French credit card (question for french residents) (2 Viewers)

[Widge]

This is realy a question for french members or residents.

I have been looking around for a french credit card, I am not a big one for having credit cards, but occasionally they are handy, especially when putting down a deposit on hirecars etc. I currently use my UK Nat West credit card for such things but can get into exchange rate problems.


So I have been looking at getting a french credit card, but all the ones I have found seem to have quite a big monthly fee unless you use it all the time, but I only realy want it for occasional use.

So I thought I would ask if anyone else looked into this?

 

[Bessy765]

We although not French residents but own a holiday cottage there are with SG Bank. We only have a debit card it works out at E8.50 a months and E76 a year for the privilege of not being a resident. We looked into a French credit card for the same reason as you but have found when we have hired they accept the French Debit card. As I understand it the card should not be debited at time fo hire but only if there is any excess to pay.

 

[Lenny HB]

Not a French resident but wouldn't a Revolut account & card do what you want.

 

[Widge]

We although not French residents but own a holiday cottage there are with SG Bank. We only have a debit card it works out at E8.50 a months and E76 a year for the privilege of not being a resident. We looked into a French credit card for the same reason as you but have found when we have hired they accept the French Debit card. As I understand it the card should not be debited at time fo hire but only if there is any excess to pay.

I forgot my credit card pin back in December, and certainly a UK debit card has a limit of £500 that they can hold as a deposit, so I ended up paying for the additional hirecar insurance to bring the deposit down to £500, annoyingly I had already paid for an annual hirecar third party insurance. Even if a french debit card can be used, it would still block that amount in your account.

 

[Widge]

Not a French resident but wouldn't a Revolut account & card do what you want.

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[Widge]

Again, I doubt the limit would be high enough but again it needs to be able to block the value of the deposit in your account, so you need real money in your account, with a credit card, it is only virtual money.

 

[Jez1966]

I currently use my UK Nat West credit card for such things but can get into exchange rate problems

What "exchange rate problems" do you experience.
If you have a French Credit Card, will you not have to pay it in Euros and so have exchange rate problems.

 

[Jez1966]

I forgot my credit card pin back in December,

For future reference: You can view PIN via card app, also useful to lock/freeze card.

 

[Viennese]

Get a Halifax Clarity credit card - no probs using abroad, no extra charges.
We also use Caxton card which you can pre-load.with euros

 

[Widge]

What "exchange rate problems" do you experience.
If you have a French Credit Card, will you not have to pay it in Euros and so have exchange rate problems.

Sorry, you are missing the fact that I live in France so generaly for me everything is in euros.

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[Widge]

Get a Halifax Clarity credit card - no probs using abroad, no extra charges.
We also use Caxton card which you can pre-load.with euros

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I live in France, and although I still have a uk account most things go through my french account in euros. In fact I would probably not be able to get a uk credit with a french address anyway, I think that the only reason I still have my nat west account and credit card is that I have had them for over 40 years.

 

[Widge]

For future reference: You can view PIN via card app, also useful to lock/freeze card.

That is certainly true for revolut and possibly other cards, but nat west still insist on sending you a new pin in the post.

 

[daventess]

Get a Halifax Clarity credit card - no probs using abroad, no extra charges.
We also use Caxton card which you can pre-load.with euros

+1 for the Halifax card. Pay in local currency with good exchange rates, and it's a proper credit card so good for deposits, etc.

As far as I can tell, a deposit is only a card block anyway, so no exchange takes place?

edit

Sorry, I missed this so ignore me :

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I live in France, and although I still have a uk account most things go through my french account in euros.

 

[Jez1966]

That is certainly true for revolut and possibly other cards, but nat west still insist on sending you a new pin in the post.

They all SEND you a new PIN via the post but in the APP you can look at your current PIN so don't need to be sent a new one.
Most banks just "lock" the card and you need to go to an ATM to reactivate, yes you need to know the PIN to do this.
As an alternative put your PIN as part of a phone # in your phone.

 

[Widge]

They all SEND you a new PIN via the post but in the APP you can look at your current PIN so don't need to be sent a new one.
Most banks just "lock" the card and you need to go to an ATM to reactivate, yes you need to know the PIN to do this.
As an alternative put your PIN as part of a phone # in your phone.

I stand corrected, I have now found it in my natwest app.

When I had forgotten the pin, last December I thought I had thoroughly searched the app and couldn't find it, so either the app has been updated since then or I missed it.

Probably the latter, I was a bit stressed at the time as the hire car company said they would only hold the car for an hour.

Unfortunately the credit card helpline was busy so I couldn't actually speak to anyone, and the automated option for forgotten pin number, only allowed you to request a new one by post.

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[gus-lopez]

Not a French resident but wouldn't a Revolut account & card do what you want.

No as it isn't a credit card. A cc normally needs a credit limit in excess of 1500.

 

[Brains]

If you still have a UK passport and a UK address, then next time you are in the UK, you could apply for a Starling Bank card.
Its a on line bank, no hight shops.
Open up a new UK account and put some money in it.
Spent a few quid here and there.
The apply for their Euro account.
You can then transfer money between the two accounts
You chose the time and date, to get the best rate.

It means you can accept €uos into the account and pay out in €uros as well.

 

[Widge]

If you still have a UK passport and a UK address, then next time you are in the UK, you could apply for a Starling Bank card.
Its a on line bank, no hight shops.
Open up a new UK account and put some money in it.
Spent a few quid here and there.
The apply for their Euro account.
You can then transfer money between the two accounts
You chose the time and date, to get the best rate.

It means you can accept €uos into the account and pay out in €uros as well.

As mentioned before, I do not have a uk address, I have been a resident of France for 18 years, I am amazed that I have managed to keep my existing uk credit card with a french address as it is.

 

[HKF]

I live in France and use a Wise card for deposits for hire vans and minibuses. We normally hire from Leclerc or SuperU and they're both happy to accept a deposit from us using the Wise card.

 

[HKF]

As mentioned before, I do not have a uk address, I have been a resident of France for 18 years, I am amazed that I have managed to keep my existing uk credit card with a french address as it is.

We kept our Barclaycard and Santander credit cards when we moved to France. We called them both and told them we'd moved and they were happy for us to retain the account. Some banks are happy with it, others aren't.

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[Widge]

We kept our Barclaycard and Santander credit cards when we moved to France. We called them both and told them we'd moved and they were happy for us to retain the account. Some banks are happy with it, others aren't.

I am surprised with the Barclaycard, I know after Bxt barclays bank were one of the ones that were closing current accounts if you were no longer a uk resident, but I guess the credit card people are a different entity.

 

[DangerMousy]

What about using a Curve card in front of your current Natwest card? Curve can handle the fx side of things (subject to limits, depending on which level Curve you go for) which means your Natwest card is charged in GBP so you'd avoid their charges.

If you're interested in Curve, send me a PM and I can send you a referral link so we can both get cashback.

 

[Widge]

What about using a Curve card in front of your current Natwest card? Curve can handle the fx side of things (subject to limits, depending on which level Curve you go for) which means your Natwest card is charged in GBP so you'd avoid their charges.

If you're interested in Curve, send me a PM and I can send you a referral link so we can both get cashback.

Looks interesting, but I don't use my credit card a lot and when I do it is likely to be for a lot more than the £250/month that you get with the basic card, and if I am going to pay fees it might as well be for a french euro based credit card. But thanks for the suggestion anyway.

 

[HKF]

Looks interesting, but I don't use my credit card a lot and when I do it is likely to be for a lot more than the £250/month that you get with the basic card, and if I am going to pay fees it might as well be for a french euro based credit card. But thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Just wondering why you need a french credit card and not a debit card? With a Wise account, you get a physical card and you can hold as much as you like in the account. As I said above, we use ours for hire vehicles regularly, with no problem. Not that you have to use it regularly, just use it when you like.

 

[ManTheVan]

+1 for Wise.

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[Widge]

Just wondering why you need a french credit card and not a debit card? With a Wise account, you get a physical card and you can hold as much as you like in the account. As I said above, we use ours for hire vehicles regularly, with no problem. Not that you have to use it regularly, just use it when you like.

But surely if you hire a car with a security deposit of for example 1500€ which is not uncommon these days, with what ever card it will block the value of the deposit from your account, so you either have to have available credit, in the case of a credit card, or have to have available funds or funds/overdraft facility in the case if a debit card, otherwise the security deposit would be meaningless, you might say, but it's only a holding deposit, they don't actually take it.

That is fine until you have an accident or somebody reverses into you in a carpark and drives off, certainly in france it is illegal to try and make any payment knowing that you do not have the funds available.

Also the hirecar situation was just an example, personally I don't keep 1000's€ in my bank account, If I want to buy something in france that is 1000€ or more, I have to first arrange to get money out of savings and put it into my account before I can buy whatever it is.

With a credit card I have the option to pay up front, then arrange funds to pay off my credit card at my leisure usualy at the end of that month.

 

[Widge]

Thanks for all the input, but just to recap.

I am a french resident
I do not have a uk address
I have a french bank account
I am looking for a french credit card to give the flexibility of being able to pay up front for large items, or have immediate funds available in the case of an emergency.
It doesn't have to have a huge credit limit 2-3k€ would be pleanty, but I don't want to pay an arm or a leg just to have one.

I was just wondering if any other ex pats living in france or any french nationals, have any suggestions of cards or a good comparison website that I can look at.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Peter and Julie]

I'm with Credit Agricole and they have a range of proper credit cards

 

[varaizian]

Our circumstances mirror yours. Moved here permanently in 2006, retained Nat West accounts and debit cards with French address, no property in UK. Our then credit card provider offered to turn a blind eye to our lack of a legit UK address but from experience a semi-dormant account is a security risk so declined. We have banked with Credit Agricole since the late 80's but to my knowledge their credit cards must be cleared every month; although that might work anyway. For the information of non-residents who might not realise the French state control credit much more tightly than the UK. We did have a Credit Agricole Gold Card with much higher monthly limits for a while but it is quite expensive and we hardly ever obtained any benefit from it. I will also watch for helpful responses to your question.

 

[HKF]

But surely if you hire a car with a security deposit of for example 1500€ which is not uncommon these days, with what ever card it will block the value of the deposit from your account, so you either have to have available credit, in the case of a credit card, or have to have available funds or funds/overdraft facility in the case if a debit card, otherwise the security deposit would be meaningless, you might say, but it's only a holding deposit, they don't actually take it.

That is fine until you have an accident or somebody reverses into you in a carpark and drives off, certainly in france it is illegal to try and make any payment knowing that you do not have the funds available.

Also the hirecar situation was just an example, personally I don't keep 1000's€ in my bank account, If I want to buy something in france that is 1000€ or more, I have to first arrange to get money out of savings and put it into my account before I can buy whatever it is.

With a credit card I have the option to pay up front, then arrange funds to pay off my credit card at my leisure usualy at the end of that month.

I always have enough money available either in my Wise account already or in my CA account, which I can transfer across immediately with no fees.

I think you'll struggle to get a credit card in France that matches a UK one. The French just don't do them. Those that they call credit cards either have to be paid in full every month or you have to put credit on them before you use it (so, effectively, a debit card).

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