Payments from French banks to other Eurozone countries?

[brendan]

Do the French still use cheques? One guest is proposing to pay that way.

Are there big charges for IBAN transfers in France? Another guest gives this a reason as a change to the usual payment schedule.

Thanks in advance

[Hells Bells]

Yes, the French still use cheques quite a lot, but surely they can't expect you to take on for an international payment.
There may be a charge for a bank transfer but is shouldn't be a large one. In fact I'm not sure I was charged anything by my bank for the last transfer I did to UK.

[French Cricket]

My bank, SocGen, has free IBAN transfers to other eurozone countries. Some others make a small charge, I think. But it shouldn't be much as it all comes under the umbrella of SEPA transfer. They do make a charge for transfers in another currency - eg sterling.

[tavi]

I think if you were to take a cheque it would be you paying the charges when you deposit it (and am pretty sure there would be some - ask your bank?).

A French guest paid me by bank transfer (IBAN) a few weeks ago to my Portuguese account. Don't know if he paid any charges but I certainly didn't.

[lorca]

All our French guests pay via bank transfer (some only the deposit as we let them pay the balance on arrival if they prefer). No problems with this.

[puynavard]

I regularly transfer money from France, using IBAN/SWIFT to my account in the UK. My french bank, Credit Agricole charge me 3 euros for the transfer, not a vast amount. The receiving bank in the UK makes no charges.

[KathyG]

Can you do it online with CA yet Puynavard?

[puynavard]

No unfortunately, I have to visit the bank each time. Perhaps one day they allow it!

[la vache!]

I'm with CA and can do transfers to other accounts within France now, but not outside of the country.Maybe in ten or so years we will have the facility

[French Cricket]

SocGen is clearly going for the Ridiculous Bit Of Bureaucracy Of The Year award. I can do IBAN transfers online ... but only after I've downloaded and printed a form from the website, filled it in with the name, bank account etc of the recipient, and sent in to my branch and waited for them to enter the recipient's details on the computer

But it's free

[KathyG]

I'm with CA and can do transfers to other accounts within France now, but not outside of the country.Maybe in ten or so years we will have the facility

Is that using what they call Kwixo LV? According to the CA site......paiements 'so quick'.......

[Beachcondo]

It should be be the same charge as a national transfer if the sender marks it as "sender and receiver split the cost" (i.e. nothing) if they are connected to the IBAN/SEPA system. Also when transferring to other currencies within the EU.

But from previous posts, it sounds as if French banks can be tricky and set their own rules, so I guess it can be a matter of which bank you are with.

[brendan]

Thank you all for your replies. I´ve had a fair number of French guests and have never had either of these situations so it´s good to know the reality.

Having said that, it´s interesting to hear how poor the French banks are compared to Spanish banks (I never thought I´d make that statement!!!!). IBAN payments are easily made online. Now....going into the branch to sort something - well...that´s a very different story!

[Hells Bells]

I can do IBAN online from my French account, it's UK equivalent has only just caught up.

[Normandy Cow]

SocGen is clearly going for the Ridiculous Bit Of Bureaucracy Of The Year award. I can do IBAN transfers online ... but only after I've downloaded and printed a form from the website, filled it in with the name, bank account etc of the recipient, and sent in to my branch and waited for them to enter the recipient's details on the computer

But it's free

My bank (credit du nord) has the sane* system, but once I've completed and signed it, I can scan it in and email it to my bank.
Yes, it's a bit of a clunky system, but only takes about 5 minutes, and they do do the transfer pretty quickly.

*same
haha, that was a genuine typo which I only noticed when I clicked the preview button, but it made me laugh so I thought I'd leave it in.
Or maybe I should have changed it to "insane"!