We paid the deposit and balance for our purchase from our offshore account. We now have a French bank account but needed proof of address in France to open that.
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Mary, we are in the middle of doing this right now. We are in process of opening a French Bank account. We are kiwis/US and have had to provide a letter from our US bank to say we are customers of theirs ‘in good standing’. This is apparently a FORM letter that they provide. DO be aware that when you send money, even through a FOREX company that there may be sending and receiving fees on both ends, so you may want to investigate if there are any, because that will reduce the amount of money you send, and you may end up short on this (French ) end.
We use a Foreign exchange company. My US bank doesn’t charge me foreign fees for sending or receiving, but I think our new French bank will. We are in the process of buying a house too, and waiting to sign the Comprise de Vente. We were also told that our Notaire can provide a letter of intent, if you are already going through the process and are in fact purchasing this house. This gives the address of the intended house. We were told we dont need that, however. We are opening with BNP Paribas.
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Mary, we do have to sign a W9 IRS form when we open our French account next week… US Taxes apply to worldwide account opened, so be sure to check with your US accountant. (we are US citizens also). We are visiting a French accountant early next week, so will know more about how our worldwide taxes are going to help or hinder our French residency.
You DO NOT need a French bank account to pay the Notaire/ purchase/fees. You can pay them straight from an overseas account through a FOREX company to the escrow account of the Notaire. This is how we are doing it.
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Hi Anna I have a borderless account with Transferwise and it’s working perfectly I have transferred twice to the Notarie without any problems. They also give the best exchange rates I’ve found. Best Lisa
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If you have an HSBC Premier account you can open an accounts wherever you like as long as that country has a HSBC branch (well that was the case 5 years ago).
I would suggest your best choice is to open either a Channel Isle €, or French €, account. The drawback to the french one is that HSBC branches are rare outside main towns, and if you need to talk to them over the phone then at least the C.I. all speak english. That said there is/should be dedicated english speaking representative in all foreign HSBC branches, but its sods law that they’re on holiday the day you go there/call them up.
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I second your HSBC recommendation Tony. I banked with them in the M/E and UK and despite their size found them very responsive. So, having had dreadful problems with indifferent Soc Gen in the early eighties I choose HSBC (ex CCF) when I needed to open a new account here in 2004. They have been excellent and their advice has saved me a lot of money. I wouldn’t touch a French bank with a barge pole now.
All I’m thinking is… whatever bank you choose… get one that has a branch near where you’ll need it. Nothing worse than parts of rural France when you have to drive 40 minutes just to deposit a cheque or pick up a credit card.
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