Credit Card

We had the exactly opposite experience with them. After being able to buy our council flat we were directed to them by the council for a mortgage. Not only immediately granted but entirely without any form of deposit and without an existing savings account with them.

Not only that but, being entirely ignorant of such things, we were given a mortgage the interest rate of which only changed annually, so no nasty surprises. Even better, because interest rates went down in the 80s we ignored the annual invitation to pay less, so were able to devote less of my redundancy money in '99 to paying it off in order to arrive here debt free.

I really donā€™t understand the current need to have a deposit, the bugbear of many young couples who canā€™t even start up the ladder. If you are adjudged to be able to afford the payments, why are you not apparently considered able to start paying straight away with the first instalment without the drag of paying rent while trying to save? :confused:

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You donā€™t have to put down a deposit here in France. My son andhis partner went to their bank who put a courtier onto their demand for a house loan and came with back pretty quick with offers. This was naturally based on their joint salaries and abibilities to pay each month with money still to pay bills and buy food.They then looked for a property to buy and the courtier did the rest for them, obviously there was a fee but never ever any deposit asked for to secure the loan or property.

Thumbs up to the French then, for commonsense and at the same time resurrecting an ancient English term, though they probably gave it to us in the first place. :rofl:

How about when you hire a car in a foreign country (especially in the USA)? I believe you have to use a real credit card for the deposit, and a debit card wonā€™t be accepted.

So you what do French people do?

There are VISA credit cards available from french banks (we enquired many years ago but were put off 100% as our income was not steady nor fixed) but only if you can meet the financial criteria for owning one such as having a good salary and sign you can pay in full each month any outstanding amount you have used. This is the reason why most french ordinary people donā€™t have them, they like cash, cheques and their debit cards which also have strict rules. The Bank of France is something you donā€™t want to get involved with when you go overdrawn or cannot meet your debts, they act fast and merciless and people donā€™t file for bankruptcy (surrendettement) here on a whim either, the far reaching consequences go on for years and have long lasting effects financially!

Car hire companies seem to know that French people are unlikely to carry credit cards and accept debit cards on French bank accounts.

With the measures @Shiba is talking about and the readiness of the Banque de France to take them I suppose that gives a level of confidence to car hire companies accepting French bank cards.

When one of our work vans had an accident and was off the road, OH had a hire van but it was only for 5 working days and we had to hand over his debit card which they blocked a weekā€™s hire cost on even though the insurance company were footing the bill, so they were making sure they would get paid even if it went wrong via the insurers coughing up which in fact, they did once we paid and sent them the invoice. So if you hire on debit facilities, make sure you have sufficient in your account for it to be blocked.

This is true, I have mentioned it before but we once had a cheque bounced because of a double edged sword, the Grande Tempete of '99 knocked out all the electricity and therefore computer systems and the CA was on strike so I couldnā€™t pay in to cover the cheque. We were reported by CA to the BdF and had our chequebook demanded to be returned to be withheld for 10 years. :astonished:

Fortunately resolved by the end of the root problem before I actually gave them the chequebook, but no word of apology from CA. What a surprise. Not. :rage:

Now that we have finally moved permanently and are applying for our cartes de sĆ©jour, the question of a card to replace the credit and other cards which we used to have in the UK comes up. We have a bank account in the UK into which general income goes and also a local CA account which is topped up when the euro-pound rate is OK. One card that seems to fit the bill is Carte Zero and I see that some members have mentioned this favourably. Does anyone have experience of this card over a year or so; is it sensible to apply for one? There seems to be a block on ā€˜high earnersā€™ - does this mean millionaires or those with income over a more modest sum? Is a UK bank acceptable as the source of funds or will I have to arrange regular payments to the CA branch?

If you are applying for your TDS then a regular amount each month for the required amount will help your cause, coming into your french bank account. The french are not interested in what you have in the UK, they want to see actual income coming in here to support your claim for a residency card!

Many thanks. We pay money into our CA account using Wise. Making regular (e.g. once a month ) euro payments from a UK bank is not easy and is certainly expensive. I think that I could arrange to have my pension paid in euros but it would cost me! While currently we buy most of our food using a UK credit card, there is not much incentive for topping up our French account right now. I am not convinced that many people living in France do this.

Does anyone have experience of the Carte Zero, please?

Iā€™ve had a cartezero for a few years. Iā€™ve had no problems with it. I remember that they didnā€™t give it to me straight away before I could send them a French tax demand to prove my income.

I am fortunate in that a debit card is all I need, so I have no beef with the negative attitude to credit that the French adopt - what I cannot get used to is having to pay for a bank card.

Iā€™m surprised you say that. I have my state pension and a Unilever pension paid straight into my C/A account and itā€™s certainly better value than if I bring the money in myself because both of them are getting marginally better rates that I can.

Is that not a more costly way of using your money? A UK credit card charges you for this transaction and their rates are usually not that favourable.

I use my Barclaycard to pay for food in France, but only if Iā€™m running short at the end of the month and want to take advantage of the free credit for a month.

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Thats how they make the money amongst other charges. You donā€™t get anything for nothing inthis life and anything that sounds too good to be true never is! Like you also, a debit card is sufficient for all my needs, why complicate life even further.

We have 4 pensions paid to CA & free transfers to our BS a/c with Britline
Roger

It depends on the card Sue. A number of UK debit and credit cards convert at pretty much bank rates (ie the best rates the banks themselves get). The new Chase one, for instance.

This feature of a mature, competent, fairly regulated consumer financial services market (amongst many others such as fair commission and management and transaction charges on a wide range of investment and other financial products) is apparently very difficult to find in France.

Here we have things like 3% commission on bank-to-bank transfers being loaded into the rate at which incoming foreign bank transfers are processed, and swingeing bank charges (say 10 euros) on simple things like setting up a new beneficiary to pay direct debits if you change your phone or electricity company or want to pay someone else by bank transfer.

And donā€™t get me started on the fact that in addition to a non-market exchange rate, when I used my CA Visa debit card several times a week to pay Amazon UK 0.99p kindle books for about 5 months as I had more money here than in the UK, CA, for whom I have a so-called ā€œconseillerā€ at no time in the whole year reviewed the account and warned me that in addition to a weighted exchange rate CA was also charging me a flat rate charge of 1 or 2 euros )canā€™t remember - Iā€™ve blocked it out but there were pages and pages of these transactions and not much else - per transaction.

This is like the 1970ā€™s in the UKā€¦

Lloyds Bank in UK now charge high fees etc, when/if we use our LBank debit card to pay for goods in Europe.
Darn nuisanceā€¦ especially as we donā€™t visit UK any more.
(In previous years we would use the funds for holidays in UK with family and friendsā€¦ and it worked wellā€¦).

Thereā€™s a well known saying which applies here.

"If youā€™re not paying for the product - you ARE the product!

Remember that when paying for your French bank card :wink:

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Well, thanks to all. We are using our Nationwide cards here for the time being, as we did when we were constrained by the 90-day rule; and the rate is pretty good. But we canā€™t go on for ever (having just moved here finally last month). Hence the interest in a free carte Zero card without having to change banks or have a regular top-up. We also use Wise (and there are alternatives coming on the market now). We couldnā€™t get cash out of the ATM (DAB) in Cite Europe on the way here with either card (NW or Wise). Here we have a CA card for the ATM, and, within limits, that works quite well. The advantage of leaving my pension paid into the bank in the UK is that I can control when I make the exchange - itā€™s easy enough with Wise who are quick and charge very little.