I like my bank.............

G Nan - is that a credit card may I ask or a Carte Bleu type - I heard the French banks did not give a credit card and wondered if that was correct.f

It is a Gold Mastercard but payment is taken immediately. I was quite relieved when the rental company accepted it as a credit card.

Sofar so good with French banks................but I've only lived here full-time for twelve years. I think if they deem you eligible for a card of any sort it is always immediate.

I lived in France from 2002 to 2009 (I had to go back to England for 17 months to help my daughter). I think I had a genuine credit card then but I didn't want to have any debt when I returned in 2010 so I was happy to have the Mastercard. I was just relieved that car hire companies accepted it as a credit card.

I didn't like my bank's travel money rate so I used Post Office on-line, offering more for my pounds. It arrived by Royal Mail Special Delivery but later than promised by the Post Office. When it was late, I rang the Post Office as directed but was told by a rather bored young man that he had checked the Royal Mail system and it was 'out for delivery'. The Royal Mail turned up 'only' 13 minutes late after I had been waiting in all morning. I had to sign before checking the package and was told that if there was a discrepancy, it was between me and whoever sent the package. All very sensible I suppose if you remember that the Post Office and the Royal Mail are now entirely separate. I got a good on-line rate, bored customer service and late delivery. Plus ca change.

We go to the local Co-op travel shop for our dollars and find we get the best rate in Town , better even than The Money shop

The euro rate for Co-op Travel on-line was only marginally less than The Post Office just now, both better than a high street bank. I'm quite surprised with Co-op travel - my local Co-op supermarket is quite often more expensive for food than most, in my experience. I often wonder how well the Co-op's claim 'good with food' really stands up against the competition.

I generally go to the local PO for travel money, get a good rate and receive the cash immediately, whereas at my bank I have to order it and collect it the next day. I also have a pre-loaded Euro card.

I am also surprised with the Co-op travel , how I found out another bank and M/S said they offered the best rate in town. Regards Co-op for food they are marginally dearer , but for the sake of either getting car out to go Lidl or Aldi --petrol costs also , are prepared to pay the extra coppers . ps Your Namesake is running at York today ,3.40

I have been disappointed with the Co-op. They have a very run-of the-mill selection of goods and in this town have to compete with Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose. They claim to be a fair trade retailer, but I have found, several times, that they stock apples from the USA and have no English ones. How can that be fair? As far as fruit and veg are concerned, for me fair trade begins at home.

Now I am going to be accused of going off thread. Sorry, I saw Frankel's question about 'good with food' and jumped in with both feet. Back to banking!

Nah - it's my thread, digress as much as you like!

I do any currency exchange at MandS now - any time I check rates they are the best and it is instant. I now have a credit card fom a UK bank which does not charge when used abroad - just a clearly given exchange rate. Being a disbelieving soul I did a lot of cross checking initially and it does seem to be right and the rate they give is a good one.
I use a credit card rather than a debit one because of the security and the fact that if your details are stolen your bank account cannot be emptied as it can with a debit card. I suppose that is why cheques are still very prevalent in France as opposed to cards.

I know plenty of old people use cheques in France because they start scrabbling about in their bag to find them once their goods have been scanned.

moneysavingexpert.com usually has good up-to-date information about the best currency deals and cards.

moneysavingexpert.com

French people have never been keen on banks , they like to pop their money under the mattress , hence when they went into Euro there was mass panic. I always think it is a good place to put money because even though u don"t earn interest at least you know where it is. Unless of course you get burglarized

I don't have any choice in currency exchange - my three UK government pensions are paid in sterling but go through Bank of New York to be converted into euros and put into my French bank account. The rate is usually pretty good though.

Why do they go through the bank of new york ?

I have no idea, they used to use Citibank. Perhaps they got a better rate. The DWP and Capita don't tell me how things work!

oky doky , the main thing is u get a good rate . Cheers !