New Yorkers accept everyone. You can arrive on day one and, if you say you are a New Yorker, people believe you. In Paris, if you haven't been here for 4 generations, you better not say you are a Parisian. There is a loophole. You can say you are an adopted Parisian (Parisian adopté).
So, as a Parisian adopté, you need some essentials: a phone, a place to live and a bank account. Most important of these is the bank account. In New York, I think credit cards are more important. You can get by on one and pay for just about everything. In Paris, very few people have credit cards in that way. Instead, they rely on debit cards, and they are much more secure. Every establishment has a portable wifi machine at checkout, or at a restaurant they bring to you. They put in the amount you are to pay in manually, you put in your card (with a CHIP that US citizens do not have, more on that later) and you type in your 4-digit code and press Enter. If accepted, the machine prints our your receipt which you take along with your card and then hands the machine back. The server or cashier then presses a button, getting the establishment's receipt and the transaction is completed.
If you are from the US, don't worry about these maneuvers: your card will never work like this, because the US doesn't have the chip technology. Even when they do, in what is projected as 2-5 years, it will be a different system. I know because I changed banks in the US so I could get a card with a chip. Different chip; doesn't work anywhere. This is an issue because some systems, like the bike share, only work with the cards with the chips.
So a bank account is essential. Before leaving NYC, I went to my bank and asked about transferring money to an account in France. No matter how I worked it out, without $250,000 as a static balance, I could not do this affordably. Instead I moved my money to a new bank that is more international. I am assured at the NYC branch that once I get to Paris and set up another account there, we can link the two accounts and I can, without fee, transfer money back and forth. Sounds like a plan.
So I set up an appointment at a French branch of this bank. I bring all my documentation that they have requested (along with others) and Helmut, to get through the rough patches in the language, and we begin. The first question, which seems important and I certainly don't want to get wrong, is this: "Why do you want to open a bank account in Paris?" Hmmmm? Why? Because Parisian life is centered around this bank account and I can't get anything else in this city without it? Because I can't rent a bike without an account? Because I am an adult over 20 who understands how finances work and I need to pay bills sometime? We luckily get through that one and the woman collects all the data and we schedule another meeting a week later, when I am assured we will have the account set up and I can begin using this. Stop me if you have heard this before.
So, a week later we prepare for our second bank appointment. I bring all the same documentation because I know bureaucracy: I am not being caught without something essential that they photocopied but now do not have. Helmut is sure this won't be necessary and insists that this will be easy since I have some money in the bank.
We arrive and are asked to wait a moment. We are greeted not by the person we worked with before (she is present though) but by the head of that branch of the bank. He says he is there to observe; I have my doubts. We begin again. How long have I had the NY bank account? Oops, only a few months. I begin volunteering that I have the other NYC bank account (luckily not closed out yet), I have savings, an expensive apartment in NYC, retirement money. Helmut is starting on a slow burn ("You might as well tell them what kind of underwear you are wearing!" he later stated emphatically). An hour and a half later, they have input all the information into their system. The account manager turns to us during this input and asks, "Why Paris?" I freeze. Being a gay New Yorker, I am happy to state answers to obvious questions but here I am in a foreign country and let's face it, the gay thing isn't always easy to digest for some folks. Helmut jumps in with "Paris is a beautiful city." Of course my answer would have cleared up any additional questions, but let's go with that for now, shall we?
The bank account should be ready in a week, but our account manager will be on vacation. We set up an appointment for 2 weeks on a Tuesday, to give her time to get back. The day of this appointment, I get a phone call from the account manager on my new Parisian iPhone. Now, you have to understand that while I speak French OK, talking to a Frenchman on the phone is daunting. You have no face to see intent, no lips to read when you are not sure what words they are saying, no hand gestures. Just the voice. I hand the phone to Helmut. It seems that while she was on vacation, nothing was done. We have to push the appointment back to Friday.
So Friday comes, and I go to the bank, sign a few forms and I now have the account. Now this debit card that I need to use won't come for about a week but how I can use it is based on my balances. To get it open, I put 20€ in the account but was told I need to get a decent balance into the account which I am told needs to be done via the New York branch. Now with the time difference, I can't call the NYC branch until 3:00pm (15h) Paris time. I call The branch and they do what they have to do to make my account global which will allow me to move money.
So, as a Parisian adopté, you need some essentials: a phone, a place to live and a bank account. Most important of these is the bank account. In New York, I think credit cards are more important. You can get by on one and pay for just about everything. In Paris, very few people have credit cards in that way. Instead, they rely on debit cards, and they are much more secure. Every establishment has a portable wifi machine at checkout, or at a restaurant they bring to you. They put in the amount you are to pay in manually, you put in your card (with a CHIP that US citizens do not have, more on that later) and you type in your 4-digit code and press Enter. If accepted, the machine prints our your receipt which you take along with your card and then hands the machine back. The server or cashier then presses a button, getting the establishment's receipt and the transaction is completed.
If you are from the US, don't worry about these maneuvers: your card will never work like this, because the US doesn't have the chip technology. Even when they do, in what is projected as 2-5 years, it will be a different system. I know because I changed banks in the US so I could get a card with a chip. Different chip; doesn't work anywhere. This is an issue because some systems, like the bike share, only work with the cards with the chips.
So a bank account is essential. Before leaving NYC, I went to my bank and asked about transferring money to an account in France. No matter how I worked it out, without $250,000 as a static balance, I could not do this affordably. Instead I moved my money to a new bank that is more international. I am assured at the NYC branch that once I get to Paris and set up another account there, we can link the two accounts and I can, without fee, transfer money back and forth. Sounds like a plan.
So I set up an appointment at a French branch of this bank. I bring all my documentation that they have requested (along with others) and Helmut, to get through the rough patches in the language, and we begin. The first question, which seems important and I certainly don't want to get wrong, is this: "Why do you want to open a bank account in Paris?" Hmmmm? Why? Because Parisian life is centered around this bank account and I can't get anything else in this city without it? Because I can't rent a bike without an account? Because I am an adult over 20 who understands how finances work and I need to pay bills sometime? We luckily get through that one and the woman collects all the data and we schedule another meeting a week later, when I am assured we will have the account set up and I can begin using this. Stop me if you have heard this before.
So, a week later we prepare for our second bank appointment. I bring all the same documentation because I know bureaucracy: I am not being caught without something essential that they photocopied but now do not have. Helmut is sure this won't be necessary and insists that this will be easy since I have some money in the bank.
We arrive and are asked to wait a moment. We are greeted not by the person we worked with before (she is present though) but by the head of that branch of the bank. He says he is there to observe; I have my doubts. We begin again. How long have I had the NY bank account? Oops, only a few months. I begin volunteering that I have the other NYC bank account (luckily not closed out yet), I have savings, an expensive apartment in NYC, retirement money. Helmut is starting on a slow burn ("You might as well tell them what kind of underwear you are wearing!" he later stated emphatically). An hour and a half later, they have input all the information into their system. The account manager turns to us during this input and asks, "Why Paris?" I freeze. Being a gay New Yorker, I am happy to state answers to obvious questions but here I am in a foreign country and let's face it, the gay thing isn't always easy to digest for some folks. Helmut jumps in with "Paris is a beautiful city." Of course my answer would have cleared up any additional questions, but let's go with that for now, shall we?
The bank account should be ready in a week, but our account manager will be on vacation. We set up an appointment for 2 weeks on a Tuesday, to give her time to get back. The day of this appointment, I get a phone call from the account manager on my new Parisian iPhone. Now, you have to understand that while I speak French OK, talking to a Frenchman on the phone is daunting. You have no face to see intent, no lips to read when you are not sure what words they are saying, no hand gestures. Just the voice. I hand the phone to Helmut. It seems that while she was on vacation, nothing was done. We have to push the appointment back to Friday.
So Friday comes, and I go to the bank, sign a few forms and I now have the account. Now this debit card that I need to use won't come for about a week but how I can use it is based on my balances. To get it open, I put 20€ in the account but was told I need to get a decent balance into the account which I am told needs to be done via the New York branch. Now with the time difference, I can't call the NYC branch until 3:00pm (15h) Paris time. I call The branch and they do what they have to do to make my account global which will allow me to move money.
Have I logged into my French account on the web yet? No. Well I have to do that to activate the account. But I can't until I get the login. That will come In the mail in a week or so. But I need to get this money into the account as soon as possible. The French help line tells me that the branch where I set up the account can transfer the money for me even though they said they could not.
Tuesday I go back and see them.
I LOVE the blog!!!! Like so many others, I fantasize about living in Paris, but I'm wise enough to realize that living there is so very different then visiting. And now I get to understand why. I've already learned a very important detail. When asked why I am moving to Paris, the only appropriate response is "Paris is a lovely city." When I was a child, I read Desiree by Annemarie Selinko. When our heroine is asked what she thinks of her first visit to Paris, she replies "Paris is a lovely city". It's wonderful to know that this response is timeless.
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