We have used Credit Agricole Britline for years - to open a French bank account and have English staff to help when you first arrive and your French may be too challenging.
For currency transfer do not use a bank - their exchange rates and commission charges are too high.
We have used Currencies Direct for many years
This just isn’t necessarily true anymore, it very much depends on the who’s (you and the bank) and how much but I agree as I said earlier that a specialist is the way to go.
Hi Colette and Kevin
Welcome to the group. We moved 2020 and here are some notes. Smiles.
Many French banks have limits on how much you can spend per day/week/month. Make sure you know what they are and get them raised … either one-off or permanently. (We could not transfer our house deposit over Christmas-tide because of this brick wall).
The French use cheques… a lot. It may seem quaint but French cheques are different to UK cheques. A French cheque cannot be stopped by you (except in the case of fraud or theft). If you sign a cheque and then ask your bank to stop it… the bank may refuse. The upshot is that French cheques are almost the same as cash… which is why the French use them.
Last… when you get here make sure you have a printer/copier that works really well. You will need it. Smiles.
And take this seriously. If, inadvertently, you do withdraw money when you don’t have funds (happened to friends who thought money from the UK had reached their a/c) and you go overdrawn then you will find your a/c is closed by the Bank of France and getting that sorted is a nightmare.
Thank you ever so much everyone for your advice its so appreciated.