We’re a family that own a small property in the Vendee region, for years we’ve had trouble paying our various bills and taxes (like the Tax Foncieres, etc) and our utilities bills. We’re looking to get a bank account to help pay for these. We’ve noticed CA does a Britline account, is this account any good for paying bills/taxes/utilities? What’re people’s thoughts on this?
We’ve also pondered other accounts like Monzo or Revolut, but we don’t know much about them. Any advice would be great.
Ah well… if it’s simply finding a French bank account… we probably/possibly all have our favourites…
Credit Agricole, in the nearby town. have done us proud for nigh on 30 years…
opening an account near to where one lives, enables visiting in person and speaking/dealing with real people (face to face).
If it’s just paying bills, then CA Britline would work. There’s a monthly fee for the basic account of 2,30€. If you want a card, then you’ll pay for it.
They are very helpful. Our “adviser” is British. Many of the staff speak English.
If you want old-fashioned banking, where you can speak to a real person who actually wants to help, then it would be a good choice. If you’re confident navigating that sort of thing without needing to speak to anyone, then one of the online banks would be worth considering.
Britline is largely set up for just the situation that you are in and, as it’s an arm of a HIgh Street bank, it shouldn’t pose any problems. As has been said, they can conduct business in English if you like.
35 years for me with CA, never had any problems and always a branch near to where you live so you can pop in and discuss anything banking. I was also with CMB for some years, they were awful to be honest.
Our local CA has now changed to doing everything only sur rendez vous, no chance anymore of just popping in, the door is locked. We want to try and switch our account to the next nearest branch. Hope it’s not too much hassle!
Really? Suppose it depends on where you live and what you actually want help with as regarding a rdv. I think they have got rid of a lot of staff since covid to be honest and don’t want the public just rocking up in many branches.
No disrespect and do not take this the wrong way it is meant but I really think you should have a french bank account which you would need anyway in the case of the eventual succession when one of the owners dies. These days you can transfer funds very very quickly unlike the old going to your UK bank and doing it manually, taking a week at least. If you transfer funds regularly to keep the account topped up, you can set up prélévément payments for your utilities and taxes so you don’t have the worry of keep having to send payments from the UK. Also when you come for your visits, you can have a french debit card and use it from your account far easier than a foreign card might be (some do present problems to some suppliers) and also you can pay local artisans with a chèque should you need their services. We opened an account before we even bought our house as it was needed to pay for it etc and also for the refunds and future bills to be paid. Easy to do when you next visit, go and see your local bank whatever that may be, you can always change to another if you are not satisfied but remember France is very quick to act when payments are not made and add on majorations etc.
I have both, CA for prélèvements (insurances, mutuelle, electricity, phone, tax etc) and paying uk pensions in. Revolut for day to day use and transfer and exchange £ to €.
We have had a CA account for over 20yrs to receive transfers and pay bill but are fed up with having to pay a monthly fee to use it. They will also charge us if we want a cash/payment card but we refused to pay.
Is revolut the best alternative? It’s been getting some bad press lately.
Quite a few people on here seem to like Revolut. Some of us use Wise for transfers, which is similar but I don’t think any of the fintechs will give you the security of a “normal” bank.