© BforBank
In recent years, the online banking landscape has been marked by profound upheavals. Between the disappearance of Carrefour's simplified C-Zam banking offer, the withdrawal of ING from the French market and the end of the young Orange Bank (whose clientele will be sold to BNP Paribas) in 2023 , even the biggest players have not always managed to adapt.
Throughout this agitation, there are, however, key players who manage to reinvent themselves to follow the evolution of French behavior. This is the case of the online bank BforBank, a subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole group, which carried out a major overhaul of its offering at the end of this year to better meet the expectations of its public.
Founded in 2009, the company which was intended to welcome the wealthy clientele of its parent company gradually opened up to respond to a wider audience by removing the eligibility conditions for its offer. Its new formula, simpler and more readable, now aims to meet the essential needs of its customers. Its new bank cards are accessible to everyone, without income conditions and without commitment.
BforBank, a remarkably human online bank
For several months, artificial intelligence has been booming. Despite advances in technology, BforBank has not lost sight of the essential: the human. Consequently, online banking puts people at the heart of its brand new positioning. It's true, everything happens online with BforBank. But that doesn't mean you aren't accompanied from start to finish.
Indeed, BforBank advisors are based in France and are at your disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's difficult to be more available. BforBank also offers you a chat entirely managed by a human so that your questions find meaningful and personalized answers. With BforBank, you say yes to formidable, attentive and responsive customer service.
A simpler and more readable offer
Since September, BforBank has limited itself to two options: BforBASIC and BforZEN. If the current account is identical for the two formulas, they differ in terms of the bank card.
BforBASIC is the standard formula – which is free – and which allows access to a physical bank card and a virtual card. For everyday payments, it will do the trick: you respectively have a payment limit of 1,500 euros over 30 rolling days and a withdrawal limit of 500 euros over 7 rolling days for the physical card. As for the virtual card, it allows you to pay up to 500 euros over 30 rolling days. From the mobile application, all transactions are reported in real time to make it easier for you to track your expenses. Please note that “instant transfers” are free with this offer.
The two offers from BforBank © BforBank
The BforZEN formula is more premium, which also explains why it costs 4 euros per month (the first 6 months are currently free and you will receive an 80 euros bonus upon opening, see conditions on the site*). On the payments/withdrawals part, BforZEN offers more flexibility to its users since you can pay up to 3000 euros over 30 rolling days with the physical card and up to 1000 euros over 30 rolling days with the virtual card. It is possible to make withdrawals of up to 1000 euros over 7 rolling days. Please note that this is still a payment card with systematic authorization, immediate debit and no authorized overdraft.
BforZEN is also more advantageous if you have to travel abroad: you have card payments which are free up to 1000 euros per month outside the Euro zone and you have travel insurance (delay, trip cancellation, medical expenses, repatriation) which is included.
BforBank focuses on the essentials
In addition to payments, BforBank wanted to focus on key products for its clients: it offers a bank account booklet. #8217;bank savings which currently offers 5% gross per year for 5 months, up to a limit of 20,000 euros, before returning to the standard rate(which is currently 1% gross per year). You can open it from your customer area in a few clicks and the minimum deposit is 10 euros. Without saying more, BforBank also announces that regulated savings accounts (such as Livret A) and life insurance will be available shortly. Online banking offers and services will expand significantly in the coming months. These first changes are just the beginning.
Thanks to the network of its parent company, Crédit Agricole, BforBank is also able to offer other useful products for everyday life. For example, it provides access to consumer credit (via Sofinco) which allows you to borrow up to #8217 ;at 75,000 euros, and it also gives the possibility of insuring your mobile – new or not – via the subsidiary Crédit Agricole Assurances.
So, how to register and discover the bank's new service? Nothing could be simpler: everything happens from the mobile application. You download the application and you can then create your account in a few minutes. BforBank has already won the prize for the best mobile relationship entry path in the “banking” during Google's Finance UX Benchmark in 2023.
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In partnership with BforBank