Pingit Account Closure

Banking & Financial
1

I used to pay my French bills from England via a Pingit mobile phone app (hosted by Barclays). I was charged no bank fees for the transaction which was wonderful.

Now that they have closed down this app, can anyone tell me the best way to settle a French bill, or transfer money into my French bank account from my UK one, without paying vast bank fees for the privilege?

Many thanks,
Sara

2

This thread might help…

and/or…
Next time you visit France, you might like to open a French Bank Account and pay bills by DDebit…

3

Welcome to Survive France, Sara!

I use Wise (formerly Transferwise) for all my transfers as it gives a good rate and you can also keep a balance in there rather than transfer each toime if you want.

Several people on here use Revolut and swear by it. It sounds very similar to Wise but I don’t have expereince of it myself. Both of them give much more favourable transfers than any UK bank I’ve used.

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4

Sorry @Stella - we crossed!

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5

Hi Sara and welcome to SF
Until Revolut open a a French IBAN account (planned soon, they say), I’d go with a combination of the recommendations of @Stella and @AngelaR on the basis that most French utilities require a FR IBAN in order to set up (the French equiv of) direct debits.
It might seem bizarre, but that is the way of France and the trust levels required (French bank accounts can only be opened with the permission of the Banque de France and it is illegal to go overdrawn without a facility in place plus the customer can’t stop a DD), so merchants can have confidence that they will be paid in a timely fashion.
The best way forward is to use either Revolut or Wise (or one of the other Fincons) to convert Sterling to Euro at better rates than banks can achieve for you and then move the money to a French Bank account to fund the DDs.
I use Revolut and have a French Bank account. I can transfer Euro fee free from my Revolut account to my French Bank using the FR IBAN of my French bank at will.

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I seem to be alone here in using Worldwide, but have found them most satisfactory over the years for bank transfers. No charges but I get almost 1 point below the BBC quoted exchange rate for the day though in the beginning it was 2 points, so has got better as a frequent customer.

I deal only on the phone, and only with the same man every time, and the rate is set in stone immediately even though, because of the vagaries of Yorkshire Bank it takes me several days to transfer the whole amount. On the morning of the last instalment, my euros are instantly paid into my Banque Postale account, and even they have stopped taking their already minuscule profit from it and it is now deduction free. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you very much for this helpful response. Can you tell me EXACTLY how it works. ?

So … say I want to transfer £1000 from my Lloyds bank account to my notaire’s french account. Do I open a worldwide account and put the £1k into it then transfer from the Worldwide account into the my notaire’s account? Or how does it work?

Couldn’t find a link to Worldwide Bank online. Maybe you could send me one?

Sorry to be a pest, asking for more info, but if I make a transfer direct from my Lloyds account for the £6,500 I owe, I lose and additional £280 because the exchange rate is so poor.

Many many thanks,

Sara

8

Thank you very much for this helpful response. Can you tell me EXACTLY how it works. ?

So … say I want to transfer £1000 from my Lloyds bank account to my notaire’s french account. Do I open a worldwide account and put the £1k into it then transfer from the Worldwide account into the my notaire’s account? Or how does it work?

Couldn’t find a link to Worldwide Bank online. Maybe you could send me one?

Sorry to be a pest, asking for more info, but if I make a transfer direct from my Lloyds account for the £6,500 I owe, I lose and additional £280 because the exchange rate is so poor.

Many many thanks,

Sara

9

Wise does not give you a French IBAN as far as I know. For euros it currently gives you an IBAN in Belgium (used to be Germany).
If you actually need an French IBAN it will not work, but if an EU IBAN will do the trick then it will work.
I use WISE for many things and am very happy with it, but I do not use it to pay utility bills.

EDIT But of course if you have a French bank account, you can use WISE as a way of transferring money from your UK to your FR account. For some reason I thought it had been suggested to open a Wise borderless account but looking back I see that it is not what was said. I must have imagined that!

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Hi Sara,
Here’s how it would work with Wise, clicking enter/continue/next after each step:

  • Create online Wise account
  • Log into Wise account either via web browser or smartphone app
  • Click ‘Send Money’ button at top left
  • Enter amount to be transferred and select the relevant currencies (eg GPB to EUR)
  • Select ‘Someone Else’ as payee
  • Enter recipent’s email and bank details (in your case, your notaire can provide this, typically in the form of a ‘RIB’ - French shorthand for bank details)
  • Check the details and click confirm
  • Review the details of the transfer and if correct, click “confirm and continue”
  • Choose how to move the money to Wise: credit card or direct payment from bank
  • Next steps vary depending on how you wish to transfer the money but they are well explained and very straightforward.

In my case, I make payment direct from my UK account. Typically, the funds arrive in the nominated French account in a few seconds.

If you’re nervous about the process, try transferring a very small amount first and email for confirmation that it has been received…

Good luck,

Brian

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