I think some folk had problems keeping a UK account… but that might well have been sorted out by now…
It’s clear, everyone has their own preferred way of handling finances… and us being incomers… we need to understand France’s stance on Banking/Credit.
I found the last paragraph quite revealing
Enfin, si vous avez une situation financière confortable, sachez que votre dossier risque d’être refusé. En effet, paradoxalement, le risque pour la banque est vous serez peu sujet à utiliser votre réserve financière au-delà des 6 semaines gratuites.
It is basically a battle of wits between the card provider and the customer as I see it, I guess some people enjoy that and some people do not. Personally I do not, I am not interested in money for its own sake and I prefer to have to think about it as little as possible and so I keep things simple. All this borrowing from Peter to pay Paul seems unnecessarily complicated to me because at the end of the day, the bill has to be paid and I have never understood why there is much advantage in paying it in three weeks time rather than now. For me it would be an extra layer of “things to remember to do”, I can see me intending to pay the credit back before i started being charged interest, and then forgetting to do it. But as Stella says we are all different in how we run our finances.
Must confess, I flinch every time I get a message from Leclerc offering to let me do my shopping now, then they’ll take my cheque and not bank it for xxx (several) weeks…
I know some folk (in UK) who’ve come horribly unstuck with that sort of thing…
I really don’t like it.
It is a route to problems, but they continue to do it as it must prove to be popular with their customers.
I hate to think of anyone going hungry due to lack of funds… there is other help available (discretely) and/or one can get government aid in certain circumstances.
But, as you say, folk seem to like it as it pops up again and again…
Not an issue. I pay back my Barclaycard in full every month. I have a direct debit set up on my UK a/c for that.
I agree about the delayed debiting / paying in of cheques. I like to be as up to date as possible with my expenditure, so I know straight away if we are living on beans on toast in the second half of the month. These days it’s only the high maintenance dog whose expenses go on the credit card. That’s just because I’ve had some hefty remedy and vet bills over recent months/years and it’s just a phasing thing with my state pension - useful to have that flexibility.
The state and therefore the banks believe in not letting people get surendettés, which is the opposite of the UK.
Before Brexit over 75%of EU credit card debt was the UK. Shocking. If you haven’t got it don’t spend it is what France wants to see.
@Elsie customer reviews for cartezero contain some seriously bad language, unfortunately. I have a couple of ideas I’m going to pursue for proper actual adult credit cards in France this year when I get time.
It doesn’t feel right to maintain finance things in UK when I live in France now. Additionally there’s the implementation of so-called 3D security on a lot of accounts right now which is not so easy to comply with across border to UK. Lastly a lot of UK banks have given anyone with an address abroad 2 months’ notice of closure as regulatory stuff has made it not worth their while to keep those customers. My accounts in UK are still fine, but I suspect most banks will end up doing the same.
Plus now I am living here I must fit in to the French way of life and work with ‘how things work’ here even if some things currently don’t seem to make sense.
If I find a ‘real’ credit card or two which does offer the ability to let a balance owed spread over more than one month occasionally when needed, which will be much later this year, is anyone interested if I post the info?
I reckon such information will be of interest to folk … and that’s surely the point of any forum… to share our knowledge/thoughts… the world is a right mixed bag…
I realise I am naive about these things but I cannot help thinking that an agreed overdraft would allow you to easily “borrow” money for a few months at a time at a far lower rate of interest than you would pay with a credit card. Would you or some other patient person be kind enough to explain to me why using a credit card is preferable to using an overdraft?
Cost.
Option to manage one’s own money without contacting the bank (I don’t like overdrafts and don’t use, for a variety of reasons)
Ability to spread one’s business across more than one provider and get the best provider for each type of service
I see no reason to let the bank by default or proactively, know everything about my life and in the words of @kirsteastevenson , I don’t wish to put myself in the position where they can ask about my frequent expenditure in Pierre Marcolin
Should the bank be a good source for a particular product, such as insurance or a car loan, obvs detail can be discussed at that time for that specific purpose, as it would be with any other provider.
But for normal ‘incidents de la vie’ like a car breakdown or a big bill at the dentist, I prefer to self-administer using an existing general purpose and versatile credit line that I can choose to use as a revolving credit if necessary or if there are other reasons not to move any other money I might have lying around about. I might be quite happy for the convenience and flexibility and self-administerability, to pay a bit more to the card, than I otherwise might have.
This convenience and flexibility, as well as their skill in assessing me as a risk and managing their overall exposure ongoing, is how credit cards make money. In other words a Mastercard or Visa with the best forfait for me, in the market.
You see this is what I find strange. I do not have a problem providing information in confidence to my bank because I can control what information I give them and it is a relationship of confidence. I would hate to think that all kinds of credit providers are sharing all kinds information about me all the time and I have no control over it. I suppose it is the anonymity that you prefer whereas I prefer to be a person to my bank. Perhaps that is the old fashioned versus the modern, or partly.
The other point I struggle with is this assumption that “managing one’s own money” extends to managing one’s credit. As Vero says I was brought up that if you haven’t got it you don’t spend it, so to me, the money in my bank is one thing and credit is another thing. In essence managing my money means avoiding credit. But again the old “never a borrower nor a lender be” is probably a very old fashioned outlook. However it is how I brought my children up and they seem to agree with it.
That’s my attitude too Sandcastle. Cards are a convenient form of payment and to be used to let an amount go over a month only as a backup in case of something exceptional. Then you don’t pay too much.and you might get forfait options as well. Some of the forfait options in the UK can be good value if you do your sums.
However having come through Covid throughout with almost no income and a dodgy car, and with my income likely to be less in future, I was faced with a depannage a while back that could have turned very nasty if I did not still keep a small line of credit available on a UK card ((that I would like to dump asap). There are also looming dentists’ bills. For me these things are a part of life from time to time. Or hopefully, from time to time.
The fact that I’m discovering that there are not sensible credit cards in the French market, unlike the UK, for someone that’s actually being sensible and seeking to set up the flexibility to provide a protection just to be available in background for these obvious, varied risks, is quite shocking. It would for me, be far more imprudent not to want this. Even if most of the time it’s nice to look at your statement and see all the transactions for a month and you’re not actually using the credit facility just settling it every month.
We have a dual purpose card from CA. At the point of purchase we can select “Credit or Debit .” The credit side runs the same as a UK credit card, revolving. We have had it since 2008. Thankfully only needed the credit once. There are no credit reference agencies in France. Your Credit worthiness is checked with the Bank of France. Just looked on the Mastercard and Visa sites and they both say the time allowed for repayment is dependent on the issuing Bank.
That’s interesting David. I had looked at CA first as I’m with them, but the only card I could see that they seemed to be displaying was one that debited your account at the end of the same month instead of on the day of the transaction.
I will look again when I have time but your card might have been issued before the 2010/2011 changes someone was mentioning.
Vero that approach is probably going to be a very good one for the years ahead. Can you imagine how much worse it must be in the US, which in this respect seems to be like the UK on steroids.
Yes it was issued in 2008 so you could be right
Exactly the same for me. With the exception of a mortgage, I havent borrowed any money. This has caused an issue recently when trying to create a UK Government Gateway account. Apparently, you need a credit record in order to create the account. No credit record, no account according too the helpline. It’s meant to be used to validate that certain information you provide is correct.
Edit: Just realised the absurdity of this. In order to talk online to the UK government, you are required to be in debt.
So it is assumed that every adult living in the UK possesses and uses a credit card? That is astonishing!
It’s worse than that. I did actually have a credit card in the UK that automatically paid off at the end of every month, although I hardly ever used it. It seems that what is required is a history of borrowing money via loans or store cards etc. My mortgage and credit card didn’t seem to count towards a credit record.