Trésorerie helped itself to our cash

In spite of having had property in France and a bank account here since 1986, and being a relatively competent French speaker, I made an error in paying taxe foncière and taxe d’habitation, which led to a very unpleasant set of experiences with Crédit Lyonnais in Draguignan.

When paying the taxes for two properties towards the end of 2009, we opted to pay online and by direct debit, mainly from our joint French HSBC account, but with one payment from my personal Crédit Lyonnais account. However, I did not realise we were paying in advance for 2010 and 2009 was being left unpaid.

When our trésorerie asked for payment, I replied that we were paying by direct debit and sent copies of bank statements. No one spotted the error until weeks later, after a blocage had been put on my Crédit Lyonnais account. This meant funds were taken out, held for two months, then paid to the trésorerie for our 2009 tax.

For two properties in the Var, this was now well over €4,000, including 10 per cent interest for late payment.

I did not have sufficient in the account, but the major part of my balance was taken. This had obviously been earmarked for other expenses.

No emails to my Credit Lyonnais conseiller were answered, and I spent a fortune in photocopying and postage, writing to both the Trésorerie and Crédit Lyonnais; the bank never answered.

Eventually, when the trésorerie wrote explaining my error, I was able to arrange an appointment when we were in France in May. Being in the UK made the situation harder to understand, especially with postal delays and no face-to-face contact.

However, even when we did have a discussion with the trésorerie, we were given wrong figures on money to be taken from the account.

The bank remained singularly unhelpful throughout and took a series of charges for the blocages, plus fees for bouncing direct debit payments (which resulted from the subsequent lack of funds).

These amounted to about €400. Each time there was a charge, the account was more likely to go into the red, even though we kept depositing funds that we thought would cover the transactions.

I was particularly worried about a bounced payment to EDF for an apartment that we rent out. This was, however, paid the second time the bill was presented, as we had put more money into the account.

I have been vigilant for 24 years ensuring the bank accounts were in the black; this was a very humiliating experience that went from bad to worse.

Very late in the day I encountered one sympathetic Crédit Lyonnais employee (my ex-conseiller), who said it was not an uncommon problem and that funds could sometimes even be taken when taxes had been paid and the trésorerie was in the wrong.

My own conseiller was singularly unhelpful, refusing to see us on one occasion in spite of me having been told on the phone someone would discuss the matter with us.

She did however come out of her office and give us the benefit of her opinion in a dismissive fashion in front of customers. She told us she did not answer my emails as the bank has no internet. I find this quite annoying, particularly as I pay Crédit Lyonnais e3.50 a month for internet banking, plus charges for bank cards.

Overall costs are much higher in France and I know of no situation in the UK where money for debts can be taken from one’s account such as we experienced here.

We finally paid off our debt in July: and the good news is we have now paid most of our 2010 taxes in advance, by direct debit – and my account is in the black.

Margaret Cameron
Draguignan