Banking

Steps

1. Choose a bank (branch or online) and compare account and card fees.
2. Present your supporting documents: identity and address. Online, the bank may have your documents checked by a provider and require a first payment from or to another account in your name.
3. Get your RIB (relevé d'identité bancaire, bank details slip with your IBAN): employer, the family allowance fund (CAF), health insurance (Assurance Maladie) and landlord will ask you for it.
4. In case of refusal, ask for a written refusal certificate (the bank must give it to you; 15 days without a reply count as a refusal).
5. Contact the Banque de France (online with FranceConnect, at a branch counter or by post) with this refusal. It designates a bank in 1 working day.
6. Open the account at the designated bank: it sends you the list of documents within 3 working days and opens the account 3 working days after receiving the complete file.

Documents

• Valid photo identification: identity card, passport, EU residence card or residence permit.
• Proof of address: rent receipt, water or electricity bill, tax assessment notice; accommodation certificate if you are being put up, or certificate of domicile election.
• For the right to an account: application form, refusal certificate (or proof of an application more than 15 days old), sworn statement that you have no other current account in France, and, if you reside in another EU country, proof of your legal residence.

Costs and timelines

• Opening: free; account maintenance fees may be charged.
• Right to an account: free basic services (RIB, SEPA transfers and direct debits, payment card, deposits and withdrawals at the counter, monthly statement, remote access). Incident fees capped at €4 per transaction and €20 per month.
• Euro transfers within the EU: no more expensive than a domestic transfer.
• Mortgage: monthly repayments in principle at most equal to 35% of your income, term generally 25 years at most (service-public, page checked on 5 April 2024); reflection period of 10 calendar days after receiving the offer, which remains valid for at least 30 days. No payment during this period.

Common pitfalls

• Believing that an account is compulsory for everything. It is mainly essential for salary, rent and aid; your IBAN from another EU country remains usable for direct debits and transfers.
• Foreign IBAN refused by a supplier or an administration: this is prohibited in the EU if the organisation accepts transfers or direct debits from a French account. Report it to the competent national authority.
• Comparing loans on the rate alone. Compare the TAEG (annual percentage rate of charge) with the standardised European information sheet (FISE), and do not forget that you can choose your borrower's insurance.
• Signing the loan offer too early. An acceptance before the end of the 10-day period is not valid.
• Credit for a non-resident or a newcomer: banks look at the stability of your income in France; the conditions specific to foreign income do not appear on the official pages consulted (to be checked with the bank).

What changes by country of origin

• Residents of another EU country: they can also exercise the right to an account in France, provided the account is not used for a professional activity.
• Swiss and British nationals (Scots included): once domiciled in France, they benefit from the right to an account like any resident, whatever their nationality. The fees of a transfer from a Swiss or British bank are set by that bank (the European rule of equal fees covers the EU): check them before you move.