Living abroad tips and hints for money savers

sjcollett

I would use paypal

droopsnout

Hello, morganlefay. Sorry to hear of your discomfort, and hope things pick up soon. I love owls, but I don't think I'd be pleased for one to do that in our house!

There have been rumblings amongst agents that the Brits are starting to look over here again, but I am never sure whether they are just talking up the market for their own good! (See here). Certainly in our area, prices are very depressed, and way below the levels of, say, five years ago.

I am assuming that your cleaner lady is French and has only a French bank account.

When I am transferring money to our own French bank from the UK, I do so through smile (the online banking arm of the Co-op), and for that the charge is very reasonable. But in truth, I have never sent an amount as small as the one I imagine you are thinking of.

An obvious problem with cash is that you have no proof that it arrived, and I imagine that doubt could be cast even on a recorded/registered packet. If your cleaner lady is indeed a friend, then that is probably not a worry, so why not do that? Send cash by registered or recorded? (I can never remember the difference or what is available to overseas destinations).

You have a French bank account, so why not simply effect an electronic transfer? Do you use Britline or some other French bank? Can you do it online yourself? If not, can you email the bank for help?

Are you friendly with any other Brits in the area, with whom you could make an arrangement? ("Please could you give cleaner the cash and we'll put equivalent in your UK bank account").

Would your cleaner accept something a bit more unusual like an Amazon.fr voucher instead? You could order online for delivery by post or email. (There are various other companies who would do this).

Transferring small sums is never going to be cost-effective, and I suspect that you may be obliged to use the post. But perhaps others may have better ideas.

morganlefay

Not sure how using Paypal for that sort of exchange works - it would still mean she had to sign up to Paypal, and/or go to a bank or actually do something to get the money, and I think she just doesn't want to be bothered (or doesn't want any sort of paper trail as she's doing things 'on the black')+. Is Paypal easy to use (for her, I mean?) I use it for e bay but have no experience of using it for anything else.

morganlefay

Thanks Droopsnout, no she's English and extremely stroppy. I don't want to annoy her as I don't know anyone else who would grapple with owlpoo and she's a v good cleaner. She just doesn't want the hassle of doing anything except let notes fall into her outstretched hand (and I think she thinks that because we live in UK and have French house too we must be v v v v wealthy, which is so not the case.) The trouble with leaning on other friends to help is that one runs out of goodwill very fast, and the only friend i have there who would get cash out for her has currently broken leg and confined to home in big plaster so not going to bank. My OH does move money to France to our French account through Natwest who charge him £10 a time, which isn't bad assuming the rate is OK, but then she won't take a french cheque. I think it's all about doing stuff 'on the black', but unless we are physically there to hand her notes I suspect that the paperback trick might be the best - tho I hadn't thought of recorded (or whatever it now is) delivery, so thank you v much for that....:)

droopsnout

morganlefay wrote: »

Thanks Droopsnout, no she's English and extremely stroppy.

Ooh, well, I hope she doesn't read here!!

morganlefay wrote: »

grapple with owlpoo

Wonderful image!

morganlefay wrote: »

I think she thinks that because we live in UK and have French house too we must be v v v v wealthy, which is so not the case.)

A very common scenario!

morganlefay wrote: »

she won't take a french cheque.

No, but would a bank transfer be acceptable to her?

morganlefay wrote: »

I think it's all about doing stuff 'on the black'

Seems to me (on the back of ten years' experience) that there are a lot of Brits (and French folks) working on the black.

The PayPal idea is excellent and one I'd use myself, but the cleaner lady would need her own account linked to her bank account. It is easy to do, yes. Once you had paid her via PayPal she would just ask PayPal (online, on her account pages) to effect a withdrawal.

droopsnout

Further to previous exchanges on here, the new law regarding the requirement to carry a breathalyser in cars has been published in the Journal Officiel in France. That means that from 1 July, such devices must be carried, and that includes by visitors to the country.

There will be a period of grace, meaning that the law will not be enforced till 1 November.

The devices must bear the NF (Norme Française) mark in order to comply, and should be changed every two years. The simplest balloon-type devices apparently cost around 1.50€ each. The main road safety organisation recommends that two devices are carried, so that there is always one ready for use.

Alcohol is the major cause of road deaths in France - one-third of the 1,150 deaths in 2010 were linked to alcohol, with that rising to 58.7% in weekend night-time accidents.

Anyone found not carrying a breath test kit will face a fine of €11.

HappyinSpain

Hi Morganlefay,

Might be a bit late now but have you thought of using Western Union money transfer?

seven-day-weekend

Hi again, our house has now been valued so we are hoping for a completion date soon. Please pray, wish, meditate, cross fingers, hold in thoughts, swing from chandeliers, whatever you do, please!

On a happy note, I now have Mari-Carmen from Bar la Fuente in the village as one of my Facebook friends, she is one of only two Spanish villagers on my facebook. Her husband Eduardo has just messaged me, we have been talking to him with the aid of Google Translate. Hope to see them all once the house has sold. May even rent Eduardo's apartment!

Errata

Rattleing bones and burning feathers for you - it's been a very long haul, hasn't it.

seven-day-weekend

Errata wrote: »

Rattleing bones and burning feathers for you - it's been a very long haul, hasn't it.

:rotfl::rotfl:

Thanks!

Could still fall through even at this late date....if the bank decide he can't have his mortgage after all.

Once the mortgage is OK'd, his deposit moves from the Solicitor's Client account to ours, and it is then legally binding on both parties. That is the next step. If the buyer pulls out, we get to keep the deposit, if we pull out, we pay him his deposit back plus the same again.

So, once we have that deposit, providing we don't pull out (which we won't), we will at least have the deposit even if the sale does not complete.

(I know someone from our village who this happened to, they kept the deposit, it was enough to pay the mortgage off, so they decided to keep the house :rotfl:).