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john
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Post by john »

Well ,all I can say Mand is that my deal at Nationwide has been FAR better than any French bank has been able to offer over the 6yrs since we moved here.(though of course we do have a Fr bank a/c as well) .At that time they allowed me to just move the billing address to France. Whether they'd do that for you and now,of course is a different matter. But worth asking them.

I think Pol has it correct. Credit(as oppsed to Debit) cards are a poor deal re changing cash,not least because they start charging you interest on the money the moment it pops out of the hole in the wall machine!

Allan,got some more dosh out yesterday and got 1.195
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Mand, keep your Nationwide cards if at all possible.
We still use ours all the time even though we have been fully resident here in france since 2002.
Use an english address if you can.
This makes buying things online much simpler apart from anything else.
Why not go into a branch in England if you are still there and ask their advice?
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mand
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Post by mand »

Thanks for the replies, we never use our credit card for withdrawing cash.
We also have a french bank account but no cards,hubby nearly keeled over when he was told they charge you for the privilege, or are we wrong on that?.

it would be handy for us to keep our nationwide but i read somewhere that if we move to France we would be better off claiming non-residency from the UK and was advised to break all ties with the UK otherwise the taxman might see it that we are still resident.

We would be keeping the house in the UK but it would be rented through an agent.

We would be hanging onto that for 2 reasons firstly it will give us an income, secondly we have both been married before and therefore the UK property would be outside french succession laws, so if anything happened to one of us the other would not have to seek permission from stepchildren to sell this property if there was a cashflow issue.

I'm finding it all so complicated
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Yes, our French bank charges for everything.
I think it was 18 euros just for a basic hole in the wall card.
Soon cancelled that - it was only as an emergency measure.
Then we had online banking!
The first three months were free and after that they wanted to charge us 3euros a month just to check our account online.
Soon stopped that too.
Then they had the nerve to summon us to see the manager in our local branch.
She (!) gently informed us that they were making no profit out of us.
I'd never seen it that way before and I started to feel really sorry for them.
She asked why we were not paying in our monthly salary/pension.
I had a brainwave and replied that we were waiting for UK to join the euro and then we would pay absolutely all our income into their bank
She seemed satisfied.
A couple of years later I started receiving my OAP so I took pity on the poor old popular bonk and arranged for that to be credited to them each month.
Have heard that the LaPoste bank account is a better deal but haven't the energy to go through all the palaver to change over.
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mand
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Post by mand »

We have an account at la poste we basically keep it open because their cash card is free so if we are out and about and need money we can go to their hole in the wall, as for savings we started off on a good rate but then found last year that thier interest rate fell so badly we were actually paying them for the privilege of having our money.

Our bank Societe General in Argeles is brilliant when we had surplus money our account manager told us we would be better off investing in property on buy to let because he couldn't give us as good a return...whenever we go there even the director comes out to shake our hand....So very different to when we were in the Paris region with the same bank everything was a nightmare we used to panic about going to the bank because they always made the most simplest thing a nightmare
thumbelina
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Post by thumbelina »

I too am with Soc Gen Mand (Amelie les Bains) and they are, without question, the best bank I have ever had dealings with!

As you say, directors who chat on the phone or come and shake you by the hand are indeed a rarity in Britain, but this happens here, and our director is absolutely charming - and our conseiller couldn't be more helpful!

Clearly, if you have the same experience but in a different branch it must be within the culture of the company and not just a 'one off'.
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john
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Post by john »

thumbelina wrote:I too am with Soc Gen Mand (Amelie les Bains) and they are, without question, the best bank I have ever had dealings with!

As you say, directors who chat on the phone or come and shake you by the hand are indeed a rarity in Britain, but this happens here, and our director is absolutely charming - and our conseiller couldn't be more helpful!

Clearly, if you have the same experience but in a different branch it must be within the culture of the company and not just a 'one off'.
I guess it depends on what you are using your bank/card issuer for.

If you are conducting business transactions,loans,complex financial arrangements etc then it's nice to have access to the services and relationships you describe.

If,on the other hand it's merely a case of somewhere to pay in/out money,provide a chequebook/card,operate direct debits and the like,then you'd be paying handsomely for a welcome/service you don't actually need or use.

As for Mand's question about loosening all ties with Britain,in practice its very difficult,and quite honestly I cannot see what point the person who gave you that advice was driving at. You presumably have lots of pension contributions in UK,and with the "double taxation " agreements between here and UK,you should not end up paying tax twice. We have assets in both countries ,and have not found any problems at all.
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Roger O
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Post by Roger O »

This may have something to do with it?
http://www.20minutes.fr/article/578377/ ... -crise.php
La Société générale compte d’abord faire passer son nombre de clients dans l’Hexagone de 10 à 12 millions d'ici à 2015.
To do that, they have to be extra "service minded" and those among the branches which weren't already have quite likely received a very strong message of "or else" from the top!
I deal in Logic!
"Magic" is applied science far in advance of our current technology.
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mand
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Post by mand »

not to sure about the double taxation treaty, currently we have property in France that we let out and because France has a different method of what's allowable on tax to the UK we get hit by one or the other or sometimes both.

example
we sold a property in france and duly paid 16% CGT but because we live in the UK and CGT is 18% we had to pay the 2% difference to the UK taxman, even though the money never came into the country.

So we are hoping that when we move to France things will be better for us :)
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polremy
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Post by polremy »

Just seen my latest Nationwide credit card purchase (online) and the rate of exchange was just over 1.20.
Can't complain about that (except I get no cashback bonus for purchases abroad!)
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