My father is being driven demented by his BNP account and wishes to change banks. As he is a UK resident the easy to use online accounts such as Monabanq and Hello aren’t interested. We have recently moved to Banque Populaire and have an efficient contact there so I explored this. However it is a no go as he would need to be physically present in Dax for at least one meeting and this is a non starter at the moment.
So my question is , does anyone here know of a traditional French bank which will let you move your account to them remotely. I cannot believe that this is impossible in this day and age but I imagine that each bank will have its individual policy ?
Thanks @Fleur - unfortunately that is only open to French fiscal residents when you check the small print unless you can go into a branch and Revolut no good as he needs to make standing order payments and a cheque book.
No it doesn’t but you can set up Direct Debits and standing orders for regular payments and as @james knows ('cos we tried it) you can send an email link to a recipient who can collect the money directly by clicking on the link.
An additional word of warning…
Before brexit my daughter opened an account at our nearest bank (Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne) - very straightforward - just the usual identity proofs required. My son has just done the same - with several more bureaucratic barriers to overcome, which the bank has specifically said are due to brexit. One of these was that they won’t just accept a passport on its own, but also require certification from the issuing authority, known as a ‘Special Access Request’ or SAR - basically a formal list of all the passports issued for the person in question - only obtainable from the Peterborough passport office ‘Disclosure Team’ - who are currently so overwhelmed (again because of brexit) that they are taking 4-6 weeks to respond.
Check out Starling Bank.
I have one and it allows multiple sub-accounts in different currencies with no or minimal fees.
I lent a friend some dollars in Honduras and he paid me back in Sterling from Canada.
For small sums it is a good way to convert to Euros.
It is also high on the ethical scale.
