Euro Bank Accounts in this Country

Nick99

Does anyone have any practical suggestions relating to Euro bank accounts in this country?

I have a very small holiday place in France which from time to time involves paying money there – rates, maintenance, electricity, etc.

I have an account at Credit Agricole in France which can be used to pay for these, but to get money into that account means either visiting to pay in – which isn’t always possible – or sending money via Barclays here, which costs fees and takes days.

What I would like is an account in Euros into which I can pay here and write cheques on which can be sent to the Electricity Board etc.

I can open a “Barclays Bank Euro Account” but, firstly it takes ages for the funds to reach the account and, believe it or not, they actually charge me interest while they are clearing the transaction (that’s right, I pay them money and they charge me interest on it – all the stories about bank managers are true!), and, secondly, if I do send someone a cheque on that account, Barclays charge them fees to pay the money out.

There has to be a better way than this! Any ideas?

carl310166

Out of interest,how much do Barclays charge to transfer money to Credit Agricole? and do Credit Agricole charge to receive the money?

I am in the process of opening an account with CA at the moment as i go on holiday to France on a regular basis and i wanted to get a Liber-t pass for the autoroute,i was told you HAD to have a French account to get one. On Saturday i found a company that will let you subscribe online via a credit card and my transponer arrived in the post yesterday.

I also thought i would be able to avoid paying fees associated with U.K cards when on holiday and i could pay for my holidays in Euro to private rental properties.

Since joining this site on 1st Jan,i have read up on how to use a combination of credit and debit cards to pay no fees,so the CA account may not be as usefull as i thought if Barclays charge to transfer money (i know i should have read the t&c more closely)

Sorry i can't suggest a solution to your query.

BenL

Take a look at Cater Allen Private Bank, there is a Euro bank account with Euro Visa deffered debit card (where the funds stay in your bank account until statement day then all are removed on the statement date, allowing the rich to get richer).

You can also have sterling account and transfer funds between them immediately.

Not sure about the cheques though, but Visa would be better I assume.

https://www.caterallen.co.uk.

There are conditions though to meet like £25,000 in provable liquid assets and the usual credit checking as the criteria is quite strict to become a client.

Ben

jonesMUFCforever

If you want an account which is different to the currency that is our legal currency then if it bothers you that much to pay say £7(economy payment) why don't you jump in the car, drive to your nearest airport, catch a flight to the nearest place to your place in France and deposit your Euros in person!
Voila (pardon my french) you avoid those nasty bank charges.
DOH! Did it not cross your mind when you first started all this that they use a different currency to us?

student100

Comments like that aren't very constructive.

It's actually us that use a different currency to the rest of Europe anyway.

Walletwatch

Comments like that aren't very constructive.

Agreed. After all, what the OP has requested for is practical suggestions to solve his problem.

Nick

Have you tried Citibank? They have branches in the UK and in France, and they also offer Euro current and savings accounts here. Try https://www.citibank.co.uk