Credit Agricole/Britline Paying 4.50% for 1 Year Term Less Fees

[podgerodge]

Ohhhh! I thought it was only interest on which tax was payABLE counted for the 5k, not interest on which DIRT was deducted!

@Freelance It was this response from @RedOnion to another poster in a different thread that had me thinking it's excluded from the 5,000?:

"Interest which is fully taxed at source is not included in calculating if you breech the 5k limit. If that's what you are asking?"

 

[Freelance]

This is off topic. Rather than derailing this thread, could I suggest opening a new thread, either here or in Tax

 

[ashambles]

From their FAQ

"You can request the reimbursement of your investment at all times for part or the entire sum according to the terms of the contract. In this case a notice period of 32 days will be applied (Day+31 days). The reimbursement will be carried out at the end of this notice period and a penalty will be applied to the interest rate (your rate will be divided by two"


This would seem to be another positive point - you could if I'm reading it correctly treat the account (in a limited way) as being a 2.25% 31 day notice account.

 

[Freelance]

By way of an update I submitted my application together with the AML documents earlier this week. After a little back and forth I received an e-mail from them saying that the docs had been approved and to contact them to arrange a the telephone interview about my "French Project", this being the final stage of the account opening. The wait for an interview is approx 10 days currently.

I have answers to some questions, but will hold off until my account is open and funds lodged and will then summarise my thoughts together with all the answers I've received.

All I will say now is that to date, both on the phone and when dealing with e-mail, they are professional and efficient.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

By way of an update I submitted my application together with the AML documents earlier this week. After a little back and forth I received an e-mail from them saying that the docs had been approved and to contact them to arrange a the telephone interview about my "French Project", this being the final stage of the account opening. The wait for an interview is approx 10 days currently.

I have answers to some questions, but will hold off until my account is open and funds lodged and will then summarise my thoughts together with all the answers I've received.

All I will say now is that to date, both on the phone and when dealing with e-mail, they are professional and efficient.

Bit of a long wait. You weren't talking to Karen by any chance? Karen's my contact. I showed her my OP after I had posted it. Yes I know, she now knows that the Duke is not after all an aristocrat. She said she had no difficulty with the OP. I have no idea whether she followed the thread or if my experience of being able to cancel credit cards* is available to new customers.
* on reflection I decided not to cancel the credit cards, never know when they might be useful in France

 

[Freelance]

My first reaction on hearing of the delay was ffs. But in fairness they are a special purpose bank, catering in the main for Brit and other Ex-Pats who want to operate in France, and with a special focus it appears on facilitating French property transactions. I actually get the idea of the "interview about your project" in that context and it makes perfect sense. I can't expect them to change their model for freeloaders like me who are just showing up for the Deposit Interest. So quite happy to wait 10 days to avail of the 4.5%, especially if it means that everything is handled correctly.

And anyway, looking back I wasted at least that amount of time getting funds deposited with BUNQ and Raisin and failing to get anywhere with the dire outfit Advanzia and all of that was far more frustrating as it was just incompetence and inefficiency.

 

[Djimi Traore]

Wow! Very interesting that you can reduce fees to €1 per month by cancelling cards. I'll add that to the best buys.

One way to avoid the 5k threshold if you are at the margins is to mix deposits with Money Market ETFs, even with 41% tax it might be worth it to avoid exceeding the threshold.

I think investing in any "offshore" fund makes you a chargeable person so you'd need to make sure the Money Market Fund is domiciled in Ireland. I know most of them are Luxembourg domiciled so something to be concious of. Open to correction on that.

 

[justme]

My first reaction on hearing of the delay was ffs. But in fairness they are a special purpose bank, catering in the main for Brit and other Ex-Pats who want to operate in France, and with a special focus it appears on facilitating French property transactions. I actually get the idea of the "interview about your project" in that context and it makes perfect sense. I can't expect them to change their model for freeloaders like me who are just showing up for the Deposit Interest. So quite happy to wait 10 days to avail of the 4.5%, especially if it means that everything is handled correctly.

And anyway, looking back I wasted at least that amount of time getting funds deposited with BUNQ and Raisin and failing to get anywhere with the dire outfit Advanzia and all of that was far more frustrating as it was just incompetence and inefficiency.

Any update on this, I was just about to pull the trigger on a 2 Raisin accounts, but then I saw this and I'm intrigued.

 

[ashambles]

So far so good - new current account was ready for transfers after 5 working days. The phone call was arranged for 3 days after I'd done the initial application on line.

No problems yet - in the process of funding the account - when finished will need to switch funds to the term account and that might involve a phone call.

You would want to get started though - the current 4.5% offer is open until Dec 22, so running out of working days, also if your bank limits daily SEPA transfers you might find it takes a few days to get your funds across.

It's not clear yet to me how avoidable the fees are if you don't want a card - for now I'd say factor in that you will need to pay them.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

You would want to get started though - the current 4.5% offer is open until Dec 22, so running out of working days, also if your bank limits daily SEPA transfers you might find it takes a few days to get your funds across.

Yes, I went to my AIB branch to transfer more than €10k. I had to phone my Britline "counsellor". She sent a one page "contract" which I (and the Duchess) signed, scanned and returned.

 

[Freelance]

I am now out the other end and lIke @ashambles my experience has been very positive.

So to fill in some of the blanks from may previous posts:

• Phone based Two Factor Authentication (TFA) in place for online access, transaction authorisation, profile changes etc. Online system is in French, but navigation is intuitive. It's at least as good as and probably better than the Irish online systems, and I've had no issues with it.
• Quattro DAT confirmed to be covered for €100k by FGDR (French DGS)
• Current account is mandatory to feed the Deposit A/C
• They very much want you to choose one of the package options "Essential" or "Premium" and take a Cr/Dr card. The Premium package is currently (for 12 months) on 50% discount, making it cheaper than the Essential option. I went with this rather than have it become a sticking point. The cost is well covered by the 4.5% interest.
• All documentation (and there is a fair amount of it) is in French. It is all electronic and online, and all signing is online. PDFs are available for download if you wish. So this is all very efficient, provided you are comfortable with it.
• No issue transferring money using SEPA, and transfers generally arrived within 24 hours.
• In addition to the DAT Quattro, they also offer a separate deposit account (Livret A) under a French Government controlled scheme, that permits a maximum balance just under €23k. It is a demand account, variable interest, currently 3%. It has a French Government capital guarantee. which I understand is over and above the FGDR €100k guarantee.
• Support is EXCELLENT. Accurate, efficient, prompt. Honestly it's like dealing remotely with an Irish Bank back in the day when they had trained knowledgeable Bank Officials and Bank Managers. I couldn't fault their support in any regard. Total contrast to the Raisins, Bunqs, Advanzias as well as the call centres operated by AIB, BOI and PTSB.

Hope that this is helpful to anybody else considering this option.

 

[nest egg]

...You would want to get started though - the current 4.5% offer is open until Dec 22, so running out of working days, also if your bank limits daily SEPA transfers you might find it takes a few days to get your funds across....

Are you constrained in having to have the account fully funded by that date?
If you had €1 in the account by then, can you top it up afterwards during the 12 month period?

 

[Freelance]

You can send as many transfers as you wish to the (feeder) current account. Only one transfer into the DAT Quattro (term deposit) is allowed, and no further transfers in are permitted. I don't know if there is any leeway in relation to when this transfer takes place, especially regarding the 22nd December deadline.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I am now out the other end and lIke @ashambles my experience has been very positive.

So to fill in some of the blanks from may previous posts:

• Phone based Two Factor Authentication (TFA) in place for online access, transaction authorisation, profile changes etc. Online system is in French, but navigation is intuitive. It's at least as good as and probably better than the Irish online systems, and I've had no issues with it.
• Quattro DAT confirmed to be covered for €100k by FGDR (French DGS)
• Current account is mandatory to feed the Deposit A/C
• They very much want you to choose one of the package options "Essential" or "Premium" and take a Cr/Dr card. The Premium package is currently (for 12 months) on 50% discount, making it cheaper than the Essential option. I went with this rather than have it become a sticking point. The cost is well covered by the 4.5% interest.
• All documentation (and there is a fair amount of it) is in French. It is all electronic and online, and all signing is online. PDFs are available for download if you wish. So this is all very efficient, provided you are comfortable with it.
• No issue transferring money using SEPA, and transfers generally arrived within 24 hours.
• In addition to the DAT Quattro, they also offer a separate deposit account (Livret A) under a French Government controlled scheme, that permits a maximum balance just under €23k. It is a demand account, variable interest, currently 3%. It has a French Government capital guarantee. which I understand is over and above the FGDR €100k guarantee.
• Support is EXCELLENT. Accurate, efficient, prompt. Honestly it's like dealing remotely with an Irish Bank back in the day when they had trained knowledgeable Bank Officials and Bank Managers. I couldn't fault their support in any regard. Total contrast to the Raisins, Bunqs, Advanzias as well as the call centres operated by AIB, BOI and PTSB.

Hope that this is helpful to anybody else considering this option.

Good to hear, and yes I have been with them over 20 years and no issues. We both have max Livrets and also max Carre Jaunes (15.3k each) paying 2%. We have joint 100k in Quattro (not sure whether the guarantee would cover 200k on joint accounts).
I have always declared the interest and as it is in the EU it is subject to DIRT. Of course, if you are a forgetful type...

 

[Lightning]

In addition to the DAT Quattro, they also offer a separate deposit account (Livret A) under a French Government controlled scheme, that permits a maximum balance just under €23k. It is a demand account, variable interest, currently 3%. It has a French Government capital guarantee. which I understand is over and above the FGDR €100k guarante

It might be worth mentioning that the Livret A is subject to 30% tax for non residents. The 30% tax is not deposit interest tax but rather a different tax type. Hence, it seems to not be deductible against your Irish DIRT liability.

They very much want you to choose one of the package options "Essential" or "Premium" and take a Cr/Dr card. The Premium package is currently (for 12 months) on 50% discount, making it cheaper than the Essential option. I went with this rather than have it become a sticking point. The cost is well covered by the 4.5% interest.

Just wondering if you cancelled your cards so the monthly current account fee is just 1 euro and if so how that went?

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

It might be worth mentioning that the Livret A is subject to 30% tax for non residents. The 30% tax is not deposit interest tax but rather a different tax type. Hence, it seems to not be deductible against your Irish DIRT liability.

I haven't been checking as it was so low, but you may be right. They are reporting 3% accrued before tax at the moment, but I will see what they actually credit at year end.
Below is my 2022 interest on an over 20k Livret. It looks like I am getting the full interest rate as a non resident.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

This is the English translation of the French Government's info on Livret A (A Booklet)

 

[Lightning]

On Reddit, there are a large number of posts saying that there is a 30% "flat tax" or CGT type tax that is applied to non residents who hold a Livret A. No idea why you are not getting this tax deducted at source. Maybe Britline can confirm.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

On Reddit, there are a large number of posts saying that there is a 30% "flat tax" or CGT type tax that is applied to non residents who hold a Livret A. No idea why you are not getting this tax deducted at source. Maybe Britline can confirm.

I posted the Google translation of the official site of the French Government. I read the original French version. It is clear that it is State sponsored and it is tax free to everybody including French residents. They also make it clear that "tout le monde" can own one

 

[nest egg]

On Reddit, there are a large number of posts saying that there is a 30% "flat tax" or CGT type tax that is applied to non residents who hold a Livret A. No idea why you are not getting this tax deducted at source. Maybe Britline can confirm.

I used to live in France, there are no French taxes applied to residents or non-residents. You do have to declare the interest earned in the country you're tax resident in, I suspect this is where the confusion lies in what you've read elsewhere.