I heard today on the radio that the french "Livret A" will offer an interest rate of 3%. From what I could find out, tax residency in France is not required to open a "livret A" bank account. This seems to me to be the best option available to savers in any eurozone country which makes me wonder why this option is not better known outside of France. Or am I missing something?

I can’t comment on this one as I have not looked into it, but I mod on an Irish banking forum and I know of a couple of places offer these kind of rates. From the ones I know of, they are not straight forward savings products.

- Some are attached to trading products with no guarantee of the rates offered, the expectation being that they’ll manage to pull you into trading and there is also an additional depo fee.

- Others are third party facilities that deposit your money in banks mainly in Eastern Europe, so they are not actually offering anything but an introduction service.

As always assume that higher rates come with some kind of additional risk, nobody pays you more than they need to.

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"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." - Nelson Mandela

I have literally, just last week, gone through this process of compt sur livret, Livret A and LDD opening.

Whether a French bank will let a non French resident open a Lvret A is up to the individual bank. I/we bank with 3 different French banks 1 will allow non res' to open, 1 won't, and we are still waiting for a reply from the other (but I get tired of waiting so got it sorted out), so we were not new customers.

If you are non French res', then the interest is paid gross (not tax free), and it has it has to be declared in you country of residence for tax to be applied there at your highest rate, so that could negatively affect how attractive the returns are from the savings account.

So the tax free status of the Livret A only applies to French residents is how it was explained to me.

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How do you know if a Frenchman has been in your garden.... your rubbish is gone, your dog is pregnant.... but at least your cabbages are pest free

Which one will allow non French residents to open account? Thanks.

Limited to 22 950 € - and 1 per person.