Recommend me a French bank

Quartz · 25 Oct 2014 at 23:58

Which French bank do you recommend for occasional use?

RBS have absolutely caned me for using my debit card in France. I will be speaking to them on Monday, but I doubt I'll get anywhere. I visit France twice a year, so I guess that next time I visit I should have a French bank account. But which bank?

scorza · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:00

Credit Agricole are the bank my folks use.

Not sure why you need a french bank account if you only visit twice a year though. Get a Halifax Clarity credit card (if they still do them).

Nix · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:01

Natouest?

Mynight · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:05

Le Halifax clarté carte de crédit.

PMKeates · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:05

Do you earn any money in euros? If not, don't bother.

Quartz · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:08

scorza said:
Credit Agricole are the bank my folks use.

Not sure why you need a french bank account if you only visit twice a year though.

Because I got charged £179 in fees in 5 days. That's after their exchange rate, too.

Spook187 · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:09

Use the La Baguette Bank of course

scorza · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:10

Quartz said:
Because I got charged £179 in fees in 5 days. That's after their exchange rate, too.

Phew. Halifax Clarity Card dude! Got charged 50p interest for a cash machine withdrawal though...

PMKeates · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:13

Quartz said:
Because I got charged £179 in fees in 5 days. That's after their exchange rate, too.

How?

Ironic Namesake · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:14

Try offshore accounts - say Lloyds International or HSBC Expat

They give debit cards in USD and EUR too, so you can buy EUR when the rate is good.

Lloyds charge a percentage (I think 2.75%) for ATM withdrawals, but no charge for debit card transactions.

Can't say on HSBC as I've never used their currency cards until now

£179 in 5 days sounds a lot, don't know how you managed that much in fees!

Quartz · 26 Oct 2014 at 00:31

Ironic Namesake said:
£179 in 5 days sounds a lot, don't know how you managed that much in fees!

That will be the subject of the telephone call.

olivier renault · 26 Oct 2014 at 01:13

Depends what kind of service you want. If it's just a current account with a debit card, then you want a bank that will allow you to transfer from current accounts back and forth with minimum friction and fees.

I would stick with the big ones though (BNP, Societe Generale, Banque Postale, Credit Agricole, Caisse d'Epargnes, maybe some particular bank that has beneficial ties with your English bank). It also depends what sort of branch you have round where you go (city, countryside). Since I'm from Brittany, it's Credit Agricole for me

areksnumbr1sxylady · 26 Oct 2014 at 01:30

Halifax Clarity.

If you will withdraw cash from ATM just send money to your card via Online banking straight after and most likely you wont be charged at all... Maybe something like 1p.

End of.

Efour · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:21

Le metro bank

Nitefly · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:23

What an absurd amount on fees... you would have to spend thousands and thousands to get that, surely?

Derek W · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:29

Never thought I'd see the day when someone would recommend the OP join the BNP :eek:

ScoTTyBEEE · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:30

Ukash prepaid euro debit card.

Efour · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:30

Could be up to 4 quid per transaction or 2or3% which would be a hefty few 1000 quid, in a few days. Nice holiday

Efour · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:32

Thing I found transferring cash to foreign account is you get stung at both ends by fees and crap exchange rates. NatWest anyway. If you move 10k sterling u prolly lose 200 on the way which is about what you have here anyway.

Castiel · 26 Oct 2014 at 07:35

It sounds more likely the figures are wrong. Call your bank. I travel a lot and fees are minimal, far less than the costs of alternatives. £179 in 5 days is more than my entire annual fees for my entire banking and I travel abroad far more than twice a year. I'm with HSBC with a Premier Account.