French banking - increasing charges

[Beggarall]

Article here in The Local fr says bank charges are about to rise again. I am already paying over €110 pa to maintain my account with Credit Agricole and wondered if there were any cheaper options. Which bank do you use and any recommendations? Is switching easy?

[Perik Omo]

Friends of ours switched from CA to La Poste over a year ago and are pleased with the service so far, like you though we are still with CA.

[YankeePorker]

It always amazed me that French banks managed to convince the population that it was normal to pay for banking services. When I first arrived I thought paying for a carte bleu was maybe justified because it had the embedded chip. Then my British banking and credit card services started giving me chip and pin cards for free, and I realised that it was just a French scam!

Try les banques en ligne, Ing Direct is an example - free banking if money is paid in monthly.

[Driller]

Don't French banks give better rates though?

I was under the impression that the British banks just hid the charges in the higher rates of interest for borrowing.

[smifffymoto]

At least French banks are honest enough to say they are charging.

Is there such a thing as free banking really?

[YankeePorker]

smifffymoto said:

At least French banks are honest enough to say they are charging.

Is there such a thing as free banking really?

Of course free banking doesn't exist, but the investment side of the bank will be leveraging the £/€ in your account and making money from it, so actively paying them for the banking services is a bit OTT in my opinion.

[trunnie]

We've used ingdirect for full banking services for years and they're fine, offering a cheque book and debit card for free. Their savings rate is not good though. Check on the conditions as a number of free banks are introducing conditions (e.g. BforBank charges if you don't use their debit card a certain number of times).

However, I'm not sure if ING offers English speaking services if that's what you're looking for.

[Driller]

I had to pay some money by check into a personal account today.

I love (and don't understand) the fact that I have to sign the back of the check each time to give permission for this.

Oh hello Mr Bank Manager, please, please let me give you some money!