Recommend a Bank in France?

[hoverfrog]

as was mentioned early on in this thread, any bank is only as good as the staff you deal with.

I've been extremely happy with Credit Agricole, but then one of the managers lives in our village and another likes the fact I have a french middle name and made a point of putting it on my card! My friend went to one of the other branches near here and has defected to another bank as the woman she dealt with (who I've met once and now will no longer go into that branch) was an absolute "this word will be deleted".

As far as Nationwide go i've also being using my cards over here for little cost, as it's easier to live off the nationwide card than it is to transfer money and then use the CA card. I hope they don't close that loophole anytime soon!!

[Juswundrin]

"CA and La Poste, neither of whom charge for internet account services."

La Poste may not charge per usage, but I'm sure there's an annual free (from memory, €11?)

[hoverfrog]

[quote user="Juswundrin"]"CA and La Poste, neither of whom charge for internet account services."

La Poste may not charge per usage, but I'm sure there's an annual free (from memory, €11?)[/quote]

CA do charge - 3€ a month. Not sure if it's related to usage, but we do access it quite often.

[Gyn_Paul]

Juswundrin and Hoverfrog:

J -You may be right about the La Poste annual fee, - although I can't see it itemised  - it's probably rolled up in some other charge.

H - The only things I pay for on the CA account would seem to be the extortionate biennial card charges, and a bizzare monthly fee for a tiny overdraft facility (a safety net of < 200E - wow!).  However one thing I do know is that having moved from one side of the country to the other, an account in a regional - rather than national - bank is a real pain !

In order not to raise my bood pressure I've come to a number of conclusions, and accepted them :

• Banking in France is a monumental rip-off of the first order *: if they are not making money hand-over-fist, then they must be exceedingly poorly-managed.

• They all screw you one way or another.

• I have to have a French bank account.

• I'm going to get screwed

• There it is. Pay up and look happy.

• Er.. That's it

(* - as opposed to UK banking which is just a plain-and-simple rip-off !)

paul

p

[Juswundrin]

Hi

"You may be right about the La Poste annual fee, - although I can't see it itemised - it's probably rolled up in some other charge."

tarifs :

Depuis le 1er juillet 2006 le tarif est fixé à 2,75 € par trimestre.

Offre spéciale : abonnement Vidéoposte Net non prélevé jusqu'au 31/12/2006

Actually, I have a sneaking feeling that expiry date for the free service keeps getting pushed back.

[lizzie15again]

Hi. As some of you will remember from other threads ( and other sign on names- computer probs !) I took CA to court for transferring money  to an account in another country to a fraudster without them ringing back with security questions. They lost the case. I still haven't had my money returned 21 months later.The gendarmes have not been in touch, I don't know who took the money altho they mumbled " N. Africa " when we went to report the crime. I obviously would not recommend CA altho it is very much up to individual branches, other branches in the area have assured friends that this could not happen to them as the bank would ring back to make sure you're who you say you are!

I now have 2 La Poste accounts. One I pay 9,70 a quarter for debit card. The other account has a cheque book- I thought this account was free but after checking all my records it seems as though I pay 3 euros a year for this.The reason I have the 2 accounts is because of the trouble with CA I had to get a replacement bank up and running quickly, so La Poste seemed a reasonable choice.Unfortunately I couldn't have a cheque book with the free account for several months ( despite going in to the branch with an ex- CA bank manager who is a friend ! Despite them knowing me personally for 8 years! It made no difference),so I had to open the account with charges,which was pretty instant.La Poste seems to have a vast range of charges .As someone else said, non of 'em are up to much for those of us used to "free" banking. You just have to pay up[;-)]