What you can expect to pay in charges to your French bank in 2024

French bank charges are a topic almost guaranteed not to set pulses racing, but it's worth knowing what to expect, especially as fees are rising in 2024.

Account maintenance fee

This is the annual fee to simply have an account with a French bank. It doesn't cover things like a bank card or chequebook, never mind any extra services.

After account maintenance fee had jumped nearly 180 percent in a decade - from an average of €7.24 per year at the end of 2012 to €20.23 per year in June 2022, banks kept a pledge to keep increases down to 2 percent last year, according to a report from the observatoire des tarifs bancaires (OTB), an official body linked to the Banque de France. 

Banks that don't charge an annual maintenance fee are increasingly rare. Of the 180 banks routinely monitored by online comparitor Panorabanque, only 10 offer accounts without this charge.

Meanwhile, the annual charges for using a bank card are increasing in 2024, with rises between two percent and three percent, depending on the type of card. Rates will increase by 2.3 percent for classic Visa or MasterCard cards, 2.4 percent for Gold MasterCards, 3 percent for Visa Premier, 2.1 percent for Platinum/World Elite MasterCards, and 2 percent for Visa Infinite.

On the whole, however, the most commonly monitored bank charges are either stable or have fallen year-on-year, according to the study. But the banks are making up the shortfall elsewhere.

Fundamentally, the rule is if you want to open a bank account in France, you’ll just have to accept that there will be charges. 

Other charges

On top of the account maintenance fee, it's also common for banks to charge for certain services, particularly anything involving international banking, which foreigners in France are more likely to use.

Here are some of the services that are likely to attract a fee:

• Authorised overdraft;
• Annual fee for an international deferred debit payment card;
• Annual fee for an international payment card with immediate debit;
• Annual payment card fee with systematic authorisation.

Increasingly, some banks are adopting flat fees on top of interest payments. These flat fees for going overdrawn, imposed quarterly, range from €1.50 by La Banque Postale, to €16 by Banque Populaire Occitane.

Meanwhile, it's not uncommon for foreigners in France to need to carry out international banking transfers, either transferring money between their own accounts in different countries or receiving money from their home country.

These usually attract a fee, but Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) payments - or those made within the eurozone - are usually cheaper than non-SEPA transfers. Among the things you can be charged for are:

• Cost of an occasional SEPA/non-SEPA transfer carried out in a branch / or internet;
• Fees for setting up a SEPA direct debit mandate;
• Charges per payment of a SEPA Direct Debit.

French banks were slower to move into the world of online banking than many others, but these days most have at least some online services on offer. Again, however, you're likely to be charged for them;

• Subscription to remote banking services (internet);
• Subscription to a product that provides account status alerts via SMS;
• Payment card with systematic authorisation (CPAS).

Some banks also charge you to use the ATM of one of their rivals when you need cash:

• Charges for cash withdrawals at an ATM of another bank;
• Number of 'free withdrawals' per month from an ATM of another bank.

There are also some random extras including insurance, and you should definitely expect your bank to periodically try and sell you products such as life insurance or home insurance. You don't have to buy them.

• Intervention commission (including unauthorised overdraft etc);
• Contribution to insurance for loss or theft of means of payment.

You can compare a range of tariffs at banks in your departement on the government’s tarif bancaires comparison site here.

How much

A study by Panorabanques early in 2023 said that French bank customers pay an average of €220.60 per year for banking services. But, it said that this figure hides a wide range of fees. Moneyvox, meanwhile, revealed in its 2024 list of bank fees that the difference between the cheapest and most expensive banks was a whopping €251.

Online banks

If you're looking for a lower-fee option, it might be worth checking out online banks.

While some people prefer to have a 'bricks and mortar' bank where they can visit a branch if necessary, online banks tend to offer simplified services and cheaper fees, while the online banks that offer accounts in multiple currencies - such as pounds and euros or dollars and euros - can be particularly useful for foreigners in France.

However you should be careful that the bank you chose has a banking licence in the countries you are using it in, otherwise you could struggle to recover your money in case of fraud or hacking.

You can read expert tips from a financial adviser HERE.