French Current Account

S0rin

I am emigrating to France, can anyone recommend a current account?

RetiredInThailand

I lived in France for 30+ years. For day-to-day banking you cant beat a CCP from LaPoste (the post office). Very low charges, many branches (all French post offices are branches so wherever you live you are bound to have a local branch) and open for much longer hours than banks are, including Saturdays.

Also good for international transfers and savings accounts.

It is NOT suitable for anyone wanting a mortgage, credit or anything like that.

benjus

If you don't speak French very well yet, you might consider http://www.britline.com/ which is a branch of Credit Agricole with English-speaking staff intended for British people with property or other interests in France. Apart from the online banking site in French, all interaction with the bank is done in English. I have found customer service to be pretty good in general.

On the downside, it's not the cheapest French account on the market - there's a monthly fee of €0.55 and charges for most services including debit/credit cards (http://www.britline.com/pdf/principal_banking_fees_january_2012.pdf). (although some of the fees, such as the charge for sending you a letter when funds are received into your account from abroad, can be avoided by writing to them and saying that you don't want to receive the letter at all). The sign-up process is also non-trivial, requiring a UK bank reference and lots of proof of ID and address.

SuperHan

I had an LCL account while living in France and found them very helpful. My account was a student account however, so I'm not sure if their current accounts are as reasonable, but I didn't pay for my account, had a debit card and got house insurance for €1 for a year!