As I said, not sure I understood, what do you mean by running balance?
1 Like
C’était juste une blague… faut pas se prendre au sérieux 
My UK banks all show each transaction in the list with the balance at that point next to it. “Running balance” is the term I’ve always heard used for that process…
I will have to look again, felt sure I could see that but it shows amounts gone out but as you say not the reducing (usually) balance along side.
Since most of the time the amounts come out in one go overnight does a running balance mean anything?
I can see what is the balance for today, I will see tomorrow what the balance will be for tomorrow. I know I have several pending amounts - yesterday’s Leclerc bill / petrol / etc and that will probably come off tonight. I can see I have enough today to cover tonight’s deductions.
1 Like
Hi, we bought a property last August and set up through BRITLINE, no issues whatsoever and covers all eventualities, plus English speaking helpful assistants if you need to ring them and their website is in both French and English and easy to set up an account.
We have debit cards, cheque book which we have needed as they are readily accepted in supermarkets etc if needed. Would recommend them without hesitation.
1 Like
Or… being CA, they were holding onto your money for as long as they could get away with so they could invest it ans earn on it in such as overnight CD markets.
Every day a bank is not giving you access to your money, that bank is earning on it. Tiny % but massive volumes of money adds up to huge sums they are making on your money. I am absolutely certain this is why in relatively recent years CA would sit on money transferred to me for 2 weeks or even longer. It’s not just stupid manual processing they use and money queuing for a member of their staff to process it. It’s the bank using your money.
CA has considerably reduced incoming processing time but still helps themselves to ridiculously high amounts in fees.
With modern internarional banking systems having been able to transfer between accounts across countries in literally 10 minutes for well over 20 years (I know, I worked in banking) there is no excuse for this.
I’d tell them you are not accepting this explanation and demand to be credited extra money for the delay. Given the care with which you prepped this transaction their excuse simply does not hold water.
Wise transfers in 6 seconds. 
Even into my C/A account, which is a miracle.
3 Likes
Not that it matters at all but that’s of course because it’s not really an international transfer. The reason the likes of wise and Revolut are able to offer the rates they do is that they hold gbp in the U.K., USD in the US, Euros in France etc, so when you tell them you want to exchange or send different currencies what really happens is that they take (for example) your gbps, put them in their holding account for when customers want them, and then work out how many euros you get then just do some accounting to move it from their euro holding account to the one they created in your name. No currency actually crosses borders (so to speak) it’s just two local transactions which makes it quicker and cheaper.
4 Likes
You had internet banking, security codes by text, contactless payments etc in 1979? Wow!
This thread is a real eye opener to me to discover how many people have so many complaints about banking. I did not realise how lucky I must be or maybe my demands are simple. I feel my money is pretty safe and I accept that I have to cooperate with the bank in this even if it causes minor irritations, and I have never been blocked from spending my money when and how I have wished, and that is all I ask for,
3 Likes
We have a second home and have our account with Credit Agricole who seem to be fine. We have been given a person who speaks English that you can reach fairly easily.
However, we already had that account for many years before we bought our house and so do not know if there are any obstacles to opening an account nowadays. I don’t really see how there can be if you own a house there and, as you will utility bills etc to show I would have thought, combined with other ID there shouldn’t be a problem.
Thanks Anne. It seems to be rather more difficult/impossible post-brexit to have an account if you don’t have a CdS than it was before.
Yes, cheques are definitely useful in France. We have paid a number of tradespeople etc by cheque.
I would advise transfering in say two tranches.
We had to pay a builder €10K to commence work on our house and transferred the money via Lumon to his account - but it never arrived. His bank, BNP, maintained they didn’t have it! Very worrying for a week or two but in the end Lumon’s bank asked for it to be returned which it was immediately - so much for BNP not having it !
So my guess is that it was too large a sum to transfer without raising questions.
None of those things excite me Sandcastle and yes I have worked in banking on and off throughout my working life, including around that time and more recently. So I stand by French banking feeling like a 1979 experience.
I already have that tab open (and the one to sign up for Revolut) but thanks. 
Seconded.
Years ago I loved using cheques to pay month end accounts. All the cheques would be prepared by my accounts department and handed to me for posting.
After a quick shuffle through them I would release those I knew would shout first and the rest went in my desk drawer.
Knowing the cut off point of all the merchants there payment would be sent at the last minute.
Managing the cash flow was quite profitable and the banks of today do just the same.
Non of us can manage without them so we have to go with the flow as complaining falls on stoney ground.
What I don’t get is why you don’t have a card with a number and your signature on it to guarantee the cheque, as we used to. Also, why the CA told me that if I lose my cheque book, or it’s stolen, I would have to cancel all the cheques for an exorbitant amount. Surely they are obliged to check that the signature is genuine and refuse payment if not?
In the UK they have only recently made a connection between the name/signature, account number and the address to validate a cheque. Unbelievable really but that is how my OH nearly had a theft from her account.