large amounts (free). Other than that I either send them travelers cheques with an RIB or call in at my local CA branch in Brittany with euros, RIB and passport (no charge either).

Never had a problem with them at all.

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