chirpy Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I HAVE BANQUE POPULAIRE CARTE BLEUE WITH A VISA SIGN ON IT .IF I TRAVEL TO SPAIN OR OTHER EURO CURRENCIES COUNTRIES ON HOLIDAY CAN I USE IT THE SAME AS IN FRANCE.? i.e. WILL ANY EXPENDITURE BE DEBITED ON LAST DAY OF MONTH.?ALSO WILL AN EXTRA CHARGE BE MADE FOR USING CARD? MY LOCAL BANK WERE NOT SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Yes, it works just the same as any other Visa card, in any Visa machine or at any shop etc that takes Visa.Not sure about when it will be debited, I am sure my CA Mastercard CB is debited on the day the transaction is processed (or the next working day), but yours may work differently. There will most likely be a charge for cash withdrawals, though not for purchases, and if in a non-Eurozone country you may not necessarily get a very good exchange rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJSLIV Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Not for Ab's benefit as it doesn't apply to their case. But...not all Carte Bleu can be used abroad. There are some CB Nationale which don't have the Visaor Mastercard logo, which can only be used within France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 [quote user="Ab"] WILL ANY EXPENDITURE BE DEBITED ON LAST DAY OF MONTH.?[/quote]That depends on your agreement with the bank. If you didn't know you had an agreement with the bank, look at whatever you signed when the card was issued. Somewhere in that document the card will be described as either "débit immédiat" or "débit différé". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jc Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I thought the deferred payments were only for purchases outside France and made the charges for the card much higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 We have a CA Mastercard on the débit différé basis for which we pay a small card fee. It works exactly the same as a UK Mastercard/Visa credit card. All purchases (regardless of location) are debited to the card account at the time of the transaction and the account balance is payable in full by the 10th of the following month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 We do have a choices, national or international cards, with débit immédiat or débit différé. The prices of these cards at all the banks I have used have always been different. I am talking about debit cards now, not credit cards which are available be it rather rare to have on in France.I have no idea why this person's bank can't tell them what sort of card they have and it should be in the contract the bank issued with the card too.I know that there were in the past some national cards which had a specific logo on them and it was possible to withdraw cash from machines in other countries as my son used this when he was in Germany. He couldn't use it for purchases though and that was a few years ago and I would always check as to what a card I was issued with did. Not on here, but with my bank, as they are the only people who can give this information.Cash withdrawals on a debit card, even with debit différé are usually debited immediately whether they are done in France or abroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I think some confusion has crept into this discussion.If you have a carte bancaire à débit immédiat, the amount is debited immediately to your bank account.If you have a carte bancaire à débit différé, the amount is debited to your bank account at the end of the month.Neither of these is the same as a "credit card". As this term is usually understood, it means a card that operates on an account separate from your bank account. The balance due on this account may be taken directly from your bank account on a regular date, or it may be up to you to decide how much to pay - that depends on your individual contract with the card issuer.I suspect that some of the confusion arises because all three of these types of card commonly carry the logo of the organization that provides the verification and accounting service, e.g. Visa or Mastercard. From the supplier's point of view, it makes no difference: he doesn't care when you pay, he only cares about whether he gets paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 allanb, my french bank manager calls all cards credit cards. The notion of debit card is not quite the same in France and he kept giving me wry smiles and kept shrugging when I was trying to get him to say that my card is a debit card. That was just before christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 [quote user="Teamedup"]allanb, my french bank manager calls all cards credit cards. [/quote]I think that's fairly common; in my experience people use the terms carte bleue, carte bancaire, and carte de crédit interchangeably. Perhaps it's a little surprising that a bank manager would get it wrong.[quote]The notion of debit card is not quite the same in France and he kept giving me wry smiles and kept shrugging when I was trying to get him to say that my card is a debit card.[/quote]I have a French bank card à débit immédiat and a UK bank debit card with the Maestro logo. They both result in an immediate charge to the account and I've always thought of them as being essentially the same thing; is there a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerdesal Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 [quote user="Will"]Yes, it works just the same as any other Visa card, in any Visa machine or at any shop etc that takes Visa.Not sure about when it will be debited, I am sure my CA Mastercard CB is debited on the day the transaction is processed (or the next working day), but yours may work differently. There will most likely be a charge for cash withdrawals, though not for purchases, and if in a non-Eurozone country you may not necessarily get a very good exchange rate.[/quote]I used my carte bleue visa in UK for a coach ticket purchase (Stansted - Gatwick) and was charged an inordinate additional fee by the bank. I cant remember the exact amount but it was such that I wont be using it again outside France. I only used it in an emergency as I couldn't (still can't) remember my UK card PIN number [:(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Agreed, P/D. In fact when I look at the t&c's for my French debit card it does say that it can be used abroad but suggests for occasional use - when I saw the fees they charged when I got the bill coming home once, I agree with them! I would not do it again. I'm very glad I kept my Nationwide account open when I moved here - it has saved me a small fortune! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 My bank manager wasn't acting dumb or anything he just played with the words. We had an amusing probably quarter of an hour or so debating exactly what my card should be called and as I say he wouldn't say it was a debit card, even though it is a carte a debit. Now that looks so OBVIOUS to me and sounds so obvious to me too, but there you go, he didn't think so. Young bloke he is and keen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allanb Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 So in my earlier post I should have written:"As this term is usually understood, except by keen young French bank managers, ..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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