Banking, Part 2

This afternoon, I went to my neighborhood BNP Paribas to open a bank account. Now, I know what you're saying. "But Louis! You don't even have the carte de sejour yet!" True, I don't have the carte de sejour, but it turns out I didn't need it!

All they asked for was my passport (they also got a copy of my translated birth certificate) and proof of residence - which I didn't have (the lease wasn't good enough; they needed a utility bill, which I can't get until I have a bank account to link to the utility company, catch 22).

So I basically did everything necessary to open the account - signed all the paperwork, sifted desperately through quickly-spoken explanations for nuggets of information - but it won't technically be usable until the following happens: 1) I convince EDF or Alice (electricity and internet/telephone companies, respectively) to trade my bank account number for a proof of residence (unlikely); or 2) BNP Paribas sends a letter to my apartment, which I have to sign in front of the postman, who will then send a receipt confirmation to the bank, after which point they will believe I live where I say I live.

In our building, mail is distributed by a sort of concierge (la guardienne - she cleans common areas and probably takes maintenance requests in addition to her mail duties), so odds are I will never see the postman in the flesh. Instead, the guardienne will let me know that the postman was by, will give me a slip to take to the post office, and someone at the post office will send the receipt confirmation to the bank.

All of this shouldn't take longer than 10-12 days. And THEN I'll have my bank account, my carte bancaire (debit card) and carte bleue (credit card) with puce, and one more legal relationship with the French state.

Fine print: the woman who signed me up for the account reminded me that a checking account comes with a savings account, which gets all of 1.25% interest. Now, it may seem like a no-brainer to keep as much money as possible in the savings account and transfer out whatever I need to pay bills. But then I'd be entering into yet another legal relationship with the French state - one in which I have to file a tax return. Yikes!