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Good on you! That sounds surprisingly modern compared to what I've heard about for example online banking in France from people who were exchange students there

by vages 6y ago

Good on you! That sounds surprisingly modern compared to what I've heard about for example online banking in France from people who were exchange students there. From what I've heard, you have to show up physically for most bank stuff. Is that true? Disclaimer: I was told this by people who were exchange students there at least two years ago. Things may have changed and/or be different (i.e. harder) for foreigners.

seszett 6y ago
> From what I've heard, you have to show up physically for most bank stuff. Is that true? That was true until maybe 10 years ago? Today you can easily open an account online and never show up to a physical agency. If the bank you chose even has one. But due to the way France works, with the different administrations forbidden from sharing information between each other and no central citizens repository, processes work on the customer themselves passing documents back and forth between the different administrations or companies, which makes it more difficult as a newcomer. Say, the bank will ask for a proof of identity and a proof of address, you have the proof of identity but the proof of address must come from an ISP or utilities company, which in turn requires a bank account. So you have to first find an ISP that will accept payment from your foreign account, etc. It's different for example in Belgium, where once you're a resident all your information is there in a repository of the federal government and tied to your national number, so you don't need anything more than your identity card to sign up for a bank account. It's much easier but on the other hand, I don't really like having all my information in a single place like this, I just find it a bit unsettling that the police can look up your car's plate and call you on your cellphone to tell you that your car is badly parked.
benhurmarcel 6y ago
It depends on the bank, but most allow to do everything online or by phone. Personally I haven't visited a bank office in the last 15ish years; before it was fully online I could do the rest by phone/email. Actually more and more people use online-only banks now, without any physical office. I couldn't visit my banks even if I wanted to. Probably exchange students don't know the market and go to the nearest branch, so it might not be the most technologically advanced option.
kakwa_ 6y ago
You can do pretty much any bank operation online these days, at least the most common operation like opening an account (life insurance, PEL, CEL, livret A, etc), getting your RIB (bank ID pdf), making transfers (one offs and recurring ones), declare a lost credit card, etc. And it has been like that for a while (I remember opening a PEL online and configuring a monthly transfer to fill it when I started working 10 years ago). Maybe all the banks are/were not at the same level, but with mine, BNP, it was possible. Also, now, I also have bank accounts in a more "international" bank (HSBC), and to be honest, even if the website as the same functionalities, HSBC website is a lot more clunkier, mixing the old and the new than BNP's one which is reasonably good looking and easy to use.

by vages 6y ago

seszett 6y ago

> From what I've heard, you have to show up physically for most bank stuff. Is that true? That was true until maybe 10 years ago? Today you can easily open an account online and never show up to a physical agency. If the bank you chose even has one. But due to the way France works, with the different administrations forbidden from sharing information between each other and no central citizens repository, processes work on the customer themselves passing documents back and forth between the different administrations or companies, which makes it more difficult as a newcomer. Say, the bank will ask for a proof of identity and a proof of address, you have the proof of identity but the proof of address must come from an ISP or utilities company, which in turn requires a bank account. So you have to first find an ISP that will accept payment from your foreign account, etc. It's different for example in Belgium, where once you're a resident all your information is there in a repository of the federal government and tied to your national number, so you don't need anything more than your identity card to sign up for a bank account. It's much easier but on the other hand, I don't really like having all my information in a single place like this, I just find it a bit unsettling that the police can look up your car's plate and call you on your cellphone to tell you that your car is badly parked.

benhurmarcel 6y ago

It depends on the bank, but most allow to do everything online or by phone. Personally I haven't visited a bank office in the last 15ish years; before it was fully online I could do the rest by phone/email. Actually more and more people use online-only banks now, without any physical office. I couldn't visit my banks even if I wanted to. Probably exchange students don't know the market and go to the nearest branch, so it might not be the most technologically advanced option.

kakwa_ 6y ago

You can do pretty much any bank operation online these days, at least the most common operation like opening an account (life insurance, PEL, CEL, livret A, etc), getting your RIB (bank ID pdf), making transfers (one offs and recurring ones), declare a lost credit card, etc. And it has been like that for a while (I remember opening a PEL online and configuring a monthly transfer to fill it when I started working 10 years ago). Maybe all the banks are/were not at the same level, but with mine, BNP, it was possible. Also, now, I also have bank accounts in a more "international" bank (HSBC), and to be honest, even if the website as the same functionalities, HSBC website is a lot more clunkier, mixing the old and the new than BNP's one which is reasonably good looking and easy to use.