Bank charges add insult to injury

I was delighted to read the article Banks rapped over confusing range of fees (July 2010); delighted in the way a condemned man finds that he is to die by lethal injection rather than firing squad.

It confirms the fears and the opinion that I have had about French banks since arriving here a few months ago.

I was given a 40-odd page dossier when I opened my account and, of course, didn’t read it. I felt the adviser had answered the important questions.

Over the ensuing weeks, I learnt I was to be charged insurance for my debit card (taken from the account without permission), internet use (ditto), transferring money from the UK (ditto) and for having a cheque book posted to me (€1).

None of this was mentioned when I met the adviser.

Why do French banks need to charge anyway? Are they so inept at using our money that they need to supplement their income? I realise nothing is free, but hefty charges for overdrafts (as in the UK) would punish the frivolous and leave prudent customers without charges.

Nicholas NORWELL
By email

My wife and I have lived permanently in northern France for five years, and have been clients of Crédit Agricole in Fruges for 12 years.

Our retirement savings have been earning little interest, and we decided that we would rather enjoy the money by splashing out on a new motor home.

We ordered our new camper van and wrote two cheques on the understanding that neither cheque was cashed until we authorised it by telephone.

The first cheque was covered almost immediately by transferring money.

To cover the second cheque, I needed to transfer money from our Yorkshire Bank current account in England into our Crédit Agricole account.

I had heard that Crédit Agricole would accept sterling cheques and mistakenly thought this might be quicker.

On July 6, I gave Crédit Agricole a Yorkshire Bank cheque to cover the second payment with spare for savings.

On July 13, Yorkshire Bank called saying the cheque had been received and money transferred to Crédit Agricole. I was told it would take 24 hours.

A few days later a statement from Yorkshire Bank showed the money had left my English account, but still was not in my French account.

I phoned the bank several times, each time getting a different and sometimes conflicting excuse.

I have been told that a member of staff “ticked the wrong box” and the money has gone to their head office in Lille, that a month’s delay is normal on such cheques because clients have more rights to cancel cheques than they do in France.

I have also been given several different dates for when I can finally have my money.

My French is reasonable, so I went to the branch in Fruges and insisted on speaking to the manager.

She kept saying that my money was in transit, but she could not or would not explain where it was.

She could not answer how she could be certain the money was not lost if she did not know where it was.

I had arranged to collect my new motor home thinking a month was plenty of time to sort out a simple money transfer.

We had already arranged insurance, ferry crossing and campsites for a holiday in England later in the month.

I do not want to be classed as a person who writes cheques without funds.

Stephen Hobson
Bomy