Refusal to open a bank account: right to account

A bank may refuse you to open an account.

If a bank does not respond to your account opening request within 15 days, this is considered a refusal. The deadline starts from the date of the notice of receipt of your application or the date of its filing by hand or at the counter.

The bank must then provide you with a letter of refusal, stating the reason.

She must also inform you about the possibility of contacting the Banque de France to benefit from the account entitlement.

The Banque de France then designates a bank that must open an account and give you access to basic banking services.

To benefit from the procedure of the right to the account in France, you must complete one of the following criteria:

• Be domiciled in France, without nationality condition
• Be of French nationality and reside abroad
• Be a foreign national and legally reside in the territory of another Member State of l', and not acting for professional needs.

You can benefit from the right to the account even if you are one of the following situations :

• Bank ban
• Registered at Personal Credit Incident File (PCIF)
• Over-indebted
• Holder of a collective account.

An accredited consumer association, your Caf: titleContent, your department or your communal or intercommunal social action center can accompany you in your steps.

Within a period of1 working day upon receipt of the documents, the Banque de France shall designate the bank responsible for opening the account. The Banque de France informs you (by post or on your personal space) of the name of the designated institution and also informs the bank concerned by post. The designation decision by the Banque de France is valid for 6 months.

In the 3 working days following notification of its designation, the designated bank must send you by mail or any other durable support one list of necessary parts at the opening of the account and the contact details of the banking agency to whom you should contact.

You must then contact the designated agency to open the account and send it the requested documents. You have 6 months (from the appointment decision) to register with the bank.

Once the contact has been made, an appointment is in principle necessary. On the day of the appointment, your presence is usually essential to proceed with the opening of the account. Additional supporting documents may be requested, in particular in relation to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The designated bank shall open the account within 3 working days if you have provided all the necessary documents.

The account agreement associated with opening the deposit account is limited to the following basic banking services:

• Opening, maintaining and closing the account
• 1 change of address per year
• Issuance, on request, of bank identity statements
• Domiciliation of bank transfers
• Monthly provision of a statement of transactions made on the account
• Cashing checks and bank transfers
• Payments by SEPA direct debit, SEPA interbank payment instrument or SEPA credit transfer
• Means of remote consultation of the account balance
• Cash deposits and withdrawals at the counter of the bank that keeps the account
• Credit card each use of which is authorized by the bank
• 2 check formulas of banks per month or equivalent means of payment offering the same services
• Carrying out cash register operations

Opening a bank account as part of the account entitlement and the use of basic banking services are free of charge.

The bank designated by the Banque de France may decide to close your account alone. For this, one of the following conditions must be completed:

• You have deliberately used the account to carry out illegal transactions
• You provided inaccurate information
• You no longer meet the conditions of domicile or residence
• You opened a 2^e a deposit account in France that allows you to use basic banking services
• You have repeatedly shown incivility towards the staff of the credit institution
• The bank could not identify you or collect the information necessary to open or operate the account.

In case of termination of the account, the bank must send you its reasoned decision by mail and inform the Banque de France. You have a 2 months notice period except in the following 2 cases:

• You have deliberately used the account to carry out illegal transactions
• You provided inaccurate information.

The bank must also inform you of the existence, within the Banque de France, of a customer relations service to deal with any disputes related to this termination. You can enter this service as many times as necessary.