Banking in France ???

newsmonkey

Thing is, the British public seems to be more vociferous if things go wrong with their bank. The French seem less willing to kick up a fuss when their bank takes them for granted.

Things are slowly catching up, with online and postal banks becoming popular. The whole situation still leaves a lot to be desired, though.

localshop

How easy is it to open an account with 'la poste' when on holiday?
What proof of existence etc do they require?

newsmonkey

I suspect it'll be similar to other French banks, that is:
- passport/carte d'identité
- proof of French address, phone/electricity bill, rent contract etc
- perhaps some proof of income: pay slip, previous bank statement etc.

Barter

I probably had passport & some proof of French address, but certainly no income evidence was required.

localshop

newsmonkey wrote:

I suspect it'll be similar to other French banks, that is:
- passport/carte d'identité
- proof of French address, phone/electricity bill, rent contract etc
- perhaps some proof of income: pay slip, previous bank statement etc.

Thanks for the replies Barter and newsmonkey

So you can't open one if you are UK resident and just want one for your hols - shame - perhaps. I've never had any probs that couldn't be solved with my nationwide cards but I felt a french account would be a useful insurance. I guess I will have to muddle by without it.

newsmonkey

localshop wrote:

So you can't open one if you are UK resident and just want one for your hols.

To be honest, if you're hoping to get a French account to save money, it'd be a false economy. If you're a tourist you can do very well with the right British bank account (ie: Nationwide). Unless you're one of us who finds themselves earning money in France, a UK account will do you quite nicely.

carl310166

localshop wrote:

Thanks for the replies Barter and newsmonkey

So you can't open one if you are UK resident and just want one for your hols - shame - perhaps. I've never had any probs that couldn't be solved with my nationwide cards but I felt a french account would be a useful insurance. I guess I will have to muddle by without it.

You can open the Britline account just for holidays etc,that's what i wanted to do,i thought it would be much easier on holiday,and to pay for accomadation to a french property owner,i especially wanted to get the Liber-t transponder for the Autoroute.

When i read the small print,the fee's (listed in my other post) didn't make it worthwhile.

So,i managed to get my transponder from https://www.sanef.com and subscribed with my credit card.

And i have found out that i can withdraw cash from any BNP paribas branch fee free,as i have an account with Barclays

http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articlegroup&value=7202&target=_self&site=pfs