I'm taking advantage of the recent Macron provision.
After three frustrating months, I am leaving BNP Paribas and going to Credit Agricole Aquitaine.
From the agonisingly protracted and portentous account opening, to the befuddling layers of security around every transaction, I'm calling time on this travail and opting for a less stressful approach.
My new Moroccan chum, Sofiane, an engaging young man at the Castelmoron branch of CA, is helping me with this.
Opening an account with him took about a quarter of the time that BNP took. I came away with about a quarter of the paperwork.
CA will look after everything and make sure the transition is seamless. And there's a village branch so I can go in and ask for help if I am ever confused. And boy, did I get confused trying to bank online through BNP. If I had enough hair to pull, I'd have pulled it. I know the French for this, "Je vais tirer mes cheveux."
I used this with a BNP customer service officer who could not help me navigate the "virements" page, telling me ...
"Monsieur, I don't know anything about BNP internet banking."
"But Madam, you work with BNP and you are a helpline advisor."
"Yes, I work here but I don't have an account here. I have no idea how this website works."
I had been unsuccessfully trying to make an account payment to a local business ... tryng to negotiate the Fort Knox levels of security and "activation codes". In the end, they had to send me a secret code by post. They couldn't send it to me by email.
I had been warned about the French banking system.
Un bon averti en vaut deux [a well forewarned person is worth two persons] or, as our Brexit friends would say, Forewarned is forearmed.
ReplyDeleteEven though I've had an account at my bank in Paris for something like 75 years, they still ask for ID on occasion! If they could, they'd love to charge you for the air you breathe when you are in their premises. Bankers are high-flying thieves, voleurs de haut vol!
I feel for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm so grateful to have been with the same bank (that pioneered telephone and then internet banking) for over 25 years. I couldn't imagine the hassle of moving. Even if other banks look like they might pay a bit more interest, my time is worth more.
We have had no problems with Banque Populaire . They even contacted us recently out of the blue to offer a better option for our funds. As french customer service goes, this was taking it to a whole new level above and beyond normal expectations.
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