Comments on: How to lose a bank client http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/ earth laughs in flowers Sat, 17 May 2008 22:34:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Benoit http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-153 Benoit Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:51:05 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-153 French banks are the reason why capitalism is so hated in france : you have to know how it has been introduced to us... Banker is nearly an insult to me ;) French banks are the reason why capitalism is so hated in france : you have to know how it has been introduced to us… Banker is nearly an insult to me ;)

]]> By: /anne... http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-142 /anne... Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:09:00 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-142 Interest rates are on the way up here too - only we never got below about 6.5%. We'd just moved from Perth to Canberra (like London to Moscow, only not as cold :-); I'm the only breadwinner, so yes - it was awful. I'm a technical writer, so rely on being 'known' by the agents - moving cities meant I had to start over. It took several months to find another job, by which time the money I'd made from selling our old house had gone in rent (rent in Canberra is about the same as unempolyment benefits; so if I hadn't any savings, we would have starved). We survived; but house prices have doubled or even tripled since then due to stupid government policies, so the odds of me saving enough for a deposit are pretty slim. Ah well, at least I'm in work! Interest rates are on the way up here too - only we never got below about 6.5%.

We’d just moved from Perth to Canberra (like London to Moscow, only not as cold :-);
I’m the only breadwinner, so yes - it was awful. I’m a technical writer, so rely on being ‘known’ by the agents - moving cities meant I had to start over. It took several
months to find another job, by which time the money I’d made from selling our old house had gone in rent (rent in Canberra is about the same as unempolyment benefits; so if I hadn’t any savings, we would have starved).

We survived; but house prices have doubled or even tripled since then due to stupid government policies, so the odds of me saving enough for a deposit are pretty slim.
Ah well, at least I’m in work!

]]> By: fraise http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-139 fraise Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:34:19 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-139 Interest rates on mortgages have been at historical lows here for the last 2 years or so; it wasn't so long ago that people had 10%-12% too. One or two years ago you could get a mortgage at 3.5%!!! I won't complain though, the fixed-interest mortgage I got at 4.8% is quite all right with me. I can't even imagine losing a job in the middle of a sale :/ What a nightmare that must have been! Interest rates on mortgages have been at historical lows here for the last 2 years or so; it wasn’t so long ago that people had 10%-12% too. One or two years ago you could get a mortgage at 3.5%!!! I won’t complain though, the fixed-interest mortgage I got at 4.8% is quite all right with me.

I can’t even imagine losing a job in the middle of a sale :/ What a nightmare that must have been!

]]> By: /anne... http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-136 /anne... Tue, 11 Mar 2008 06:16:44 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-136 Sounds like if I moved to France, at least the banking system would be familiar! We have credit unions in Australia, but fixed interest loans are usually only for 3-5 years (then you decide what you're going to do for the next 3-5 years), money leaves your account and takes a minimum of a day to appear in the other person's account, and paying out a loan in total before the end date incurrs a hefty fee, as do lots of other things. Some types of loans - usually cheap, fixed interest loans - you can't vary your repayments, but most loans you can. We do have one cute thing - interest offset accounts, where the money in your normal account is counted as paid off your loan, until you use it. The downside is that you usually pay more interest for accounts with that facility! Oh, and interest rates here for mortgages are almost at 10%. Maybe I _should_ move to France! Pity I've forgotten almost all my high school French :-(. Good luck - I've bought one house, and almost bought another (lost my job in the middle of the sale - lost everything :-( ) - even when you know the language, it's still confusing - that's the way they like it! Sounds like if I moved to France, at least the banking system would be familiar! We have credit unions in Australia, but fixed interest loans are usually only for 3-5 years (then you decide what you’re going to do for the next 3-5 years), money leaves your account and takes a minimum of a day to appear in the other person’s account, and paying out a loan in total before the end date incurrs a hefty fee, as do lots of other things. Some types of loans - usually cheap, fixed interest loans - you can’t vary your repayments, but most loans you can. We do have one cute thing - interest offset accounts, where the money in your normal account is counted as paid off your loan, until you use it. The downside is that you usually pay more interest for accounts with that facility!

Oh, and interest rates here for mortgages are almost at 10%. Maybe I _should_ move to France! Pity I’ve forgotten almost all my high school French :-(.

Good luck - I’ve bought one house, and almost bought another (lost my job in the middle of the sale - lost everything :-( ) - even when you know the language, it’s still confusing - that’s the way they like it!

]]> By: fraise http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-122 fraise Sun, 09 Mar 2008 15:03:32 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-122 French banks do indeed operate on a different cultural approach, but it's not one that's appreciated even by French people. There's no equivalent to credit unions, so there's really no competition. (The closest to a credit union seems to be La Poste's bank.) So banks have crap offers and take advantage of clients in general, like this whole "anniversary date" and "penalty" deal for something as basic as paying down a loan ahead of time. My personal favorite is that when you make an <em>electronic</em> transfer, it's taken out of the sending account immediately, but is only put into the recipient account after a minimum of 24 hours and can (and often does) take up to 72 hours, three days! This includes, of course, salary wires from employers. Obviously they earn truckloads with all that money not-actually-passively "waiting" to be transferred. That and the bank I'm at is widely acknowledged to be one of the worst in France -- they're well known for giving "advice" like this. Of course, I found that out <em>after</em> opening an account with them, sigh. I've never needed anything major until now and so hadn't bothered to change, but am taking the chance to do so ASAP. French banks do indeed operate on a different cultural approach, but it’s not one that’s appreciated even by French people. There’s no equivalent to credit unions, so there’s really no competition. (The closest to a credit union seems to be La Poste’s bank.) So banks have crap offers and take advantage of clients in general, like this whole “anniversary date” and “penalty” deal for something as basic as paying down a loan ahead of time. My personal favorite is that when you make an electronic transfer, it’s taken out of the sending account immediately, but is only put into the recipient account after a minimum of 24 hours and can (and often does) take up to 72 hours, three days! This includes, of course, salary wires from employers. Obviously they earn truckloads with all that money not-actually-passively “waiting” to be transferred.

That and the bank I’m at is widely acknowledged to be one of the worst in France — they’re well known for giving “advice” like this. Of course, I found that out after opening an account with them, sigh. I’ve never needed anything major until now and so hadn’t bothered to change, but am taking the chance to do so ASAP.

]]> By: Chris http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-121 Chris Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:45:19 +0000 http://perso.fraise.net/permalink/2008/03/14/#comment-121 Wow. Maybe its a culture difference when it comes to consumer expectations, but I know a commission when I smell one. Wow.

Maybe its a culture difference when it comes to consumer expectations, but I know a commission when I smell one.

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