Changing banks: what is bank mobility?

The bank mobility assistance service facilitates the change of bank.

The banks do all the work for you. In particular, they notify all organizations that make direct debits or automatic transfers to your account of your change of bank address.

Banks are required to provide you with an information brochure about this service.

The brochure must be available on the bank's website. It must also be made available in self-service in the agency on paper or on another medium durable support.

This brochure should contain the following information:

• Role of the incoming and outgoing institution at each stage of the banking mobility procedure
• Timelines for completion of the various steps
• Information that the account holder may need to provide
• Conditions for submitting any complaints to the customer relations department
• Possibility of recourse to mediation.

The banking mobility service concerns only deposit accounts (current accounts) or payments held by individuals in France, and not acting for professional needs.

Other accounts (on account book, term...) are excluded from this service.

The banking mobility assistance service is free.

You have to go to your future bank: it's thearrival facility who should offer the mobility assistance service.

When you have chosen your new bank, you must give it your written agreement so that it can carry out the steps related to the change of bank address.

In this agreement, you must request the cancelation of all standing orders present on your original account. The issue end date permanent transfers by the institution of departure must also be indicated.

You must also specify your choice of whether or not to request the closure of the account opened at the institution of departure. If you request the closing of the original account, you specify the date from which the positive balance of that account is to be transferred to the new account at the arrival institution.

Upon receipt of your written agreement by the bank of arrival, both banks have 22 working days to take the necessary steps to transfer your account.

The banking mobility service is organized in 4 steps:

1. Request for information : The arrival bank has 2 working days to ask the starting bank for information on the regular direct debit and transfer orders on your account during the last 13 months, as well as on the use of checkbooks
2. Answer from the old bank : As from the receipt of this request, the bank of departure has 5 working days to provide this information to the arrival bank
3. Information of the organizations : As from the receipt of the information, the bank of arrival has then 5 working days to send your new bank details to the organizations concerned by regular direct debits and transfers
4. Consideration by organizations : The various bodies (debtors and creditors) have 10 working days to save the account change. Within this period, direct debit issuers shall inform you of the change, specifying the date of the last maturity presented on the old account and the date of the next maturity presented on the new account.

Transactions carried out by the starting bank

The sending bank will cancel the permanent transfer orders on the dates indicated in your written agreement to use the banking mobility service.

If you also requested account closure, the original bank transfers the positive balance to the new account of the original bank and then closes the old account.

The sending bank must inform you of any pending transactions that would prevent the account from being closed. If the account has a negative balance, it cannot be closed.

After the account has been closed, and over a period of thirteen months, the starting bank must provide you, free of charge, within three working days of the transaction, with any information relating to:

• The presentation of a transfer or direct debit transaction on a closed account
• The presentation of a check on a closed account (indicating the consequences of rejecting the check and the means of regularizing it).

Transactions carried out by the arrival bank

The arrival bank provides you with a list of transactions for which the change of address has been made. It contains a list of your creditors and your debtors. The new bank will also provide you with a list of checks not yet debited at the starting institution.

On this occasion, you are informed of the consequences associated with a payment incident in case of insufficient supply of your account in the establishment of departure, if you have chosen not to close it.

If the procedure for transferring your accounts is not followed, contact the Commercial Practices Control Department of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR). She will tell you the steps to follow to make your claim.

Make a claim against a professional to the ACPR

If the bank mobility procedure has not been followed by the bank of departure or the bank of arrival and this has caused you damage, you must be compensated without delay.

However, if the departure bank or the arrival bank proves that the non-compliance with the procedure is due to legal obligations or circumstances beyond its control, it is not obliged to compensate you.