We also have good health care in my region of 24. We only had the usual ailment that can occur with age, but since 2021 we have really discovered the amazing care of the French health system 
It would be a main concern if we moved to another region, which we had hoped to do, one day.
It appears that Britline, and presumably the rest of Credit Agricole, are no longer offering new time deposits/depots a terme (eg for 6/12/24 months etc). The sole exception is for those prepared to deposit funds for 5 years+. The rationale is apparently that they want to lend money for longer periods, but have to hold money back, in order to be able to repay those holding (short term) time deposits. Yet many of those depositors simply roll over the deposits for (repeated) 6/12/24 month periods. It will be interesting to see if other banks follow suit/have already done this.
Many rude words! We had talked to our advisor only a month or so back about opening a series of these for 3,6 and 12 months once we get proceeds of house sale in 10 days time as don’t want to tie it up for too long. We need funds for our renovation works, so I had worked out what we would need and when.
Any idea of other options?
What interest rate/s are you getting currently, Jane?
Boursobank are offering 1.8 - 1.9% and 6 or 12 months.
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What you have to be careful of if you’re not depositing for a long time is the stupid 15-day rule for interest. This applies to Livret A and all other savings accounts, as far as I know. The interest is calculated every half-month, and only money that has been in the account for the complete 15 days will earn interest. That means, e.g., that if you deposit some on the 2nd, it won’t earn any interest until the second half of the month, and conversely anything withdrawn on the 14th will not earn any interest from the beginning of the month. This is compulsory for the Livret A etc., but not for other accounts, but the banks do it anyway (I wonder why?)
In the Fintech world there’s some decent rates -£ better than Euro at the moment. But depends if your happy to go there.
Wise Saving Pots are paying quite well (although theres the pain of claiming withholding tax back - 30%) to get the full rate. Secured against govt bonds - rates move all the time but they’re centrally set. It’s instant access (you just move it between the pot and your normal account) - multiple currency options
Trading212) is worth looking at. Any “cash” in the account is basically held in bonds etc and is paying better than Wise (no withholding tax). 85k protection from German govt - but it’s safeguarded in separate client accounts as well.
I imagine there’s loads of others - Euros are paying a lot less than sterling - sterling topped 4% recently still about 3.7 I think
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Thanks, we are not fintech people, it would disturb our sleep. And it’s all in euros as that’s what we’ll need.
Wise I could add to, although have never achieved getting withholding tax back, despite filling in many forms. But putting all of it there would equally disturb our sleep.
But some ideas to explore. We have got the T shirt for endless swapping funds here, there and everywhere to keep the best rates so now what is more valuable to us is time. So safe, simple, and not necessarily the highest of the miserable interest rates around.
This popped up in looking around for a safe home for our savings. Incredible what an ill-informed TikTok piece can do!
Oh dear. I had mistakenly rather doubted anyone would be much affected (or even particularly interested!) by the information in my post. Hope it didn’t spoil your evening.
For what it’s worth, we’re
a) rolling over existing time deposits for as long as CA will allow us to continue to do so;
b) keeping cash we may need in a typical instant access deposit account, with the inevitable low interest rates, and;
c) steering the majority to a euro interest account within AV, as there are currently “special offers” (ie extra interest awarded) available. The disadvantage of c) is that of course funds are effectively locked away, so only useful if they’re not needed in the short medium term.
The LLDS account if you haven’t already. 12k limit - but it’s basically the same as Livret A in practical terms. It’s not as well known as the Livret A so you may have missed it.
After that Boursorama savings account are usually “competitive” for French savings accounts.
Our CA advisor just sent this through when asked about alternatives
Livret Performance Normandie savings account.
“This special offer, instant access savings account, is available until the 30th April 2026 at a rate of 3.00% gross per annum for any new money (from an external source) arriving onto your current account. It can be opened for up to a maximum amount of 150 000 euros per person. The account runs for a period of 3 months after opening and after this time the interest rate reduces to 0.50% gross per annum (as of 1st February 2026).”
Surely they can’t mean 3% for onlythree months?
It’s pretty explicit. Might as well put it under the mattress
That’s strange. There’s no mention on my Wise app of any tax being withheld on my GBP savings pot.
Renault Bank are offering 2% boosted to 4% for the first 3 months.
The withholding tax applies to Wise Europe, ao if you get cashback on european currency wallets.
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Weird. I would have thought it was an intelligent banker’s role to manage this. Using a variety of strategies that occur to me , and I’m not a banker!
The only worrying thing is that such an apparently narrow decision could be an indicator of lack of volume - ie not doing enough businesa to make use of the various tools they could use worthwhile. But It looks like the main lack is thought on such a decision ?
Surely Banks must hold enough money to repay on demand… they can’t gamble on the chance that folk will simply roll-over the short-term deposits… 
I agree. I’m no banking specialist but my understanding is that EU banks have to hold 30 days worth of highly liquid quality assets to meet short term liquidity demands.
CA blocked my account in December 2025 due to what they considered to be a fraudulent attempt to get into my LDD account. I was then sent in circles by the branch bank conseiler, having to ring their virement and fraud service departments several times and getting nowhere.
I was seriously thinking of going Britline, but decided to give it another go, and rang the virement and fraud services departments again a few days ago. At last, a woman at the virement service department spoke in confident fluent English. We were doing ok in French until then, but she wanted me to understand that she has to send an email to my local CA branch conseiler, and on receipt of a reply, she’d unblock my account. We’d been through this before, weeks ago!
I think the branch bank conseiler messed up. He didn’t confirm receipt of the first email sent to him from the virement service, despite me telling him he needed to. I am waiting for him to acknowledge receipt of this second email, with my fingers crossed, anxiously!
Otherwise, I haven’t had a problem with CA, as far as I’m aware, for the last 30+ years.
No, banks only ever need only to hold a portion of assets in cash to cover expected withdrawals during times of normal business - that is why banks always fear a “run” in times of instability.