Well would you believe it ?

We bank at present with Credit-Agricole Normandie (Britline), this because we could establish the account from the UK before we moved here and so on. Also the folk speak English and don't assume we know everything about how accounts work.

We need a second account for our work support money. It's currently paid into our main account with our personal allowance but it has been decided that this needs to be separated off into an account apart - a good idea. So I contacted Britline. "Hum, har, oh dear, well we'll need all the documents you sent us originally" (which was a lot) and so on...

The other day I was paying a cheque in at our local Credit-Agricole Aquitaine. How do I set up an account here ? Come and see us with your electric bill. So I did and 37 seconds later the guy said "You'll receive all the forms at your house by post. Bring them here, sign them, I'll activate them and bob's your uncle."

Wow ! Quelle efficacité !

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