First up was the internet investigations of which International bank would do the job for us, here in France. We didn't want a regional bank, of which there are many. An international institution was necessary, and not necessarily French owned. Because we bank internationally now, this is very important for transactions between three countries, and having staff in the bank who can deal with the slightly 'curly' things we might throw at them from time to time.
We walked into the nearest branch of BNP Paribas that we could find. A relatively new branch with two staff evident.
I have to go back a day here....You might remember that we went to the Barbezieux branch for this purpose, only to be told by the gorgeous young men (yes, I did tell you this, lol) that their branch MIGHT be closing some time soon, therefore they wouldn't think to open an account for us. This was confirmed with a slight nod of the head by the bank manager this morning, lol. He didn't ACTUALLY say they would, but agreed that the staff did the right thing:)
Fast forward to this morning, having had many discussions over the past couple of weeks as to when and how we would open an account here. The French are notorious for their Red Tape, and rightly so, in many instances. We have been surprised that the red tape comes from places we hadn't anticipated.
Today was one of those.
Neither of the staff at the branch (the Manager and the young woman ) were familiar with opening such an account as ours, and very wisely sought expert help from HQ in Bordeaux.
At one point in the negotiations we thought we would be travelling to Bordeaux on Friday to meet with the International Expert. New laws in France for expats from other countries are causing some confusion, apparently. These are 2018 laws.
Over the course of the next hour and a half we all found that the account CAN be opened in branch, if we completed all the requests they sent us off with. Pas Problem!
In the meantime, the phone was handed to me to speak to the Agent in Bordeaux at some length so that he could check off all his boxes and I think I answered all questions sufficiently to satisfy him, and therefore the French Govt., that we are serious people, wanting to live in France permanently.
Some advice....
1. Always make an appointment for what you want to do. Appointments are important in France. We are so used to just turning up and receiving customer service, in both NZ and the USA, that we tend to have the expectation that people will drop everything because they want the business. Things are done differently here! You can always go to the branch to make the appointment if you dont like using the phone to do so. They MAY have the time to help you then and there, like they did for us.
2. Make sure you arrive to your appointment with:
- Passport (s)
- A letter from your current banking institution in your country of domicile to say you are customers of good standing (sometimes this is a form letter). They need this letter to have the names of the account holders, and the 'current' address of domicile (overseas). Account information isn't important, such as account numbers.
- The past three months of records of Rent or mortgage payments, Electricity charges, Phone bills with the names of the account holders and the same address as the bank letter.(this can be overseas information, not necessarily from France, though it helps)
- Social Security or Tax number. You will be asked to fill out a Tax form for the country of domicile if you are not a permanent tax-resident of France.
- You will be asked to fill out a Bank (of the bank/branch where you are opening the account) Form of your basic details. This is for their information only, so they can get to know you as a customer .
3. Turn up early for your appointment, make appropriate greetings, and be calm and respectful. Realize that their language and yours may not always be saying the same thing. Knowing some French is a bonus, even if it is basic. That you try, is most important. If you dont think you can cope with this, employ a translator, or take a friend who is bi-lingual. Keep your cool! It is called 'Communication'.
4. Should really be #1!!!!
Be Prepared!!!
Know exactly what you want to do by researching as much as possible. I highly suggest (if your language skills are challenged) using Google Translate to translate your questions, even if the translations aren't always very good, they will give the general idea.
5. Have a sense of humour. Wires will get crossed (if they dont you are lucky!!) and it pays to laugh about it, not get angry.
6. Expect that people will do their best for you. This is their job, and they will normally go out of their way to make things happen for you, with the knowledge they have of your request(s). Therefore make sure you know what you want to do.
7. Tell the Truth, ALWAYS! Hiding information can come back and bite you!
The process of obtaining a bank account in a foreign country will be the same no matter the country, I assume.
We will require Insurance for our house/contents and car, and we can get all of this from the same bank.
Building relationships is very important here, and we seek to have that with our local branch people. We would like to think that we are greeted warmly when we appear over the threshold.
The staff member and manager (who had some English ability) learned a lot this morning, as did we. I imagine they will now feel more comfortable doing this a second + time.
We will let you know next week how we get Insurance for all our needs, and the costs of that.
Buying a house, car and anything else that needs registration of any kind is obviously a process in any country. It might be slightly more complex here, but some of that can be attributed to it being in another language other than our own.
It is our hope that one day we will look back on this process with fondness, and celebrate our new home in a more eloquent way with new language skills, attained by simply living here and being part of the local 'color':)
Tomorrow we will celebrate our success in purchasing a property, with our neighbors, and a bottle of Champagne. :)
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