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Transferring money from English bank to French bank


Julie Mills
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You can't use a Belgian bank that only operates in Belgium to do French direct debits and whatnot, plus nobody will accept your cheques due to the bank charges.

However, you can use a foreign bank so long as it operates in France ie gives you a French account. I'm told that La Caixa (a Spanish bank) is excellent; they operate in France as http://www.caixabank.fr/ (they're effectively a building society in Spain) and were the bank that took France to court over their law making interest bearing cheque accounts illegal. Barclays, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered when told to stop paying interest on cheque accounts in France some years ago and just stopped paying it. Anyway, a nice indication that they do consider customers. Downside is that they've not got many branches in France.

 

Arnold

 

 

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[quote]We have a house in France and a bank account for payment of bills by direct deduction by the relevant organisations. WE have great difficulty getting any bank to transfer money into our French accoun...[/quote]

Hi Julie

I always use Moneycorp the last time I used them the rate was 1.447 to the pound.

You can phone them on 020 7589 3000 or www.moneycorp.com

They do like large amounts but they will do any amount!

we have just got a house in near Dun-Le-Pastestal the bank (Centre France) there were very helpful in all the transfers.

If you need anything else let me know.

best of luck

Andy Bond

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We use a variety of methods depending on the values being transferred; we did a large exchange for our house purchase using HIFX; it was very efficient and the staff were very helpful; we also use monthly purchase option (at least I think that's what its called) through HIFX where we transfer a set amount of money each month from our UK account to our french account for which there is no charge from any of the three parties; and the exchange rate with HIFX was fixed in advance; so it is effectively forward purchasing.

The second method we use is the HSBC money transfer service; we have a standard HSBC account (we are unwilling to move our mortgage to HSBC in order to meet their premier account conditions) and they offer a fax indemnity transfer service, where you sign an indemnity and can then fax money transfer instructions to the HSBC branch who will in turn transfer the money as per your instructions to your french account; the charge for this is about £10 and we have always had a good exchange rate through this route.  You do need to have a UK HSBC account though.

For spending money etc whilst we are in france, we top up our nationwide flexaccount before we go and draw the euros directly from an ATM, nationwide don't charge for this service and usually offer a pretty good exchange rate too.

Having written it all down, it looks pretty complicated, but it works for us - I suppose its each to their own and you need to work out what suits you best......

Fiona

ps there is a branch of CCF/HSBC in La Rochelle

 

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[quote]Everybody has different priorities of course, but we use the Relay system from our Nat West accounts, a £10 charge, the current inter-bank commercial exchange rate (not tourist rate) and a prompt reli...[/quote]

Will we too are Nat West account holders and indeed my professional account is with them and seemingly we have a corporate sort of guy who looks after us.  In saying that Nat West let us down last week and with really serious consequences.  However they apologised and it was the first mistake for some time!

However we have populated our French Bank account with sufficient cash for the capital projects but like most other people find it difficult in sending nominal amounts for day to day utility bills etc.

 

Whilst obviously I will talk to the bank tomorrow could you please just put some meat on the bone as to how it happens and what is the procedure.

kind regards

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I use www.xetrade.com for buying euros at a much better rate than HIFX. They charge a flat £8 for amounts above £1000. Wire transfer takes about 3 to 4 days. The only downside is that Credit Lyonnais charge me another 25 Euros for the priveledge of receiving MY money! Thinking of changing to another French bank. Any recommendations? We're in the Creuse.

Keyboard Col

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We've had terrible problems with HSBC who seem to be incapable of transfering the same amount of money between two accounts on the same day every month, despite a STG29 charge...  They've told my husband that any changes must be signed in person at his London branch   Even without making changes, sometimes they forget to transfer it...In one of his many many conversations with HSBC, they told him that his SO was bascially a piece of paper and each month someone would update the details.  I find this very difficult to believe but that's their excuse. 

So, we've given up and will do it through my First Direct account.  I instruct them on the telephone and they transfer the money at a charge of STG21.  I've been using them to transfer money for a while between Ireland, UK and France and their service is always first class. 

Some banks also give a choice over who pays the charges and it generally seems to work out cheaper when the account sending the money pays...  Credit Agricole used to charge me €28 to receive my money.

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I suspect that they're probably right about the "bit of paper" for the international standing order. It's not really an automated process from what I can see. Even with Citibank who offer free transfers, you don't seem to be able to set up an automated payment.

I'm not sure about all countries, but for France, "sender pays" is a much cheaper way to go given the level of charges in French banks.

 

Arnold

 

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  • 2 months later...

hi

i'm really interested in the Nationwide option you mention.  am i right in assuming you are talking about drawing cash from a cashpoint machine in france and then depositing in your bank there?  i have a nationwide account and have only ever been able to draw up to a maximum of 300 euros per week so would be extremely interested in how you achieve £500 a day.  in france i bank with La Poste.

many thanks  for any info

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Can I ask those who have used HIFX how long the money took to transfer? The last time I sent some via them they held it for six weeks before putting it in my CA account and the rate was nothing special either. I know it is common practice for 'no-fee' exchange or transfer companies to hold on to the money for a while to gain interest, but in this instance I can only conclude that they did not feel that my continued custom was to their advantage.

Cheminot

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The Nationwide limit is £300 per day not per week,  but sometimes the French bank ATMs will only dispense €300.  The exchange rate is good though, we got €1.48 in Millau last November. 

Using Nationwide SWIFT transfers (cost £20 whatever amount is sent) the money is usually in our CCF (now HSBC) account within 2 working days.  No charge by CCF for receiving the funds and an exchange rate pretty much on the commercial rate.  I have checked out the supposed specialists but they don't seem interested in dealing with the amounts that we transfer for normal day to day expenses as opposed to large sums when initially buying.

Another bonus from Nationwide is on their Visa credit

card where there is no conversion charge which usually runs at 2 or

2.5%.  Again in November Visa transactions were charged at €1.48.

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[quote user="cheminot"]

Can I ask those who have used HIFX how long the money took to transfer? The last time I sent some via them they held it for six weeks before putting it in my CA account and the rate was nothing special either. I know it is common practice for 'no-fee' exchange or transfer companies to hold on to the money for a while to gain interest, but in this instance I can only conclude that they did not feel that my continued custom was to their advantage.

Cheminot

[/quote]

I have very uneasy feelings about third party foreign exchange companies handling my money. If they go t*ts up. So does your money. I always use Natwest. I then don't loose any sleep.

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for every days when in france we have opened a nationwide account which charges no fees. great way of saving. otherwise we opened a non resident bank account to write cheques. we find this is the best. good luck![quote user="Julie M"]

We have a house in France and a bank account for payment of bills by direct deduction by the relevant organisations.  WE have great difficulty getting any bank to transfer money into our French account.  It usually ends up that we take a lot of cash with us and pay it into the bank when we visit which is not always convenient.

Can anyone recommend a good bank/way of transferring cash at a reasonable speed/charge from an English Bank to a French bank?  (We bank with Lloyds TSB, Yorkshire Bank and Nationwide Building Society) all of whom cannot help!

[/quote]
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I can confirm what Jc said about Smile and the Tipanet service. We've used it for three years with never a hiccup. Flat fee £8 seems reasonable. Commercial rates of exchange have not been as favourable as Moneycorp et al but better than most High Street banks. My only problem comes from CA who sting us for the privilege of taking our money off us - in euros with all the work done by at the UK end.[*-)]

I didn't know that Banque Populaire was Co-Op's French partner. I'll check them out.

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