Has bank gone mad with direct debit?
Yes, it is usually the case with the banks that, yes, they charge for everything. Some more than others
I HAVE a poor understanding of certain methods in France, especially French banking. While checking my account, I came across an entry entitled “mise En Place Autor Ap”. I queried this with my bank (Crédit Agricole), which told me it was for a new direct debit.
I told them that I had not issued any company or individual with a RIB. The bank stated this was because the new direct debit had been issued at the request of a company I had never heard of. It transpired that this company had bought my supplier of broadband. Is it normal bank practice that, at any request, they will issue a new direct debit and charge me for it? In the UK, if a company buys another, then it is for the buyer to pay all costs associated with the purchase.
Can you at least make me feel that I am not being made a cash cow for the bank? Friends in the same area geographically who also bank with Crédit Agricole have not been charged for new direct debits, despite having the same broadband supplier. Business conduct in France is weird. D.U.
I’M AFRAID that, in France, it is usually the case with the banks that, yes, they charge for everything. Some more than others.
This said, as the direct debit was already in place before the company was bought, it seems excessive for the bank to charge again, and I would request that the charge be removed.
One of the issues with banks here in France is that, though some such as Crédit Agricole might appear to be national banks, as they all have the same name, they are in fact organised on a regional basis. (With Crédit Agricole, you can often see a regional element in the title.)
This enables them to apply rules in a different manner in different regions, and then again there is a degree of difference within the one region.
And yes, I agree, from experience French banks are strange, if not very odd indeed. Last year, it took us two and half months for a transfer to be made from our GBP deposit account to a euro account, and they also charge to bank euro cheques from Ireland. But then it wouldn’t be France were it not for these quirks.
