Bank cards in France

[Mrs Trellis]

I'm going to take the plunge and ask for a card for our Credit Agricole account.  I have resisted so far, because I don't trust CA.  (Found they'd charged us for card insurance for 5 years, when we didn't have a card, and they certainly did not ask if if we wanted insurance - we'd have said 'no'.)

I'm confused about credit/debit cards here.  As we have to make some larger than usual purchases for a new house, we'd like to get loyalty card discount, e.g. from Castorama, and need a French bank card.

I've seen it mentioned there is a limit on cash withdrawals - maybe 300 euros in one week which is not much if you are buying flooring or kitchen units.  Do you have to pay for a credit card and a debit card?  If it's the same card, how do you make it clear which way you want to use it?

Up to now we've used CA for bill payment and Nationwide credit card for shopping (no charge if paid in full every month) but have decided to have OH's pension paid direct to CA.

Sorry if this is a common question, but I can't find it by searching the forum.

 

 

[NormanH]

I have two CA accounts with different cards.

One is as you say with a 300 limit for cash withdrawals, but not for using it to buy things in a shop or the Internet.

The other is a Gold card which I had for going abroad as 300 in a week is not much good if you are in a place where credit cards aren't much used.  That has a weekly limit of 1500, and I believe that there is a Platinum card with an even higher limit.

Obviously the fee is higher on the Gold card, and when I got it a long while ago they wanted to see a reasonable level of cashflow in the account though nowadays you might just be able to have it by paying the higher fee.

It does have some good Insurance advantages, such as travel insurance included.

In France these cards are debit cards. You can choose immediate debit, or to pay all the purchases off at the end of the month, but they have to be paid off and go back into the black each month.

CA has another card (which I had but don't recommend) called a Carte Open, now know as Supplétis which acts as a credit card, or crédit revolving  as it is called

I have a Castorama card too, from when I was doing some repairs. It is  like a credit card, and you can choose to pay off in one three or more sessions

With both these credit card type cards the amount debited each month is chosen by the bank (or Castorama), although with the Supplétis you can go in and ask for a month's pause or half repayments for a period. You don't just pay what you like when you like though.

So if I want to pay with a debit card I use one of my two CA account cards; if I wanted a credit card purchase I would use the Carte Open, or Castorama for builder's supplies

[Chancer]

Dont fall into the trap of thinking that even after you have paid for the priveledge of having a debit card which actually saves the banks loads of dosh over cheques, it having a verification process to ensure you have the funds for a purchase that they will actually permit you to spend your own money, Oh no!

There is a weekly or monthly spending plafond on all cards, doesnt matter that you have €10000 in your account, if you have spent more than €1000 that month (some banks higher some lower) then the card will be refused.

Tha banks claim that it is for our own protection should the card be stolen, yeah right! The French seem happy to swallow this lie and the contradictory "if you pay a higher monthly card fee we can raise your limit"

ITS MY F*****G MONEY YOU MUPPETS! [:@]

[Clair]

[quote user="Chancer"]There is a weekly or monthly spending plafond on all cards, doesnt matter that you have €10000 in your account, if you have spent more than €1000 that month (some banks higher some lower) then the card will be refused.

Tha banks claim that it is for our own protection should the card be stolen, yeah right! The French seem happy to swallow this lie and the contradictory "if you pay a higher monthly card fee we can raise your limit"[/quote]

After a quick chat with the bank manager, both the spending and withdrawal limits on my card were raised without any difficulty.

[Gardengirl]

We opened a Castorama account and had a card when we bought fitted wardrobes. So we had their discount for that initial large purchase, but paid it off by credit card immediately. We didn't use it again, and took the card back to the branch a few months later and had them cut it up in order to close the account. We still receive the odd letter telling us we still have however many thousand euros at our disposition; we just put them through the paper guzzler - what on earth it's called I can't think - really must phone up sometime and get them to stop sending the letters, but I always seem to have better things to do!

[PaulT]

[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]

Up to now we've used CA for bill payment and Nationwide credit card for shopping (no charge if paid in full every month) but have decided to have OH's pension paid direct to CA.

[/quote]

Do not know how a Norwich and Peterborough Building Society credit card works the same way as its debit card but with the latter there in no commission charge etc and virtually bank rate on the exchange - as Nationwide was before they decided to make more money out of its customers, contrary to its TV adverts.

You do need a UK address to open the N&P account - we switched.

[Chancer]

[quote user="Clair"]

After a quick chat with the bank manager, both the spending and withdrawal limits on my card were raised without any difficulty.

[/quote]

Thats the sort of acceptance that the French display, they would soon kick off if the bank refused to honour a cheque when they had funds, why should you have to ask for the limit to be raised, there is no sane reason for there to be one at all.

A debit card transaction is authorised in real time so you cannot spend funds that you dont have (découvert apart) yet they will not allow you to spend your own money as you feel fit.

A cheque is accepted by the merchants when the bank card is refused and there is no verification, you can spend money that you dont have, but guess who picks up the tab?

I will give you a clue, not the banks [;-)]

[Mrs Trellis]

It does sound a bit mad!  I worry about going overdrawn accidentally so it was simpler to keep the French account just for bills.  Friends who run a business find the card limits a real problem.  It's OK to pay cash when possible, but hopeless when you need fuel out of opening hours (late evening or lunch time) and your card is refused when you have plenty of money in the bank.

I guess the French have not experienced anything different so put up with this poor service.

 

[idun]

Chancer we have cash withdrawal limits on our cards in the UK. If I want more cash then I go in with a cheque and withdraw what I want, and I suspect could do that in France, if I gave my small branch notice.

 I also suspect we have limits on the amounts we can pay for things with our cards too, but I don't think that I have ever had to buy anything so expensive as to test that.

[woolybanana]

There is an overall limit on cash cards in France which covers the total of cash withdrawals and purchases, as well as a cash withdrawal limit. The bank can change this if you just ak them.

But, it is unusual to have such high credit limits on credit cards here.

[Gardengirl]

Mrs Trellis, I'm still not sure why you say you'll need a CA card when you seem not to want one. If you take a store card for your large purchases are you saying that you MUST have a bank card for this? We definitely didn't have a bank card - still don't; surely store card rules can't now say you must pay by bank card.  They had our bank details of course, but we paid by credit card and paid off the bill immediately it arrived. Later we cancelled the store card.

We too have a pension paid into our CA account for paying TH, TF and electricity bills etc. We find the €300 CA withdrawal limit a bit of a bind, but use bank transfers for everything we can or else use cheques, which works OK.

[allanb]

If we're talking about cash withdrawals from ATMs, I think it's perfectly reasonable for the bank to impose a limit. They have to allow for withdrawals throughout the weekend, for instance, and there can't be an unlimited amount of cash in the machine.

[suein56]

[quote user="allanb"]... and there can't be an unlimited amount of cash in the machine.[/quote]

Which is why, usually when the summer visitors are here, the various cash machines in our town can indicate they have no more funds. Even though we have a far number of ATMs it is not unusual to see disgruntled holiday-makers traipsing around trying to find a machine which has funds remaining. And, of course no bank will cash a cheque unless you are local.

Sue

[YCCMB]

We sent back and decided to stop our CA "Credit" card as we objected to paying a small fortune for the privilege of having it. Also, there was a cock-up every time at renewal where (because there's little or no overlap, unlike the UK) they'd send our new card to our UK address whilst we were in France, making the card we had with us redundant and B*** ing up things like our SANEF transponder.

We've got a Post Office credit card now. It's actually from Bank of Ireland, so, sort of "based" in Euros, and seems to be pretty fair in terms of exchange rate, no fees (except for cash withdrawals which we don't do or need) and no cost for actually having it in the first place.

[allanb]

I had a UK bank card years ago: debit or credit, I can't remember which, but it also functioned as a cheque guarantee card – up to a certain limit, of course. It was £100 if I remember correctly, but there's been some inflation since then.

Do such things still exist?

[Anton Redman]

UK debit cards which were also cheque guarantee cards are almost

essential as many retailers no longer accept cheques full stop.

[sid]

We have CA debit cards and asked for the cash withdrawal limit to be raised quite some time ago; they did it without problem. I've had no problem with CA, but as it's also a Britline account, I have to talk to them in Normandy... I can't go into a local branch since they are regionalised franchise-like operations. However, this means that I'm speaking to someone in English if I have difficulty explaining. There is a charge for the cards. The online access means that you can easily keep on top of balance checking. I use very few cheques. I had intended to change banks to a local branch once we were settled, but I see absolutely no point or need now after 9 hassle-free years. 

[Chancer]

Maybe I wasnt clear.

Quite reasonably there is a daily limit on cash withdrawals on a French bank card, just like the Uk ones, however there is also a weekly or monthly plafond on all purchases using the card which is relatively low and includes the cash withdrawals. The bank will block a purchase of say €25 when you have €10000 in the account because you have spent/withdrawn more than €1000 that month or €500 that week.

The figures vary but all the banks do it, if you complain that you are prevented from spending your own money the answer is to pay a higher abonnement for the priveledge of a higher plafond but you will never be able to spend all that you have if it is higher than the plafond.

Totally crazy when you consider that debit card purchases are verified in real time to ensure that you have the money to pay, the card gets blocked if you exceed your plafond and the shop has by law to accept a cheque despite you now looking very dodgy in their eyes.

I say again totally inacceptable to any culture that asks itself is this reasonable as opposed to blind acceptance, the only beneficiaries are the banks.

I begrudgingly accept the situation because currently at C.A. I have free banking and dont pay for my debit card.

[dave21478]

The first card I had with CA on my bog-standard account was pretty much the equivalent of an old UK Solo card - ie the kind of thing given to teenagers to prevent them spending too much in the sweety shop.

It had a spending limit of about 800euros over a rolling 7 day period. This included both shop sales and ATM withdrawals. It was accepted in most shops, but refused in every toll booth machine and car park machines. It was pot-luck whether it would be accepted for online use.

I got fed up with that very quickly indeed and the only choice was to upgrade to a "gold" card, which obviously costs more per month in charges. I believe it has a spending limit too, but no idea what it is - perhaps mine has been raised or removed after my consistent moaning about it to the bank every time I had to go in. For example, within the last 5 days I have hammered it for about 3000 euros without a problem. Knowing my luck, I am probably a fiver short of my limit for the next few days so it will be refused at a petrol station or something daft like that. - I have always found it prudent to have a second payment method on me at all times, whether its a UK card or cash.....

While we are talking about CA - Does anybody else get summoned to meetings every now and then, and given little choice about attending? I try ignoring the woman or telling her I will be away for the next month, but she just keeps on ringing and ringing until I have to concede defeat and go in for a "meeting", where the pretty girl barely out of her teens harangues me like a naughty schoolboy for not wanting to piss about setting up various accounts that offer different interest rates depending on how quickly the money could be accessed.

[woolybanana]

Dave, the poor little girlie is only trying to make wages and maybe she sees you as a rich foreigner to be milched. Let her down gently. They don't try it with me as I am too poor.

[NormanH]

"the pretty girl barely out of her teens harangues me like a naughty schoolboy"

You get that free in CA?  Many would pay good money for that in the City....[6]

[dave21478]

Unfortunately, there is no spanking.

[woolybanana]

[quote user="dave21478"]Unfortunately, there is no spanking.[/quote]

until the Labour party conference!

[Chancer]

Not happened to me yet but I live in hope, apart from a real dragon who fits in real well there are a couple of stunners who seem really out of place in the town.

I recall in my early days with C.L. there was a good looking lass that spoke some English but with a very strong Socal accent and unusually actually wanted to speak it, she got out of there just as soon as she had served her time though.

[sid]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Maybe I wasnt clear.

Quite reasonably there is a daily limit on cash withdrawals on a French bank card, just like the Uk ones, however there is also a weekly or monthly plafond on all purchases using the card which is relatively low and includes the cash withdrawals. The bank will block a purchase of say €25 when you have €10000 in the account because you have spent/withdrawn more than €1000 that month or €500 that week.

The figures vary but all the banks do it, if you complain that you are prevented from spending your own money the answer is to pay a higher abonnement for the priveledge of a higher plafond but you will never be able to spend all that you have if it is higher than the plafond.

Totally crazy when you consider that debit card purchases are verified in real time to ensure that you have the money to pay, the card gets blocked if you exceed your plafond and the shop has by law to accept a cheque despite you now looking very dodgy in their eyes.

I say again totally inacceptable to any culture that asks itself is this reasonable as opposed to blind acceptance, the only beneficiaries are the banks.

I begrudgingly accept the situation because currently at C.A. I have free banking and dont pay for my debit card.

[/quote]

Chancer, I've spent an hour going through my "conditions of use" and can't find any reference to this limit. I'm pretty sure that I have used my card for amounts totalling more than 1000€ in a month (although the big spending days are over [Www] ) when we were doing our building work. I'm wondering if you have a different type of account to me? I don't have a free debit card, for example.

I'm going to contact the bank and ask about this. I found the limit on cash withdrawals, but I had that increased in any case. As far as I can see I can spend as much as I have in the account. The limits are set by the Caisse Regionale de Calvados for the Britline online/telephone bank. It was interesting to note that they describe themselves as an online/telephone bank and thus cannot accept cash inpayments. I already knew this, but make the point for those who expect the same services as a local bank.

There you go, I'm getting all defensive of a bank!! [:-))]