'TELEPHONE BANKING' IN FRANCE?

[PaulBowden]

Does anyone know of (and, if so, have any comments on) any French banks which are roughly equivalent to the First Direct model? It works exclusively by telephone and internet and has served us brilliantly in the UK. My (French) partner and I have just purchased a house in 86 Chauvigny, with a view to making a permanent move there in 2012. Between us, have a current a/c with the Caisse d’Epargne (Nord) and Credit Agricole (Poitou-Charentes.) C d’Ep have been utterly rubbish (and not just because our a/c is in the wrong region) and CA pretty good, but we miss the service (and lower charges) we get in the UK. I dimly recall a conversation with a French person last year, in which he said that there were already some ‘telephone banks’, but they were still not popular; stupidly, I don’t remember any names.

Any thoughts gratefully received…..

[Clair]

The one which comes to mind is ING Direct.

[Pickles]

Boursorama is to SocGen as FD is to HSBC. They DO have 8 physical branches as well, but everything is primarily conducted either over the phone or over the Internet.

Regards

Pickles

[PaulBowden]

THAT's the name that escaped me! MAny thanks to you AND to Clair for the ING suggestion.

Any more new suggestions welcome... Does anyone have experience with ING or Boursorama?

Thanks again

Paul

[suein56]

[quote user="PaulBowden"] Does anyone have experience with ING or Boursorama? [/quote]

I haven't got a current account with them but do have savings accounts with ING and these were opened and are run completely by 'phone/internet. They have a freephone number to call to access them with any queries and have been unfailingly helpful so far.

Sue

[Clair]

[quote user="suein56"]I [] have savings accounts with ING and these were opened and are run completely by 'phone/internet. They have a freephone number to call to access them with any queries and have been unfailingly helpful so far.

Sue[/quote]

Same here.

[Judith]

On the other hand I closed my account with ING direct, when they failed to accept a UK payment from me, and moreover, did not tell me that they had.

It was FD which sorted it all out.

When I first came here I opened the Nationwide account (as we all did) and thought to close my FD account.  Given all the NW changes recently, I am very glad that I did not close it, and in fact, I am thinking of reverting to using FD for my main account, as they have almost always (with one exception) been good to use.