Hello international student! Here is a guide for you to have a local bank account in Nantes. It is necessary for every student to pay rent, transportation fee, mobile fee and so on with a French bank account. You can also enjoy the self-check lanes and acquire room supplement from CAF by this account. Definitely there are many choices and we will introduce three of them.
Crédit agricole (CA)
CA bank is a famous bank in France, there are some priorities than others.
1) Good service: Maybe because it is not a big bank, its service attitude and efficiency are well. If you have something to be done for your account, you can just sit at the rest zone and wait for a clerk and he will do everything you need in bank. Always you do not need to wait for a long time.
2) Convenient outlets and ATM: Although it is not a famous bank, there are many outlets and ATM machines in Nantes. ATMs also offer cash withdrawals for several types of bank cards such as CUP, Visa and so on. So you are not worried about inconvenience.
3) Interesting services: For example, there is a kink of insurance for your properties stolen such as mobile phone, money and credit cards. That means if your mobile phone or wallet is stolen, you can call the bank to say that and then they will pay some losses. You can get at most 500 euros compensation by paying just 5 euros every month. But the requirements are that you should have the app of the bank on your smart phone and the properties be stolen must include your CA bank card.
Something about what you should do to create a new account of CA.
1) Having a fixed living address, email address and phone number.
2) Reserving in advance.
3) Carrying your passport and offer and a small amount cash for the initial deposit.
4) Attention: remember to say that you need a card.
5) Working time: not work from Saturday afternoon to Monday.
A timetable for the outlet near “Mediathèque”
Tuesday 9h-13h,15h-19h
Wednesday 9h30-13h,14h-18h
Thursday 9h30-13h,15h-18h
Friday9h-13h,2h-7h
Saturday 8h30-13h
And then, just go, and the officer will introduce the details to you.
When finished, the bank will post account and card in one or two weeks to you. And you can pay everything from then. Enjoy your life in Nantes.
Société Générale (SG)
SG bank is one of the biggest commercial banks in France. There are branches all over France which is really convinience for students especially when you travel around. Besides, knowledgeable and responsible consultants, high efficiency and preferencial offer all lead to people's favor. In addition, the credit card from other banks like visa and CUP can also do the withdraw at the ATM out of the branches. Therefore, SG bank becomes a popular choice among students.
In 2016, many colleges has cooperated with SG to give foreign students more benefit:
1) Every student can choose to have 50 euros or a housing insurance for year when open an account.
2) Your debit card VISA and the Internet access to your bank account will cost you 1 euro/year during 4 years(you can also use the SG smartphone app);
How to open an account:
1) Bring the copy of passport and visa, a proof of residence in France and the school certificate of registration to one of the branches. Then the staff there will help you to do the rest of steps.
2) You can choose to get the bank card by going back to the bank yourself with passport or by postal delivery after one week. Also, you will get the password to check the account online.
3) At last, you will get the password of your bank account in the next week.
Tips:
1) Do not choose the bank near colleges because it's the common choice for most of the students which resulted in low efficiency. The branches a little bit far will save much time.
2) You don't need to make copy of documents since it's really expensive to do it here. Staffs there will help you.
3) Go back to the bank to get card can save almost a week to get your card.
4) Banks in France work from Tuesday to Friday(lunch time from 12h-14h), only morning on the Saturday, and not work on Sunday and Monday.
5) Savings and withdraw can be made at ATM everywhere 24/7.
6) Large amount of cash deposit are forbidden in order to fight terrorism.
La Banque Postale (BP)
(we will post this one later)