Which French bank would you choose ?????

[Jongleurs]

Having had accounts at the Banque Populaire, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas we are now searching for a user friendly bank here in the Aude (near Chalabre).  Has anyone any recommendations ?  We would want to use it for business, current, savings and mortgage accounts.  Any help and information gratefully received...............

 

[Teamedup]

Add to your list the Credit Mutuel and Barclays and those are the banks that we have used in the past and are with one of the offshoots of the CCF (which is changing to HSBC) some of the off shoots aren't. Ours is fine, but the actual main CCF was not interested in us having an account with them at all about four years ago.

Good french bank, I am not sure that there is one.

[Jc]

The Bank I've used for years and have never had problems with(not saying it's good) is Credit Lyonnaise.

[Baz]

I have used Société Générale in Narbonne since 1989 and not had a single problem.  They do not charge me  for Internet Banking and the service from the bank staff has been most helpful and excellent. I have occasionally used the services of  another Branch in France with no problems and this is an added advantage over many other banks.

I should state this is my own experience and this is how I have based my recommendation.

Baz

[skye]

Another question - has anyone used the banking facilities at the post office as a regular account? Their website looks promising and they have the advantage of being nearly everywhere. Or are there disadvantages to be aware of?

Skye

[Liz]

[quote user="skye"]

Another question - has anyone used the banking facilities at the post office as a regular account? Their website looks promising and they have the advantage of being nearly everywhere. Or are there disadvantages to be aware of?

Skye

[/quote]

We've been with La Poste for 10 years and are very satisfied with them.  We stick to the simplest form of banking, with a cheque book, no expensive cards, and pay 2 euros a year bank charges.  They are open Monday/Friday and Saturday morning and you can go in any little village and find a La Poste.  They have cards, RIPs, savings accounts and loans etc just like a normal bank.  Their Internet service is OK but pretty basic, you can only transfer from current account to savings and vice versa and check your balance. I think it may be possible to add other payees but you have to send off a form to set this up.

All in all very satisfied customers.  This subject has come up several times before and I think the general feeling has been positive.

Liz

[hastobe]

[quote user="Jongleurs"]

Having had accounts at the Banque Populaire..........

 

[/quote]

We are in the process of opening a current account with them (local branch has someone who speaks very good English [;)]  - plus they were recommended for our mortgage).  Were your experiences good?

Hastobe

[Teamedup]

Our Banque Populaire were very helpful at first and we changed our mortgage over to them. However, once our conseiller moved on it just started going down hill. I would be told one thing and then they would do something else which always cost us money, at least twice as much as we would be initially told for the services they were providing. I got sick to the back teeth of them and had on going rows for about two years when they threw in the towel and closed our almost empty account without charging....... french banks used to charge for closing the account. I had left 10 francs in it, so I suppose it cost me that.

My feelings about french banks is that they need to be watched like hawks. They will happily say one thing and either not do it or do what ever they want without apology or refund.  Complaining to head offices or managers makes no difference, or so it seems. And there is no ombudsman and the Banque de France doesn't seem to have any sort of role either. Also I would suggest that everyone watch what is going on on their accounts, I have seen many a weird thing being debited. My current bank, an off shoot of the HSBC and most certainly not the old CCF is not too bad, supportable really.

I suppose it would always depend what one does with any bank, I don't run a business and really our every day needs are relatively simple and as such our banking should be simple too. Helas it never has been.

[geno]

We have a BritLine account and opened a local Credit Lyonnaise current account when we changed mortgage. Credit Lyonnais have been hopeless to the degree of complete incompetence. They don't even respond to recommended letters, our local advisor usually can't actually get hold of the head office; when he does they ignore him AND us; and the local branch equipment is prehistoric.

We've gone back to using Britline for most things. Like TU says you have to keep on top of them and make sure you get everything in writing (they had me driving for 6 months without insurance!) but they have been reasonably competent beyond that.

 

[Barrym]

After years with CA and BP I looked for an good internet based bank. which gave a free carte bleue and free internet banking - the best I could find was the AXA bank which reimbourses you on the CB charges.  I've now been with them for 2 years without problems.  And I use ING direct for savings.

[opas]

Well La Poste is off my list after yesterday!

I asked at our village offiice for some info on childrens accs, expecting to be given a few leaflets to muse over, she asked for our telephone no and said the larger branch in the next town would contact me, no problem . Afew days later whilst I was out our youngest took a call from La Poste for a rendez vous at the larger branch. I didn`t realy want to go as I felt I was being railroaded ,when all I wanted was some info but what harm could it do? So yesterday afternoon armed with 2 girls and passports(just in case) drove for our 2.30 appointment, introduced ourselves at the desk and was asked to wait................40 mins later I went back to the desk and told the lady to annule the appointement as I had to go, she said wait a few minutes the lady is nearly finished. I refused and left.

Went to do another errand whilst in the town and arrived at chez nous about 4.30, hubby asked how we went on and why we were late arriving at La Poste.......LATE   LATE we were not late,   "Oh " he says " well the woman rang here at 2.36 to see if you were coming" !!!!!!

Mrs O

[napoleon]

We have only had an account with La Poste. After five years they have never made an error, always been helpful and have a system that works for us.

The only problem was when HSBC managed to send €2000 to the wrong account and we became overdrawn. La Poste were very polite, patient and accepted a fax of the transfer as evidence of where the error lay and just waited till the funds were restored. No penalties were imposed.

It is also useful having so many branches even if the small ones are under threat.

At the moment we have no reason to change.

                                                                        Alistair

[zeb]

When we first moved here 4 years ago we opened an account with Credit Lyonnais and have banked with them ever since (they do all our bill paying). However CL is over 20 kms away and it made sense to open an account at La Poste as they are in the village and it's much easier to pop down there with any cheques to pay in then buy our daily pain from across the road!

Never had any problems and I feel I'm helping keep our small LaPoste open as it too is under threat.

Mazan strongly recommended La Poste years ago - wonder what he/she thinks now that they have become a regular banque?

[Teamedup]

Yes our son had some info today that La Poste is now La Banque Postale. I have no idea as to how it will change their service as yet.

[Anton Redman]

With the exception of Credit Agricole which I would not touch with a barge pole even if I was in the middle of a midden and they were offering to pull me out. I would choose the French Bank with whom my richest friend banked. .

[daniel]

Cheapest is by far la poste (now banque postale). Unless the

"conseiller financier" at your post office is bad, there is no reason

to look further. I've tried to go to some other bank twice in 25 years

but I always came back to la poste. Now if you have a problem with

them, or with any other french people, shouting is the way to go ...

but in french, évidemment  :-)

[Anton Redman]

For what it is worth I have always found wispering works better

[daniel]

Anton,

Sorry but my English is not good enough and I couldn't find "Wispering"

in my dictionnary. So I shouted this morning at the poste office and it worked as usual. The thing is that if I stop shouting they will

stop shouting back and it will be much less fun. But I agree that you may need some training. You can learn how to shout French in Marseille or Sète.