Getting a credit card while living in France

[Angelina]

Hi potential advisers!

when we moved to France 6 years ago we ( in retrospect foolishly) got rid of our credit cards .no more loans or living on credit ! Now we have started travels again we realise we need credit cards to book hotels and most importantly to rent cars with . All credit cards sites so far say you must have a UK address .Does anyone know if this is some sort of law ?it seems mad that we've had a current account for 18 years with Nationwide and they make the same stipulation --even tho' they send our bank statements to us here in France .Has anyone got any ideas how we could get a credit card ??

                                                               Angelina

[Panda]

Hello

Why not get one from your french bank?

Panda

[Clair]

Hello Angelina and welcome to the forum [:)]

I am puzzled...

If you have been living in France for 6 years, is it safe to assume you have a French bank account? If this is the case, can't you use your bank's cards?

In a recent thread on a similar discussion matter, most contributors said that "generally (but not always) you can keep what you already have when you

move abroad. Having moved abroad, getting a UK bank/credit account is

very difficult indeed." http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1/1136570/ShowPost.aspx#1136570

[andyh4]

Most UK banks will not issue credit cards to people with foreign addresses as part of their money laundering controls - essentially they cannot easily run checks against a foreign address.  If you already have a card and move abroad on the otehr hand then most UK banks will allow you to keep and renew the card.

 

So for Angelina the answer does seem to be to get a French card through a French bank.

[Angelina]

 'cos we keep the majority of our funds in our UK bank account and are reluctant to bring too much over with the current exchange rate . But we may have to get a french one.Thankyou Panda 

[Angelina]

Thanks for the welcome Clair of course we have a french bank account too --but we keep the minimum in it guess we'll have to change our ways ! Thanks you and everybody who answered for taking the trouble .

[Chancer]

[quote user="Angelina"]

Thanks for the welcome Clair of course we have a french bank account too --but we keep the minimum in it [/quote]

Me too!

If you got a carte bleue debit card (like the one that I have just returned) would that not be acceptable to car hire companies etc?

Or is there a risk that any charges for damage etc made to it later will only be processed if you have sufficient funds?

More likely the reason that I returned mine, refused despite sufficient funds because over the weekly plafond, for the priveledge of which you have to pay [:@]

What do French (and other countries) insist on?

[AnOther]

Unfortunately, and with the benefit of hindsight, giving up the UK card(s) has proved to be a hasty act. I suppose you might derive a crumb of comfort from the fact that you'll not have be the first, nor likely be the last, to "throw off the shackles" only to realise too late that you've thrown the baby out with the bath water [:(]

You're right JR, in my experience a Credit Card is almost always required for car hire.

The other significant advantage of a UK Credit Card of course is that of protection for purchases over £100. I believe this may be unique to UK and something the Credit Card companies recently took to court to try and wriggle out of, for for foreign purchases at least, but they lost the case...te he he, ya bo sucks...[:P][:P][:P]

 

[tenniswitch]

[quote user="J.R."][quote user="Angelina"]

Thanks for the welcome Clair of course we have a french bank account too --but we keep the minimum in it [/quote]

Me too!

If you got a carte bleue debit card (like the one that I have just returned) would that not be acceptable to car hire companies etc?

Or is there a risk that any charges for damage etc made to it later will only be processed if you have sufficient funds?

More likely the reason that I returned mine, refused despite sufficient funds because over the weekly plafond, for the priveledge of which you have to pay [:@]

What do French (and other countries) insist on?

[/quote]

Most, if not all, car hire companies insist on credit, not debit, cards.

[Wendy]

The French still have not grasped the concept of credit cards and are not likely to in the forseeable future. They only deal in debit cards at the moment. You should never cut ties with your homeland completely. HFC still continue to call me (on my French phone number) offering me personal loans until I inform them I am in France, then they terminate the call only to badger me again a few months later.

Do you want an actual 'credit' card or just a debit card with a Visa/Mastercard symbol on it?

You could try American Express though it will cost you about 200 euros a year for their credit card but you will need to create a UK address, plus you will need to prove your level of income. The Co-Op Bank in the Channel Islands will issue British citizens everywhere with a credit/debit card so you will have to go off-shore in that respect...you will need to provide a passport and proof of address. Otherwise your only other option is to create an address in the UK (using that of parents, siblings, adult children - a family member with the same surname as yourself is the best bet), open another UK bank account, or even change your Nationwide account to the new UK address and wait until you qualify. Could take 2 years though before you get your card.

There really is no easy way around this. You are literally now a non-UK resident trying to get a UK credit card. Extremely difficult despite your previous life there.

 

 

[AnOther]

Here's a possibility:

If you have close relatives or VERY good friends in UK perhaps they might trust you with a second card on their account or better still, take out a new card specifically to put you on as second card holder. You might have to have a UK address  ([;-)])  but I don't think there should be any real difficulty with doing this.

It's not quite as risky as it might seem because in case of abuse they could immediately cancel your card.

[P3]

Would not 'creating' a UK address in order to get a credit card obtaining something by deception with the prize being arrest in the UK and taken to court.

A credit card is all that a car hire company will accept - not even a wad of cash to cover any excess. They pre-authorise the card so that if necessary they can claim against it, something that they cannot do with a debit card. I beleive that if, say, they pre-authorise you card for 2000 euros and immediately prior to this you had an available limit of 6000 euros once 2000 has been pre-authorised then the available limit is reduced by that amount, i.e. it is now 4000 euros. This, as far as I am aware, cannot be done with a debit card.

Paul

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="Jura"]

The French still have not grasped the concept of credit cards and are not likely to in the forseeable future. They only deal in debit cards at the moment.

[/quote]

Eh? I have credit cards issued by ONEY and CETELEM. Both work exactly as a UK card, but  with lower interest rates and higher credit limits. CA do a card called OPEN, although it is meant for people with jobs....

[lizzy h]

I have used my CA mastercard which is a debit card for hire car in france several times  and when back in the Uk I have used my visa electron debit card for hire cars there, no problems what so ever

[Panda]

I've used my CA card for car hire, it's actually a debit card and whilst they wouldn't accept my Lloyds Debit card they did accept the CA one (this was Avis at Standsted).  I do now have a french credit card (as Benjamin says they do exist!).  I also now have an english one too (just in case), all details were sent to me in France, this is with Lloyds who know I'm in France, I think that my old card with them must have still been in force although not used for 5 years  as they never questioned it just sent one along. 

[AnOther]

[quote user="P3"]Would not 'creating' a UK address in order to get a credit card obtaining something by deception with the prize being arrest in the UK and taken to court.[/quote]In the context I don't think so. I'm not talking about "getting" a credit card as in applying in ones own name but I think an authorised second card holder needs to have a UK address for the card to be sent to. Ultimately the primary A/C holder will always be responsible for the account so by obtaining a second card there can be no fraud against the credit card company.

lizzy h:

Visa Electron cards work differently. They are debit cards but unlike traditional ones the balance is checked and the amount approved during a transaction and thus is guaranteed. Also they are usually only accepted where the cardholder is present which is why car hire companise may accept them.

My wife went through this scenario one time last year when she booked a hire car online using a debit card but when she came to pick it up in Stansted she was asked for a credit card (which thankfully she had). The system shouldn't have accepted the debit card in the first place but it did and the explaination she was given was that debit card payments can be stopped whereas credit card payments cannot. Don't know if this is true or not but it would explain the stance.

[Angelina]

brilliant idea Ernie ---certainly going to try that--i have an obliging credit worthy eldest son . Thankyou!!!

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

lizzy h:

Visa Electron cards work differently. They are debit cards but unlike traditional ones the balance is checked and the amount approved during a transaction and thus is guaranteed. Also they are usually only accepted where the cardholder is present which is why car hire companise may accept them.

My wife went through this scenario one time last year when she booked a hire car online using a debit card but when she came to pick it up in Stansted she was asked for a credit card (which thankfully she had). The system shouldn't have accepted the debit card in the first place but it did and the explaination she was given was that debit card payments can be stopped whereas credit card payments cannot. Don't know if this is true or not but it would explain the stance.

[/quote]

We also booked a hire car on-line using my husband's La Poste CB card (Visa) but when we got to Stansted they wanted a payment up front for a full tank of petrol. The card couldn't be read (perhaps because it is a bit scratched, perhaps not), they wouldn't accept cash or a euro cheque but would take my La Poste account Mastercard (which is still only for a current account). Cost us extra as I then had to be put on as the driver [:@].

 

[Wendy]

Nick: yes, there are credit cards, but they're very rare. This is a bit of a plus point actually in that there don't seem to be any cash advance fees for French credit cards.

You must have had a really low credit limit in the UK. As far as I know, the maximum credit limit in France is 21,000€ or so. In fact, up to a few years ago I understand that the maximum was lower than the minimum limit on many UK cards. For example, HSBC France had a maximum limit of, I think, 5000€ about four years ago when the comparable HSBC UK account came with a minimum credit limit of £5000 (ie 7500€).

One card that is very easy to get in France is that from Auchan. Apply for a loyalty card and about a year later they will offer you a credit card. You start out with a store card version but you can upgrade that to Visa/Mastercard in the store. The only documentation required is your passport plus the offer letter. Charge is 8€/year for the store card, 25€ (I think) for Visa/Mastercard.

Incidently, if you got your ONEY card (issued by Auchan these days) was acquired in the days when it was Egg, their acceptance criteria may well have changed. I gather that loads of Brits here got it in the early days. We tried later but were turned down though that was in the midst of their takeover by Auchan which may have complicated matters somewhat.

Although we are here about four years, we have yet to get the documentation needed to even get a contract phone never mind a credit card!

 

ErnieY: as you say the problem with Visa Electron and Maestro is that the customer is supposed to be present for the transaction. This seems always to be the case for Maestro (bear in mind that Switch may be rebranded but it still has more facilities than a normal Maestro card). However, it is actually possible to do customer not present transactions with Visa Electron and we do that quite regularly.

You can actually book a car online with both Visa Electron and Maestro BUT the car hire company will still ask for a credit card when you come to collect it as they want to be able to bill you for any damage which they can't do on Visa Electron or Maestro. It's not always clear from their sites that they do this either. In principle, you can pay the excess amount upfront in cash but it's usually the equivalent of around 2000€ to do it that way and they are "less than keen" on people wanting to do that.

 

P3: Depends on what you're getting up to in "creating" a UK address. We did it by accident rather than design but it's quite a legit address for us anyway. No credit card company would consider taking a customer to court so long as the payments were being kept up.

Aside from that, I suspect that it's only good sense to maintain a UK address in some shape or form in case you find yourself in the situation of considering a return. After all, there is a considerable number of Brits who do return.

In explaining the the French have no concept of credit cards; we had some problems with one of our cards and the security settings applied to it's use in the first two years we were here. It was repeatedly refused at places like Carrefour and Auchan...each time the cashier tried to direct us to a cash machine we explained that it was 'credit' card and not a 'cash' card. Total incomprehension in response. We could have done a cash advance on said card, yes, but are not that stupid or inclined to pay the high interest on a cash advance. We never do them.

 

[Chancer]

So I am confirmed in my thinking that there is very little take up of credit cards in France, thank god I say but I am sure it will change in due course in the manner of all bad things (like Macdo's).

Given that there are and always have been loads of car hire companies in France, what do they do with the vast majority of their customers, turn them away if they have only a debit card or cheque book?

[Hereford]

We got a Carrefour visa credit card quite easily and it also provides free holiday health cover.  I think we pay €25 a year. We had to produce our tax statement and usual other docs. We put that we were "retired" on the form and were telephoned to ask our professions before retirement.  As we are both Chartered Accountants there was no problem apparently! Cards arrived soon after!

We put all our weekly shopping on it and get good discounts. You can pay monthly in full (which we do) or it can be used like a budget account.  We have used the card to book plane tickets etc with no problem as it is a "visa" card.

H.

[woolybananasbrother]

Open a bank account in the Channel Islands. They are used to dealing with just the sort of things you are mentioning. And before anybody smiles into their wine, it is all legal and above board.

[Wendy]

J.R the French are not motivated by money, or business, so yes they would turn away those with debit cards and cheque books. And another thing...this attitude with car rental companies is worldwide. They know darn well that some people will make off with the car if all they have to do to drive away is leave a piece of paper in the form of a cheque (and that is all it is) or a debit card whereby nothing can be charged to the client unless they are present and willing. To these companies debit cards and cheques are useless. With regards to cheques...I have noted that all the shopping centres, hotels, cafes, restaurants and smaller shops in the region now all bear the sign 'reglement par cheque pas accepte'. Even MacDo's and Quick state 'cheque bancaire pas accepte ici' now.

We have asked, and been told, that too many people now are bouncing cheques despite the laws here. So we no longer accept cheques in our hotel here either; if the locals say 'no' then so do we. It appears that the day of the cheque in France is nearing an end...great! maybe that means we will all get through the damn checkout alot quicker!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rob Roy]

[quote user="J.R."]

So I am confirmed in my thinking that there is very little take up of credit cards in France, thank god I say but I am sure it will change in due course in the manner of all bad things (like Macdo's).

Given that there are and always have been loads of car hire companies in France, what do they do with the vast majority of their customers, turn them away if they have only a debit card or cheque book?

[/quote]

I agree J.R., life can be lived without a credit card - just to hear about the amount of personal debt in the UK is astonishing. We haven't had a credit card for many years, we have bought white goods on interest free credit over here, but otherwise if we couldn't afford to pay for it we didn't buy it. This is perhaps a rather old fashioned attitude, but it saved a lot of heartache and worry in the long run.

[Sprogster]

Jura,

All the banks in France provide credit cards to customers who want one and qualify. 

My bank Soc Gen, offers Mastercard and Visa credit cards and like other countries issues gold and platinum cards to higher earners.

Most French professionals have them, as they are essential for travelling abroad in that you cannot rent a car without one and most international hotel chains outside France insist on taking a credit card imprint when you check in, to block off an amount on your card towards costs such as using the phone, mini bar and room service. I believe you cannot do this with a debit card.