Opening a French Bank Account

[redmike]

Sorry if this has been posted before but I have looked through posts and cant find what I am looking for.

My son lives and works in France for an English company. He wants to open a French bank account. He 'lives in' and therefore has no utility bills, which are a normal requirement along with passport or id card.

Anyone know how you get round this? Is it simply to ask your employer (and in his case landlord) to provide you with a document stating who you are, where you live and work etc?

 

 

[Clair]

I'd ask the bank what other proof is necessary. They may well accept a payslip in lieu of a utility bill.

[Will]

The utility bill is required to prove your address. Many French pay slips also include the employee's address, so this may well be equally acceptable. Although the one I am looking at now is a rather crude photocopy which would be very easy indeed to falsify. As Clair says, ask the bank. They must have dealt with similar situations before.

 

[powerdesal]

As I remember, we opened an account in France without any French address, we had not, at that time, found a house that we wanted to buy.

[Will]

Yes, many banks in France allow you to open a compte etranger - though at least under current rules (it probably was not always the case) you are obliged to provide proof of identity and proof of your address in your home country.

[Pierre ZFP]

Does he have a rental agreement/contract from his Landlord?  That should be good enough.

[Gyn_Paul]

If he pays tax in france then his demande will have a french address on

it. That would surely suffice. If he pays UK tax (under whatever

peculiar regime hold sway!) then he would be better using his UK

address and opening the compte as an etranger. He can always change it

to a French-based one later

p

[Mike Adam]

I bank with HSBC in France, however, I've been searching around and there is a good guide on banking in France on a site called IFP.

 

[jc]

And also for a "compte etrangere"-proof that you pay tax in that country.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="jc"]And also for a "compte etrangere"-proof that you pay tax in that country.[/quote].

I guess that must a new rule then, 3 years ago I wasn't asked for proof of tax paying - it would have been impossible to provide as there is no tax here, it would have stuck in my mind

[jc]

I've only been asked for it for the past two years;my UK tax identity number appears acceptable.

[Gyn_Paul]

I detect the dead hand of the U$ money laundering laws at work here.....

p

[hoverfrog]

I've just opened a (2nd) bank account here. The rules are the same regardless of how many accounts you have!

You will need your passport, and a utility bill proving your french address that is less than 3 months old.

For the original account they took the compromis de vente as proof of address.

What i'd really like to know is why they have to photocopy the passport again for every little thing! It doesn't change!

Banks here are probably no different to elsewhere - I love my bank and they are really nice, adaptable, easy to get on with, pleasant to deal with...

My friend is with the same bank but a branch a few miles away and hers are snotty, overbearing, and make life as dificult as possible!

I always drive the extra miles to my branch as it's worth it - I hate going into the nearest branch!

So, in summary, YMMV and it's the people who make the difference :)

[jc]

It's the same in the UK-opening a second account in a bank where I had had an account for years meant that they needed all the checks again and this was before money-laundering,

[andyh4]

[quote user="Gyn_Paul"]I detect the dead hand of the U$ money laundering laws at work here.....


p

[/quote]

Paul

I think it has more to do with "tax avoidance" within the EU.  New regs mean that interest earned in a foreign country has to be declared in the country of your tax residence.  They need the data to inform your tax authorities of interest earned - just in case you "forget" to declare it yourself.