Recommend a Bank in France?

[samanthac]

Thanks to other people on the forum i have read the article on Britline which is who i was going to open an account with! I will be rethinking.

Can anyone recommend a French bank which may also speak English as we are moving to Normandy and i would appreciate any help from others who have experience of this.

Thanks

[Cassis]

Depends on the individual branch staff.   You'll need to be specific about which area you are looking at - then maybe someone will know a bank in the area with an English-speaking member of staff.  If you're moving to St Lô there's no point someone recommending a bank in Alençon!

[:)]

[Jc]

Unfortuneately staff move on-particularly the good ones who speak several languages.

[andyh4]

.........and in the end it is probably more worthwhile to find a bank that is local than to find one where the staff speak perfect English but is a 2 hour drive away.  My experience has been that in the larger branches there is usually someone who can speak some English - and that miles away from the Northern coast.

 

[samanthac]

The area we are looking at is Orne. If a specific local bank cannot be recommended then the overall group it is a part of e.g. in the U.K Midland or Nat West.

Thanks

[cooperlola]

There's a woman at BNP Paribas in Mortagne au Perche who speaks English!

[samanthac]

Thank you, could you please let me have an e-mail address or the full postal address so i can contact them?

Thanks

[Benjamin]

Try -

39 Rue Des 15 Fusilles Du Marquis

61400 Mortagne.

Benjamin

[cooperlola]

39, rue des 15 fusilles du Maquis, 61400, Mortagne au Perche 08 20 82 00 01

But BNP are not cheap!  My estate agent fixed me up with this branch when I moved but it has proved too far from me to be of much use so havn't dealt with them a lot and have gone back to Britline.  However, as I say, one of the young women behind the counter speaks good English so it's a good place to start.

[Cassis]

That's the BNP at Mortagne au Perche, isn't it, Benjamin?  We banked there originally.  No-one there admitted to speaking English a year ago!  We moved our account to BNP Alençon - nothing to do with the language, just nearer to us.  Pain in the bum when you need a new cheque book and your branch is miles away - have to drive bloomin' miles or stump up for them to send registered post.

[Cassis]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

39, rue des 15 fusilles du Maquis, 61400, Mortagne au Perche 08 20 82 00 01

But BNP are not cheap!  My estate agent fixed me up with this branch when I moved but it has proved too far from me to be of much use so havn't dealt with them a lot and have gone back to Britline.  However, as I say, one of the young women behind the counter speaks good English so it's a good place to start.

[/quote]

Your agent didn't work for ORPI by any chance?  François Iorsch?  That's how we ended up with an account there!

[Benjamin]

Sure is but I only found it from the BNP Paribas web site. Cooperlola did a much better job finding the phone number as well.

Incidentially is that 0820 number a premium rate? If it is then I certainly wouldn't go anywhere near any organisation that did that or is it just a local call rate number to a call centre in Guadeloupe?

Sorry to go on but it's been raining most of the day but now it's stopped Mrs Benjamin wants me to go out and get on with the concreting but I've some how got comfy here in front of the screen!

Benjamin

[cooperlola]

Cassis/Geordie

Yes.  If you read my reply to somebody's query on here earlier today about house insurance, you will see that I got lumbered with a very inefficient insurance agent for the same reason!  However, I have encountered said young lady behind the counter at Mortagne a couple of times and she is very helpful.  My neighbours who also used FI are still with the Mortagne branch and do find her good.

It was a question then, as it probably was for you, of still holding down a job in the UK while setting everything up and it seemed quicker and easier to let him handle this stuff.  Now I have more time on my hands, I've learnt a little more and do these things myself.  But then I don't have the language problem so I guess it's easier for me than for some.

[cooperlola]

0,12 euros a minute, Benjamin

[Cassis]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

It was a question then, as it probably was for you, of still holding down a job in the UK while setting everything up and it seemed quicker and easier to let him handle this stuff.  Now I have more time on my hands, I've learnt a little more and do these things myself.  But then I don't have the language problem so I guess it's easier for me than for some.

[/quote]

Yup - you got it!

Benjamin - it was only this summer that BNP caved in and allowed free access their website to check your account.  Until then they charged 50cents every day you logged on.  If they can get away with charging you for something, they will.  Like every other French bank. [;-)]

Still , small price to pay for the (non-financial) benefits of being here!  [:D]

[powerdesal]

[quote user="samanthac"]

Thanks to other people on the forum i have read the article on Britline which is who i was going to open an account with! I will be rethinking.

Can anyone recommend a French bank which may also speak English as we are moving to Normandy and i would appreciate any help from others who have experience of this.

Thanks

[/quote]

CIN inVilledieu L.P have english speaking staff if thats a convenient place for you.

[cooperlola]

Cassis, as ever, has a point.  French banks are a rip off and some of their practices positevly stone age!  We are lucky enough to have a pension each.  I have mine paid directly into my French bank account and the old man has his paid into a Nationwide Flexaccount in the UK (both incomes are taxable here but that's not a problem for our accountant).  We use the French account to pay all the direct debits and get cash out direct from the UK by sticking the Flexaccount card in a hole in the wall.  Nationwide because they give you BANK rate, not commercial or tourist, and they don't charge a fee. You also get a bit of interest from their current account - something which the French don't provide, as far as I've been able to ascertain. I think we have probably saved hundred each year by doing this. It also means when you visit the UK you aren't paying twice to change your money.  Also, NI contributions, if you still pay them, get paid in stirling, straight from a UK account.

[Mark]

Ah, that's reassuring.  I too have a Flexaccount and was fully intending to keep it up and running when we move to France in a couple of weeks, for precisely the reasons you describe.  Your post confirms that what I'm doing has merit.  Still not sure who to pick for the French account, but there's a Caisse d'Epargne in the village (and they sponsor a cycling team [:-))]), so maybe them.  Are they rubbish?

[Cassis]

[quote user="Mark"]Still not sure who to pick for the French account, but there's a Caisse d'Epargne in the village (and they sponsor a cycling team [:-))]), so maybe them.  Are they rubbish?[/quote]

There has been occasional thread comparing the cost of running bank accounts and the general conclusion tends to be that the charges were much of a muchness.  Having the bank local to you has the merit of making it easy to get your replacement cheque books and to sort out queries.  I never set foot in my local bank in the UK but much more business seems to be done face to face here, with your personal banker at the branch.

[quote user="cooperlola"] You also get a bit of interest from their

current account - something which the French don't provide, as far as

I've been able to ascertain. [/quote]

Nice idea! [:D]  No, I can't see that happening.  Like

you, we've kept an account back in the UK for the odd purchase etc. in

the UK or in sterling.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="cooperlola"] You also get a bit of interest from their

current account - something which the French don't provide, as far as

I've been able to ascertain. [/quote]

Why not have a savings account and a current? We have an interest earning savings account with CIN and can transfer electronically to our current account at any time.

As a matter of interest (pun) the interest rate is greater than the interest we pay on our mortgage, also with CIN, how they can do that I dont know, but I'm not complaining.

Transfers from overseas (not UK) are done with a draft couriered directly to the branch, annotated to whichever account we wish. Yes we pay the usual French bank charges for internet access etc but nothing particularly untoward once you accept that free banking is not the French norm.

So far (touch wood) we have had superb service from CIN, including an invitation to a cocktail party at the bank branch, being served champagne and canapes by your bank manager (manageress) is a totally different experience than the UK faceless, call centre situation.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

We've just opened an account with our local Societé General, mainly because Mrs IG' s family have banked with them for generations. Went into our local branch without an appointment and a nice lady set everything up for us. We get free (not always the case in France) internet banking and the IDs and passwords got to us in England in less than a week from opening the account. Cartes Bleus, cheque books & welcome pack turned up about a week later.

I was impressed.

It's easy for me to say, but I feel that getting the right bank/branch is more important long-term than finding one with an English-speaker. You may need to take an interpreter along for the start-up session because of some of the questions, but after that most of the time you won't need much French.

[cooperlola]

I agree totally info gypsy but it's not always easy to plan a move here without a bank account in place already which I think is Samantha's problem.  What we did (see above) was to open a french bank account with the help of the estate agent for setting up, then later I opened another more convenient one in my own name.  Sorted.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

We actually live in England and our French home is currently a bit of field and some design studies! When we went over for the signing of our Acte for the land we nipped into the bank for an hour and walked out with an account. Admittedly my wife is French and I'm fluent, but anyone could do it with an appointment and an interpreter.

We've been managing without a French account all our married life because we were only there for holidays, but now we're actually getting ready to move we decided that it was time to act like grownups. :-) It should make things like EDF and suchlike easier to organise when the time comes.

By the way, we weren't known in the branch; our town is a fair way away from the rest of her family.

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="Cassis"][quote user="cooperlola"]

It was a question then, as it probably was for you, of still holding down a job in the UK while setting everything up and it seemed quicker and easier to let him handle this stuff.  Now I have more time on my hands, I've learnt a little more and do these things myself.  But then I don't have the language problem so I guess it's easier for me than for some.

[/quote]

Yup - you got it!

Benjamin - it was only this summer that BNP caved in and allowed free access their website to check your account.  Until then they charged 50cents every day you logged on.  If they can get away with charging you for something, they will.  Like every other French bank. [;-)]

Still , small price to pay for the (non-financial) benefits of being here!  [:D]

[/quote]

y-e-s .... I hadn't come across this  particular wheeze before until we got snookered into opening an account with Banque Populaire Centre-Atlantique  who  seem to think it's OK to charge through the nose for internet access (a service which costs the bank considerably less than the equivalent counter staff and o/heads; so is something they should be promoting rather than taxing: but - as others have remarked - this is the FRENCH banking system after all) came as a bit of a shock after CA and La Poste, neither of whom charge for internet account services.

I notice nobody has proposed La Poste as a possible bank..... I must say, we are quite happy with the service they provide what with 5 1/2 day working and internet plus the warm feeling that we are helping to keep our village post office going !

paul

[cooperlola]

The same way I felt about the old UK giro account I used to have until somebody sold it to A&L  - hopefully that won't happen here! Only responded as I did as Samantha asked for an English speaking branch.  Don't know where she's moving to so have no idea if the counter staff at her post office speak our lingo.[:)]