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Credit Agricole - Britline


Tony the Turner

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According to the Ouest France,  the head (English) honcho of Britline is presently on trial for extensive fraud.  The alleged booty is €400k or €650k depending on whether you accept the prosecution or defence version.  The accused admits the fraud but claims he was blackmailed and/or suborned to do it.  He is due to be sentenced on 30 May.  The French press have taken great delight in stressing that he is English!

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Hi

not only is the boss a crook, allegedly.

But, if you search on this forum and various others, you will find that Britline and CA in general leave much to be desired in the customer service area.

They are not a national Bank : they are an alliance of farmers savings schemes.

20 years ago, I started a monthly savings scheme with them. The promise of the low rate mortgage is only valid within a few km of the branch. They confirmed that it was valid at all CA banks 20 years ago. Apparently not true !

Peter

 

 

 

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Not sure for all CA; as since my enquiry about the english branch of CA in Paris a week ago, I contacted them yesterday, and was really amazed by their fast and helpful customer service! Spoke to a guy called Paul, nice chap!

Sounds like you're talking about a PEL. You can use them to get a mortgage on any french property wherever it is in France.

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[quote user="Mpprh"]

But, if you search on this forum and various others, you will find that Britline and CA in general leave much to be desired in the customer service area.

[/quote]

.....you will also find many satisfied customers too.

[quote user="Mpprh"]

They are not a national Bank : they are an alliance of farmers savings schemes.

[/quote]

Credit Agricole is a major regulated french banking group comprising several regional banks and other national financial institutions. CA is one of the top 40 quoted companies in France.

The group's latest reported accounts show net capital resources totalling 914 mds euros, 66 mds euros of funds in use and a capital adequacy ratio of 10.4%.

They offer investment banking, corporate banking, private clients, insurance services, consumer loans, mortgages, factoring/invoice discounting - all the things that "real" banks offer.

If you buy a new washing machine on tick anywhere in France, then chances are its a CA loan you'll take out.

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We have a Britline account. They have always been very helpful and I would have no hesitation in recommending them. Our original plan was to have this account while we bought our house here and moved across permanently then switching to a local branch or bank. In the event we have not seen any need to do this.

Sid

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We opened a Britline account 3 years ago for the purchase of our home and although we did not have the need to speak to them we did many transactions.  This year we closed the Britline account as we opened an account with CA in Lassay our local town.  I read the info on closing the account which has approx 70euros in it.  I cut up our cards and returned with the unused cheques stating that we had opened an account locally and in my mind and written off the 70 euros fully expecting these to cover the cost of closing the account as indicated in the information pack.   Imagine our joy when we received a letter 7 days later asking our account number.  The euros were transferred and there was no charge to close the account.    So have no complaints about the service and the staff in Lassay (although few) are super.

Chris

 

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Hi, The Quillan branch nicked 500E out of my account in Dec 2004 that why I moved to another bank, the full story is on here. It was after they introduced the new (silly) automated paying in system. I have no trust in them at all!
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I got a statement from CA Britline a couple of weeks ago and wasn't pleased to see that they  introduced a charge for accepting money transfers - the relay transfers from a British bank used to be free.  Maybe it is to help cover the losses from that extensive fraud mentioned in the original posting...
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I've been happy with them as well. They have recently added Skiline (or something like that) which seems to be in English, but in my desperation to learn the language, I've avoided those web pages.
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I am really interested in the details of this story - I have been on the Ouest France website but they insist you pay to make a search!
I was very unhappy with the services of the old head honcho (Vincent Gray as far as I remember) - is it him?  How do I get to see the newspaper coverage please?  By the way they have always charged us for sending £ cheques to our Britline account - usually works out about £25 per transaction - which is a lot but certainly more convenient than queuing up for ages in the NatWest and then trying to get the transfer sorted out by someone who has no idea about the range of services offered by the bank and can give me no worthwhile advice!

Valerie

 

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No problems with Britline. Just transferred (well actually yesterday) £'s  from my UK Lloyds TSB account to World Wide Currencies online. They convert to euro and trnsfer to my Britline account. No charges anywhere along the chain. Got 1.4550 € per £. Takes about a week from start to finish.

Harry

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Yes, it is Vincent Gray, although the reports refer to him as "Vincent G". I didn't keep the paper so can't be more helpful.  However, when he is sent down (or, I suspect given a suspended term)  on 30 May, no doubt there will be a further report.  We are going to Normandy on 6 June (quite co-incidental date!) and no doubt the weekly press will have the story.  I'll look out for it.

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Hi Sunday Driver, C.A took an age to do an internal investigation, they refused to hand over CCTV footage of the day and time I was in the branch. I could prove the time I was in the branch as I had the withdrawal slip from the cash machine I withdrew the cash from (which was across the road). Also because it was likely I enclosed the blue slip still attached to the white slip along with the cash by mistake, I felt I didnt have enough evidence and I didnt want even more stress trying to get the police to understand the whole situation. I bought my french house to chill out, I was fed up with all the stress it was causing me. A solicitor friend said the cost of recovery would be greater than the 500E, he advised me to forget it and get on with relaxing. The outcome of the internal investigation was they could not trace the money! What a surprise! I think whoever opened the envelope found both slips, smiled and enjoyed a good christmas with my 500E cash.
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This is a message for PIXIETOADSTOOL: If you've been having problems with transferring your money to France from your local Natwest Bank then tell your local branch to give you the telephone number of their International Services Branches and you could then ring them directly. There used to be one in Bradford, West Yorkshire a long time ago and the staff were 'cracking' at their jobs- very helpful.  Now though we use Barclays. This is because Barclays can open a euro current account and euro savings account in the UK for you to pop those extra bits of money into, which is handy when it comes to withdrawing it because you are not at the mercy of the exchange rates because it has already been done when you pay your money in. So, if you pay in when the exchange rates are in the pounds favour (and you generally get commercial rates not tourist rates as we have found) your money goes a little further, and if you encash it by the eurocheques they give you in the branch (the International Branch is based at Poole but your local Barclays deals with that aspect it is not something you have to worry about) when you need your money out to take abroad, then you are unaffected if the exchange rates is not as advantageous- but conversely if the pound gets even stronger against the euro well it's hardluck then. As for transferring your money from these accounts to France it is easy- the 'in branch foreign exchange till' staff can help you with the international payment form (whether it is for standard transfer or urgent transfer), just make sure that you have an IBAN number handy (IBAN as you probably know is for International Bank Account Number) for the French bank account you need to send your money to.  You could also set up an account with Barclays Bank in France very easily as they have a branch in Paris and Toulouse that I know of. Here they have a ' Conseiller de Clientele' person who speaks English (or is in fact English). If you sent this person at Barclays Bank in France ( he is a Barclays Bank  memeber of staff at Toulouse)  an email I am sure that he would help : ian.jefferies@barclays.fr  

This person had helped us in the past. If you sent him a brief email of what you need he would be able to recommend an account type, debit/ credit card in France,  statements, cheque book and paying book for your account in France etc.Tax return form filling in in France...... and this helps with running your account when you are in the UK. He makes the money side of things- international transfers,  problem free. I hope he doesn't mind me putting his email on here but they are given out on his business card from the bank. ( I am not a representative of this bank but have just had excellent quality customer service and advice).   It is just so similar to having an English bank account. The only thing you need to be aware of is that French Banks in general  charge on current accounts even when you are in credit, unlike UK banks where banking is pretty much free for the general things when you are always in credit. I know it sounds a bit like an AD for Barclays Bank, but they are very good. The only down side I can think of is that they are not local like the Credit Agricole branches, but your money is safe! You can use telephone and fax to contact him, or email or old fashioned post by letter. I hope this (rather long winded) info helps you Pixietoadstool because it sounds as though your Natwest need a bit more staff training.....

 

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Painterman

We are just deciding with which bank to open an account - and being able to converse in English is a big plus until we improve our French.

We shall be buying a property about an hour from Toulouse but it seems a bi of a way to visit the bank and I cannot ind any local branches. How do you go about drawing money in France?

Paul

PS forgot - the terms for Barclays Fance include having a minimum 3000 euros in the current account.

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Hi    P,

Yes  there is a minimum amount I believe but the banks customer service staff would be able to help you for what minimums applied to which types of account. In the past we have called in to the branch and been able to withdraw some money but we did see the conseiller de clientele at the time. It has been a long time since we needed to call in to draw cash. We have found it is easier to pay by debit card or by cheque and so don't need to carry cash ( except little bits, as you do.) Mr Jefferies would be able to explain how things are done there for you I'm sure.  We are still UK based so for us being able to see the amounts on our statements to ensure all is accounted for directly from our account is working out the  best method for us. If you are so close to Toulouse and already living in France then you could maybe telephone there to arrange an appointment?

Their telephone number in Toulouse is 05.61.99.41.14 and you need to ask for Mr Jefferies, the conseiller de clientele. If he's busy with clients, I'm sure that you could arrange to speak with him at a time convenient to you both.

I hope this helps. We've been very happy with their standard of service.

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Sorry, forgot to mention, that whilst I've been looking into info in this Finance section, others have been mentioning the bank accounts at La Poste ( the post office?) that sound uncomplicated and easy to run. We will be looking into this at some point in the future because Toulouse is now a long way away from where we are trying to buy a house. People have mentioned the charges from La Poste and they seem to be much lower than what we have been paying so far, but in the meantime it is convenient for us to deal with Toulouse via email/ telephone/ letter and fax.I believe there is also something called 'minitel' but I'm not sure what this is.

Good Luck. 

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[quote user="Arty"]Hi Sunday Driver, C.A took an age to do an internal investigation, they refused to hand over CCTV footage of the day and time I was in the branch. I could prove the time I was in the branch as I had the withdrawal slip from the cash machine I withdrew the cash from (which was across the road). Also because it was likely I enclosed the blue slip still attached to the white slip along with the cash by mistake, I felt I didnt have enough evidence and I didnt want even more stress trying to get the police to understand the whole situation. I bought my french house to chill out, I was fed up with all the stress it was causing me. A solicitor friend said the cost of recovery would be greater than the 500E, he advised me to forget it and get on with relaxing. The outcome of the internal investigation was they could not trace the money! What a surprise! I think whoever opened the envelope found both slips, smiled and enjoyed a good christmas with my 500E cash.[/quote]

Arty

This explains your original "CA stole my money" post. [;-)]

Firstly, I would expect CA to take an age to do an internal investigation. I'd be more upset if they came back within 24 hours and said "sorry, mate".

Internal bank investigations into potential staff fraud are very thorough and involve many enquiries, not just into the alleged offence, but also examining similar bank records for patterns and inconsistencies, as well as looking at unusual lifestyle, and so on.  Because of this, they are never quick affairs.

CA would certainly refuse to hand over any CCTV tapes because to do so would break the chain of evidence and render them inadmissable, even if the staff member was shown as being bang to rights.

Regarding proving you were in the branch, I have to say that your ATM withdrawal slip only proves that you used the machine across the road at that given time.  It does not prove you were actually in the branch.

From what you have said, CA appear to have acted quite properly in the circumstances (as one would expect them to) and your inadvertant error meant that their internal controls could be circumvented by a dishonest employee.

 

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Oh dear, I have digressed from the points being made on the original thread. Very sorry, it had caught my eye originally because there is a Credit Agricole in a small town near where we are trying to buy 'our' house, and so points regarding integrity of the bank involved (CA) and their customer service is of interest to me. Still , I hope my 'little' (sorry not so little) digression helps someone else. I shall be watching this thread too to see what happens to the man (who was) at the top of Credit Agricole. [:)]
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