Thanks, Helen. That’s good to know.
Next question, what’s your mother’s maiden name? And also the last 4 digits on your bank card? 
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Cheap car insurance? Have been quoted 300 a month for vintage car including breakdown etc!
General Car Insurers will quite possibly cost more for a Vintage/Classic than a modern. There are specialist insurers who deal (more reasonably) with specialist areas… such as Vintage cars…
True to a point.
Credit Agricole has at least 1 branch in every town across France but dont assume they talk to each other!
They are regional and unlike UK banks they operate independently. We were with Britline from when it started around 1990 and for second home owner back then it was excellent. We stayed with them after moving here permanently but increasingly realised that a local branch needed.
We stayed with CA but had to go through the whole gambit of opening a new account and also advised to keep Britline open for a good while just in case yearly standing orders and the like cropped up as it is down to you to advise who ever you have standing orders with to cancel/change.
Very happy with CA and as a bonus our region has an english speaking helpline and better still an english speaking representative at our local branch.
I am happy to deal with stuff in every day french but when dealing with our finances much happier to do it in English.
As others have said I think Britline may be the best or only option for second home owners but for residents you need a local branch.
“need”? We have been resident for nearly 3 years and I have not thought at any point we need a local branch.
I am very impressed that your local and regional CA have English speakers.
Ok, desirable then.
Pre-Brexit Helen!! The world has changed and you might have a different reception as a non-european now.
For the OP I concur with others Wise/Revolut and CA Britline as a solid starter.
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Why? We still have our bank in northern France and we now live in the East. I can pop in to a local branch to deposit cash and cheques, and that’s the only reason I ever need a physical branch. If I want to speak to someone I do it on the phone.
Our local CA branch was very keen that we move our CA Britline account to Gironde. I am not quite sure why.
Just don’t make the mistake that I did by opening an account with La Poste
I won’t ask why you say that, each has his/her own experiences. Ours is that we were lied to and swindled by CA and crossed the street to La Poste many years ago, and have had only a good experience, throughout France, since. The only French bank as far as I know that is truly national, like a UK one.
A local presence in almost every tiny village and, here at least, open 6 half days per week and 5 and a half in the larger village 4 kms away.
Those of us with good experiences are obviously going to suggest doing “as we did”… while those who perhaps had naff experiences will say otherwise.
That works with everything imagineable when someone asks for an opinion/suggestion.
(We went with CA our local bank and it suits us.)
Frankly, I do like the possibility/opportunity of dealing with folk face-to-face (If I want/need to), but many don’t feel that way at all.
I used to enjoy chatting with the cashier, but now I see someone about twice a year I suppose.
So… it’s a case of “take your pick”.
One of the plus points about Britline is the suugestion (on their website) you can pay in to any CA branch, I don’t think there will ever be a need for us to do so, but nice to know just in case.
I’ve seen such arrangements in branches of Credit Agricole.
Paying-in slip to be completed (unless you use one from your chequebook), then everything goes into the special envelope provided.
Pull the handle on the “deposit” machine, the mouth opens and you place the whole package inside.
Just like night-safe banking in UK without using the special bags.
From my own experience, money is in my account next day… others might find differently.
(I’d have thought that other banks offer this facility too)
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Just remember when using CA coin deposit machines, you tip the coins into the hopper and don’t just dump a plastic bag full of coins in there.
Not that I’ve done that, you understand.
Nope, wasn’t me.
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Another + for CA, and Britline. We have a mortgage with CA who we also bank with. We only found out about Britline at the French property show. Britline stepped in to help us at our request although we haven’t offically banked with them.
It turned out the life/critical illness cover we had with our mortgage was not going to cover us as we were not resident in France. This complicated issue is what Britline assisted us with including live discussion phone calls to our CA branch. The branch staff have always been great and helpful. The premiums paid for the life cover were refunded.
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Ah yes… that’s quite fun… I saw someone playing with that once, but never need to use it myself.
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Ditto that, been a customer for 15 years, long before we settled here and generally very easy to contact and helpful.
Though French banking system generally is a bit behind UK technologically speaking, eg overnight process not real time. A dr card transaction takes minimum of a day to hit an account, and CA online accounts do not show balances after each transaction…and nor is it free banking !
Also, bear in mind going accidentally overdrawn is a big NO for a French bank. Friends had a transfer that was delayed for some reason and so they were overdrawn. Their account was frozen and Bank of France stepped in. Not a fun time for them.
We’ve been with CA for 15 years, ever since we moved here - in fact before we moved here. The estate agent we were buying through took OH across the square and he opened an account then and there. It is useful to have a physical presence, although we can go several years without needing the branch.
It helps when you hit your “ceiling” - one of the arcane rules of French banking is that they consider your money as “theirs” and therefore set a limit on how much you can withdraw each month.
It’s happened to us once or twice and a quick trip to the branch means that the ceiling is lifted while you need the extra.
For money transfer I use Wise (love it!), OH uses Currency Fair.
As far as I’ve seen, no French bank shows a running balance online. I have accounts with two different banks at the moment, plus the wonderful Wise for transfers of course.
I has just occurred to me that I might be able to get a French B Acc as a European citizen by trading on my Austrian nationality. Possibly just easier to just go Britline anyway, since language stops being an issue.
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