4. Managing Your French Bank Account

1. 4.1. Cash Withdrawals
2. 4.2. Direct Debits and Standing Orders
3. 4.3. Statements
4. 4.4. Bank Overdrafts
5. 4.5. Closing/Transferring Account
6. 4.6. Seizure of Account

4.3. French Bank Account Statements

You will get a statement at least once a month free of charge, provided there have been transactions on the account.

As all the main banks provide account access through the internet, this should meet most requirements. You can also get a balance from the ATM.

If you want a hard copy statement more regularly then you will need to pay for the service.

French banks lack a degree of transparency in communication of charges, so you may need to read your statements with some care to determine charges imposed in any particular month.

A law passed in January 2008 now requires that banks provide a regular (at least annual) summary statement to their customers of the charges incurred on their account(s). These charges include interest incurred on overdrawn accounts. The new statements are required to be in operation from January 2009.