Opening a French bank account
 

Hello, hope you are all well and stay safe in this second COVID wave.

I finally made my move to France and did everything I can - at least I feel - to prepare and set things up. I find myself in an chicken-and-egg problem when it comes to open a bank account in France.

I have made application to HSBC France when I am in the UK, and after this long process to submit documents etc, now they wanted me to provide a utility bill of the French property I am living in - this is the exact reason I am needing a bank account in order to register my name on the utility bill.

I checked the FAO information, and it has not been updated since 2015. I am just wondering if there is any advise or update about opening a bank account please?

Many thanks

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

There are various options and opinions as far as French banks are concerned on here. For our part we opened a Britline account, an English speaking subsidiary of Credit Agricole, which allows you to open a French account using a UK address and UK utilities statements. There are no branches and everything is handled via the internet or by phone. We have held the account for 2 years now and have always found the them easily available by phone, the advice has been sound and they have helped us with anything we needed. The standard costs are comparable to the other banks as far as I can see, I haven't looked at anything like mortgages.
Many on here prefer a local branch and a local manager and have the relevant level of French to handle the complexities. For our part we are extremely happy with our choice.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I just reread your post and suspect that my advice is useless if you have already moved to France and cut your ties with wherever you lived before. Others here will have more relevant input and should be along shortly.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Britline.is certainly one option.
Another option is to toddle in to one of the banks in your nearest town, tell them you would like to open an account and ask if you can make an appointment.
If there are several banks in your nearest town, choose which you fancy - look at their websites, ask the neighbours, read reviews.
La Poste also does bank accounts.
That's what I did, in fact I opened an account with the local Credit Agricole branch before I moved in. All I had was a copy of the compromis de vente, not even the acte, but they were happy with that - plus of course several months of UK bank statements etc etc etc.
I'm saying that because I like doing things face to face but if that doesn't bother you particularly, do as Alianco suggests

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi Alianco,

many thanks for sharing your experience. It is helpful because I was a bit in doubt with the Britline bank. I will certainly look into that.

I have made my move to France, literally yesterday and got the call from HSBC which I have deal with them for a couple of months just trying to open a bank account. This new requests confuses me as I have talked through my circumstance to them in particular with the utility bills.

thanks for you advice again

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I was just wondering why you want to use HSBC,, when there are so many French banks in France?

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Definitely follow EuroTrash’s advice and do the rounds of your local French banks.

Have you signed a rental contract (un bail)? Take lots of documentation with you. UK bank statements maybe, to show you’re solvent.

Another option which has received very favourable mentions on this forum is the Transferwise Borderless account. It might do as a stopgap until you get a French bank account set up.

Courage!

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I would add the Caisse d'Epargne to the list of local banks. Nothing against La Banque Postale, but when La Poste is on strike, the counter is also closed. FWIW and without wishing to denigrate the Crédit Agricole, we transferred all our accounts from them to the Cd'E long ago, purely because the Manager and staff were more customer-friendly and less robotic... My Conseiller even filled in my Déclaration de Revenus this year, for nothing....

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I'm having a terrible time with HSBC France right now - customer service and their competence is appalling, although I suspect in part it's down to the particular branch that I have to deal with.
I would also add that Caisse d'Epargne is a good bank, as is banque tarneaud.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I started asking questions on this forum long before my wife and I moved to France and read every thread in case there was something in there I could use (I still do). From all the threads I read on banking, including one or two I started myself, the vast majority are happiest with their bank if the staff in their local branch are welcoming and competent no matter the bank itself. Were I to want to open an account again I would base my decision on how I felt I was treated when I walked in.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi again. Having reread an earlier thread, I'm wondering whether a high street bank would accept to open an account for a (non-French) person living at a friend's address?

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

deleted - no longer relevant in the light of dmu's comment. Would be nice if posters gave relevant info...

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Good point.
If you already had an account and you moved in with a friend, they would likely require an attestation d'hébergement from your host along with the usual - copy of ID, utilities bills in his name at that property etc - in order to do a change of address.
But whether they would set up a new account on that basis is less sure. To comply with money laundering and KYC regulations they need verifiable proof of address before accepting anyone as a new customer.
I thought when this was discussed earlier you were going to set up a rental contract for you to occupy the property "à titre gratuit", did you do that? If you have, I would think that should satisfy a French bank.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

The OP didn't give any feedback at the time. Now that he's here, maybe he can elucidate, so that we can give advice relevant to his situation?
(And some feedback would be welcome on his non-EU partner's UK-residence/employment status, and whether a separate rental contract à titre gratuit would be made between the friend and her? We can't know whether they've got married meanwhile....)

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Is the partner relevant? As I understood it, she needs to stay UK resident for now. I imagine having the right to reside in the UK will allow her to spend 90/180 as a tourist in the EU if she wishes, without the right to work in France. If in the future they want to get married while the OP is resident in France, that will be a separate issue.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi, I have got the an attestation d'hébergement and ID etc, and explains to HSBC about the situation. Present the utility bills with my friend's name at the property sounds a good idea.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi dmu, the HSBC people I was in contact certainly seemed positive.

As I mentioned, I have got the an attestation d'hébergement and my friend's ID etc to get things moving. As for my partner, we will be married early next year once the situation allows. As I understand, after we married, we will have some options on keep her UK residency by going back and forth or move to France more permanently.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

An attestation d'hébergement would normally have to be accompanied by utility bills in any case, without them it's only half a job.
But I am just wondering whether your application is being dealt with by HSBC in the UK or HSBC in France, ie are they operating under UK or French legislation. Because I am not sure a French attestation is recognised as a legal document in the UK. In France a déclaration sur l'honneur is not a legal document as such, but it does have some legal force because a person can be prosecuted by the courts for making a false déclaration sur l'honneur. Like I said, I don't know if even a French bank would consider it sufficient to open an account for a new customer with whom they had had no previous dealings. A correctly drawn up rental contract on the other hand is a legal document and would carry more weight IMHO.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Have you checked how easy it will be to get married in the UK if your partner is not a British citizen, and you are officially resdient in France at that point?

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Thanks for the advice.
I am afraid there will not be a rental contract as there won't be any rent. From what I gathered in the replies, going to some local branches and Britline seems the way forward.
As for getting married in the UK, we have done our notice of marriage to display for 28 days and will last for one year to get married. So it is not so difficult in that front.:lol:

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I thought we went through this in another thread. Maybe it was a different poster.
A contract will protect both you and your friend. The rent can be nil. It is a good idea to have a proper agreement on who is responsible for what, it might save you falling out bigly later on, should any issues arise.
Google will find you plenty of websites including this one which came top of the list and looks pretty good https://www.juritravail.com/Actualit...20code%20civil. that give you all the info you need to draw up this type of contract.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Just to be clear, Britline ask for exactly the same documents and proofs that any bank asks for. The ease for us was that we could use our UK documents to open the account before we came to France. That's why I posted that you should ignore my suggestion if you have already made the move. Only if you still have a foothold in UK and the relevant documents could you open a Britline account.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi Alianco, thanks for the reminder. Yes, I still have my UK address and the relevant documents. I intend to keep that way at least for a while, at least during this time to set things up.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

I imagine you have looked into this carefully but it's not immediately obvious that your partner will be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement if you get married in 2021.
This example in the FAQs is of an EU citizen living in the UK and marrying an non EU citizen after the end of transition, but the same principle applies irrespective of country.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/site...ights_en_0.pdf
I live and work in the UK. I am single but, hopefully, one day I will marry. Realistically, it will be after the end of the transition period. Will my future spouse be able to join me in the UK? What if we have a baby?
Your future spouse will not be able to join you under the Withdrawal Agreement, as it does not protect those who will marry an EU citizen after the end of the transition period. Any such future spouse will have to comply with UK immigration rules. Any future child will be able to join an EU citizen resident in the UK before the end of the transition period if that parent has legal custody of the child.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

Hi Eurotrash, many thanks for the reminder. I was asking about opening a bank account initially:lol:.
Yes, I understand that she won't be covered under the withdrawal agreement if we are married next year, and she will need to go through the French immigration system to join me. However, there is still an opportunity for us to be married at this side of the transition period, it is only the current situation being absolutely crazy and I am currently focus on setting things up in France first.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

So you were. Let's blame dmu for the thread drift :lol::lol:
:focus:

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

:lol: :o
I did put it in brackets, as it was a sort of reminder of the OH's general situation.
And back on topic, have to agree that a written agreement should be signed between the OH and friend for many reasons, including Insurance issues in the event of accident and/or damage... Am I right it thinking that such a contract should be worded in French?

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

An occupancy contract on a property in France is governed by French law so yes it must be in French.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

That's what I thought, I just wanted the OP to be aware of this, in case his friend isn't French.

Re: Opening a French bank account
 

If access to cash and payment of bills is the most important you might find it worthwhile to open a Livret A account. Can be quick and easy. There is no residence requirement, you can have over 22,000 euros,it gets a bit of interest and you get a cash card. You can pay bills by RIB and set up direct debits for essential payments. Would give you time to look around.