French approach to finance

[letrangere]

Talking elsewhere of 13eme, 14eme and even 16eme, I couldn't help thinking how useful this must be for people who would otherwise find it difficult to put money aside each month.  This got me thinking about other aspects of French finance, in particular the tightish controls on consumer credit and even the Draconian punishment for unapproved overdrafts.   Having narrowly escaped falling foul of the latter myself, you wouldn't expect me to be supporting the system.  But it does make you keep a close eye on your finances and think before you write all those cheques.  M 

[SaligoBay]

Apparently the French are among the most assiduous savers, regularly saving an average of 16% of their income.

I read it somewhere in something to do with finance, it's probably true in some statistical way, but I know plenty French people who would laugh at the idea of being able to save anywhere near that much after all the bills are paid!

I have the impression that loans are becoming easier to obtain, I see leaflets and posters and ads quite often for "personal loans to make your life better".  Never tried to get one tho, so don't really know, but there's certainly no lack of places to try.

Banks remain draconian! 

 

[Val_2]

I don't know about everyone being savers,depends if you have it in the first place to save I suppose. Without breaking any confidences because I am not naming anyone in particular cases, I get to see quite a few requests for social aid from locals from being on the CCAS and nearly all from people that I know. Some of the requests for financial assistance are quite heartbreaking and must have taken a lot of courage to write a letter to the maire in the first place knowing others would sit in judgement of it. Last night we all agreed to loan a lad whom I have known since he was 5,enough money to see him through the first year of his studies at a specialist private Lycée right down inthe south of the country with the proviso that he pays it back in full by 2008 at zero interest,he is currently 21 years old. His mother is a single parent with another child,but works full time in IT and lives in an HLM house,so its obvious she can't be saving anything or they would be able to manage these oncoming expenses.It really would be a shame to waste his particular talent after a brilliant high scoring AB Bac pass last year just because they can't get a loan anywhere else. On a personal note, I needed some extra income for a large bill this month and just walked into the local bank and got an overdraft just like that this morning without producing any paperwork which I don't think you could have done ten years ago quite so easily so credit/overdrafts are becoming more available now although the limits are still very strictly controlled.