It’s been quite some years since cash in any great amount was available “on demand”, certainly in our area… a few hundred via the machines is fine.
I believe this is something to do with government attempts to stop the illegal stuff (not aimed at you and I). Most things in daily life don’t demand a large sum of cash.
Transactions are supposed to be recorded by the Seller etc etc and cash is too easy to fudge in their accounting… whereas cheques and virements are “on the books”.
Also, folk are warned not to hoard money in their homes… (tucked under the mattress…)
I was actually quite surprised last week to find that I could withdraw more than 200 euros from a cash machine at my bank. When I was last in the UK there was a limit of £200 on withdrawing cash from my bank there so I had supposed it was a Europe wide anti-money-laundering regulation (UK hadn’t fully left the EU at that point).
Contactless limit has also been upped by my CA… used to be 20€ then during covid upped to 50€. I didn’t want the facility until covid when it has proved most useful.
I’m not sure what the cash-machine limit actually is but 400€ was OK for me last year. They are obviously not happy to dish out 1000’s…
Thanks to everyone for all your input. For those who don’t mind online transactions, I just wanted to say that Wise have always been excellent for moving money fast from the UK to France or anywhere else, with excellent rates. I have only had a need to phone them once and the Scandinavian gent with impeccable English was most helpful.
I remember the first time I saw the ATM withdrawal limit in my (then) shiny new N26 account. Like you I was used to daily limits of a few hundred through U.K. banks so had a bit of a shock seeing this As it’s a digital bank it’s not like I can withdraw cash anyway other than at an ATM, although I’d be surprised if I can find a single ATM that would let me have 1000€ in one hit.
I had to buy a new car. From general financial experience I knew that this transfer would not be easy. I made early arrangements with my consultant at the CA. Filled in al the forms as sent to me and the consultant confirmed that all was in order. The money left my account on the due date. Only one problem . It did not get there.
It apperars that various parts of CA do not communicate and the department that deals with suspicious transfers stop ped the payment for which i am grateful as this could have been fraud.
However they did not return the money to my account and THEY DID NOT TELL ME. I only found out by accident before I went to collect the car. The garage told me that this is not the first time that this has happened .
I have received neither apology or explanation from CA although I have asked for both.
The French commercial motto 'The customer is never right ’ still seems to rule.
Not at all surprised, they actually put a block on my account, demanded the return of the chequebook (for 10 years before I could re-apply) and reported me to the Banque de France. All because a cheque I had written for about the equivalent of €30 for repair materials after a storm was bounced because of lack of funds. This lack was caused by the bloody bank being on strike so unable to pay money in, I even had a photograph of the notice saying why it was closed on the bank door. Added to that the storm had knocked out electricity for weeks so no other way of doing things. I made a big fuss and eventually I recieved a short message saying do not return the chequebook and re-present the cheque to your creditor. Not a bloody sorry in sight.
This was not the only reason why we left them, they had also made promises about charges for receiving money that they did not keep, and the person that made them was actually hiding from me out of sight (she thought ) in the bank.
@Ahsan_Khan_Jadoon yes, but on the other hand, it help towards preventing fraudulent withdrawal of all your funds by a third party so often prevalent elsewhere with less controls in place.
We’ve had a bit of a mixed experience with CA Britline about this same subject. The people we speak to on the phone are always friendly and helpful, and usually good at explaining the limits of how French banking works, but they are sometimes not so good at telling us about extra fees.
For example, we were buying relatively expensive things online for the renovation online last month and I got a message saying I was at 80% of my plafond for my card about half-way through the month. I mentioned this when I was on the phone to them about something else, and they suggested we could either use my wife’s card if we had more big purchases that month, or they temporarily could up the limit on my card until the end of the month. I said, OK, great, yes please up the limit on my card. But then, after the end of the month, we saw there was a 5€ charge for doing this, which they hadn’t told me about. I’ve asked if they can refund it (like they did when they charged us 8€ for sending a new cheque book) but am still waiting to hear back.
I am surprised, I have been with them for 7 years and found them extremely helpful with all my dealings with them.
All you need to do is talk to them. I live in Normandy and have on a couple of occasions called into their head office in Caen and seen my account manager without an appointment. I do suggest you make an appointment (i think I was very lucky).
They have even given me help on non bank related problems.
Reading the comments here and also in the discussion about credit cards, the message does seem to be that the people who are happiest with their banks are the ones that talk to them. And that complain TO them when necessary, rather than ABOUT them.
Hmm… I wonder if you might be best served by a Bank which you can visit and speak with folk face-to-face when necessary, rather than relying on phone calls.
I think some of the difficulties (but by no means all of course) are caused because banks in France, as with other companies/institutions, expect to have a relationship with their clients and actually see them from time to time. That is changing but the personal contact aspect of business relationships here is still very important.
We learned this the hard way when my partner recieved a letter from his bank (not CA) many years ago asking for the return of the chequebook and saying they would close the account and no longer wanted a relationship with him. Horrified, he went into the bank and talked to the manager. It appeared that his level of savings in the Livret A (a requirement at the time for a none resident customer) had dropped below the required level. Because he hadn’t set foot in the bank for months, they wanted to close the account. However, after both sides apologising profusely, everything was reinstated and he has never had a problem since. We do both make a point of being seen in our respective banks from time to time though.
I started a thread way back in Jan I think about CA charges and I appeared to be the only one that had the problem. This article came out today and makes interesting reading.
On the motorway last week my ÇA card was rejected for a small péage payment, luckily I had a U.K. bank card which was fine. I went to our local CA and the bank manager took my card and said it was fine now, I simply didn’t realise such a plafond existed. I will now go back and have another little conversation with this man, because I expect to be told these things and as my money is sitting in their bank for their use I think this is ridiculous. I am tempted to remove the considerable bulk of money and drip feed the account from now on.
As it’s a digital bank it’s not like I can withdraw cash anyway other than at an ATM, although I’d be surprised if I can find a single ATM that would let me have 1000€ in one hit. 
