French Bank Accounts

To make life a little easier with paying the bills it is advisable to have a French Bank Account. Which bank you choose is obviously a personal choice, what services do they offer / do you need, which bank has branches near your property, are you fluent in French or do you need some support in English etc.

We chose Credit Agricole BritLine, as there are a large number of Credit Agricole branches near our gite in Brittany and they have on-line banking, which is a service we really needed. It does seem though that Credit Agricole is split by region, so if you wish to pay a cheque in using your paying in book you need to be in the region that your branch is in, and Britline is run from Credit Agricole Normandie. This doesn’t seem to matter too much as you can still pay cheques in at any branch, you just have to fill in a different form when you get to the branch. Other banks may be similar so if you are going to be paying a lot of cheques in you had better check.

Ideally you should have your bank account setup by the time you sign the Acte de Vente, this is so the electricity, water etc payments can be setup straight away and you can pay by direct debit.

To set up an account you just need to have a signed copy of the Compromis de Vente or proof of a number of visits to France in the previous 6 months along with proof of address, income and a letter from your bank. Even though the estimated time to open an account was around 15 days, it probably took around two to three times that so be warned and get the process under way as soon as possible.

Also, unlike the UK, you don’t get free banking in France so you will have to pay a monthly charge for your account, along with an extra charge for any debit cards you choose to get. It is worth noting that going overdrawn in France is taken very seriously so make sure you keep your account in credit and don’t go overdrawn and remember those monthly charges.

Apart from making sure you get the process under way early and once you get you account make sure you keep it in credit, not much else to say.

2 Bedroom Cottage / Gite near Dinan, Brittany, France

Buying, Owning and Running a Gite in Brittany Blog

©Derek Arkwright 2007