Nice to hear from someone who really knows the systems from the inside. Have to admit that on reflection we too got rather a lot of new 'possibilities' offered when we came to the new branch. We only asked for a composite quote for car and house insurance - which has never arrived incidentally.
Funny how we never spotted that and thought it was all just part of caring service (arf!) How naive can one get?
I've been with the CIC in Lourdes since I moved back in January 2010. I stayed with them even when I moved to another region and they were fantastic. I even managed to organise my car loan via email in 3 days, papers signed and money in the account.
Personal, rapid and efficient service. They are friendly and very helpful and I always feel like a respected client rather than the pain in the a** with yet another query. The charges (for my personal account) are fixed and haven't gone up more than 50 centimes in three years and the interest rate on my car loan was very beneficial at 4.2%...
I had upon previous stays in France, banked with Credit Lyonnais and Credit Mutuel and I wouldn't touch either with a bargepole ever again.
I also have my mutuelle and my contents insurance with CIC as they were the most competitive with the most comprehensive cover. CIC are also one of the few mutuelles who allow you to pay your healthcare bills with a card that is debited 30 days later and only for the amount that is not reimbursed by them...
I had a few British "banks" bank with me over the years, giving me lectures on how to run a business (sic). Like John H-F (who I have known 50 years incidentally!) I remember the lunching days. In fact my father was even a bank manager and he certainly loved his lunches! Over here I started with BNP in '72 and after about 30 years went to La Poste. My needs are simple now, just retail banking, and they have a branch (2 days a week) 50 metres from my front door. Their charges are amongst the lowest and things don't seem to get lost. I have some other "products" too. For more complicated needs I suspect a more commercial bank would be better. I know one French bank (SocGen) lent a fortune to a certain client of mine in the UK who ended up going skint for £1.5 billion or so and they took a big bath. I never understood how all the incoming banks in the UK lent money hand over fist to speculators and over the years many lost money, be they Irish, Swedish, Icelandic, Danish or whatever.
I also have such a small annuity, but organised the company to pay it annually and this works well.
Have had good service from Credit Agricole Britline (for English speakers). Disadvantage is that had to deal by post with Britline which is in Normandie whereas I am in Languedoc. You cannot use CA branches interchangeably in different cities. As now no real need to have English-speaking service, have changed to Banque Chaix, which has a branch 10 mins walk from my flat. In fact it does have an English-speaking adviser who covers a number of branches in this part of France. Have had excellent service from him and his colleagues. With little input on my part they switched all my direct debits from CA to Banque Chaix and even negotiated a cheaper package for me from France Telecom-Orange.
I have a British bank account with Royal Bank of Scotland with whom I am disgusted. My central London branch is staffed by idiots. I am with it only because I used to have an account with Williams and Glyns and it was gobbled up by RBS.
Warning: No trouble or extra expense in having my UK state retirement pension paid into a French bank; but when I asked Standard Life to pay a small private monthly annuity into a French bank instead of RBS, there was going to be an outrageous monthly fee. So I let that accumulate in RBS and transfer it to France occasionally.
I think most of the comments here are applicable - largely it depends on where your branch is and the quality (or otherwise) of the Manager.
One thing that I DO find annoying though, and we are with Credit Agricole, who by and large are not bad, is the need to completely open up a new account when simply transferring from one Departement to another. So one is involved in closing and opening and working out the timings in between for Credit Card changes.
The latter of course involves advising the new account details to all the services in the new place - and the madness of 'providing proof of address via a Services Invoice' when you've just arrived! We found the Telephone one about the quickest to get, but that might be just us, as France Telecom is otherwise awful.
I must note that we do not have any expat. accounts, so that might make a difference. Our pension payments go straight in anyway from the UK, and subject to the usual currency fluctuations as I think most payments would be anyway?
Re. English usage that appears to depend on where you live and the numbers of English speakers on the books. Oddly we have many English in and about, but our lady Manager doesn't seem to speak English. But my wife handles that side of things, and being French I suppose that obviates any need from the bank.
I have found it is not necessarily the bank but the manager that is the relevant factor.
The banks in this rural part are very tiny and we have found our first one was brilliant, then the one after was awful and now the new one is OK.
We have always been with BNP. When we first opened an account here CA were not very helpful and wanted us to deposit loads of money every month.
I do sympathise with those who have had bad experiences, but we have always found CA great to deal with, especially as they have an English speaking ( telephone ) department in Nîmes.
That's an interesting comment, Jacquie... Haven't had that experience here, but good to keep in mind!
I've been here for 26 years, so don't need English. Sorry folks!
Crédit Agricole wouldn't work for me specifically because it is _too_ local. I know people on the "board" of my local branch, and hear far too much about what I consider to be people's personal business.
I was once told "keep your bank manager, accountant and solicitor in separate towns". That works for me, here too.
We've been with Credit Agricole (Poitou/Charentes, because they are regionally organised) since we arrived, and still mightily pleased, actually. Sorry for those people who had bad experiences. Don't need the Britline, but our personal manager at the local office speaks reasonable English and looks after expats specifically. We like CA because of their 'mutual' aspect, and our manager told us that he joined the bank for that reason, and because he wanted to assist the local farming community, whom the bank supports. Quite admirable. We haven't needed major loans from them (only car loan so far), but they have always been very helpful, their online facilities are excellent, and we have had decent tariffs for moving currency to and fro.
Personally we have found Credit Agricole's Britline service amazingly good. Although I speak reasonable french I have stayed with them because I get the sense that I am dealing with a small team of people running a relatively small number of accounts (because they specialise in ex-pat accounts for Brits). Real humans answer the phone within seconds and seem to immediately know what I am talking about instead of palming me off onto others or routing me through endless voicemail systems, whenenver I have a query. Their online services all seem to run smoothly and so far (over a year now), I really have absolutely nothing to complain about. Talking as someone who has worked they way through all four of the main UK high street banks and dispaired of all of them for various reasons, I have been p[leasantly surprised by Credit Agricole's Britline Service.
We have just bailed out of Crédit Agricole ( they would not give my lady's daughter a loan towards buying a house ) to the mob who did – Crédit Mutuel.
So far so good, though they do not seem as technically efficient as the last lot.
They even paid for the account transfer 'penalties' ie inter bank agreed customer muggings!
The main banks – who seem to franchise their operations – are as only as good as that particular office's staff.
Years ago, as a self employed UK guy who used to go out for lunch on a regular basis with my bank manager ( yeah, that dates me ) I was warned that not only would bank charges rocket but the staff would be ' downsized' .
Familiar to anyone?
Last time I had to deal with the UK bank ( Barclays, I had some warped idea of long time customer loyalty) noticed that after an hour or so of closing/opening/ redirecting accounts prior to the French move that my 'consultant' was rapidly losing interest in the proceedings.
Not surprising. She should have been with her mates in the pub.
Upper management would have been motoring off to the Shires/ SW London.
The middle level had been exterminated.
It ate my reply!
I found Banque Populaire extremely helpful, They have given me an English Speaking contact and generally given a first class service. I believe that payments in sterling are possible though I have never had cause to test the service. My branch is in St Leonard de Noblet in the Limoges area.
Hi, I'm new around here.
CIC wins hands-down for efficiency and friendliness; the first bank I've dealt with where my personal banker answers e-mails, where appointments have mostly been arranged to suit my business hours. Good bank for small business.
Stay away from SG!
Jacquie
Post Bank. Only one that will not rip you off. Despite my total revulsion, like yours, I am with Barclays and they handle people very well. Name any other big national bank who are better or worse. Crédite Agricole lost me so fast they probably thought I was moving speed of light, my wife has been trying to get disentangled for nearly a year... French banks do not play the game by the rules anybody else uses. Not French, but ING used to be good.
It would help if I spelt Crédit Mutuel correctly!