Funding a savings account from a current account held in another bank is not prohibited, provided that both accounts are in your name. In fact, however, some brands seem to block these operations. In particular by refusing to display the IBAN of savings accounts.
Message from Catherine M., received on September 8, 2022
Hello, I have an LEP at Crdit Mutuel, but my current account is at Boursorama. How can I fund my LEP from my Boursorama account, since the LEP has no bank details?
Hello Catherine, and thank you for your message. You’re not the only one asking questions about the funding of your People’s Savings Account. This settled account, long neglected, has once again become super attractive since its yield rose to 4.6% last August. And it’s not over: it should cross the 6% mark at the start of 2023.
Unfortunately it is absent from the catalog of online banks and other nobanks (the notable exception of Hello Bank). When they are eligible for LEP, their customers therefore have no choice but to look elsewhere. Conversely, a user who wishes to migrate to an online bank to save on bank charges must leave his LEP in his old bank.
Why do online banks refuse to open LEPs?
No obstacles…in theory
This question of food is all the more difficult since since 2018, and the request of the public authorities, banks have tightened the rules governing transfers entering and leaving savings books. They now apply, more strictly than before, the provisions set out in a regulatory text dating from… 1969 (1). One of the consequences of this change was to prevent grandparents from directly funding the savings accounts of their grandchildren: the money must now pass through a current account opened in the latter’s name.
Transfer: what you are no longer allowed to do with your money
The 1969 text, however, does not prohibit feeding a savings account from a current account opened in another bank, and vice versa, 2 conditions:
- both accounts have the same holder;
- whether the operation is a immediate transferand not a permanent transfer.
The only bank, among the major retail brands, to have answered our questions on the subject, La Banque Postale confirms that it authorizes transfers between its LEPs and the current accounts held by the holder in other banks. The reverse is also possible (from an external current account to the LEP La Banque Postale) but with one major caveat: As the transfer leaves from another bank, it depends on the rules of that bank and not ours. However, not all banks seem as open as La Banque Postale on the subject.
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Hiding the IBAN, a lever for banks
Nothing prevents a bank from applying stricter rules than required by the regulations. And this is often the case, if we are to believe the recurrence of questions from Moneyvox readers on the subject.
As you have experienced, one of the levers they use is to complicate, or even prohibit, access to the RIB, or more precisely the IBAN, of the LEP. This is the case with Crdit Mutuel, if we are to believe your experience, Catherine. But not La Banque Postale, for example, which confirmed to us that it provided its customers with the IBAN of their LEP.
IBAN, RIB, BIC code… What is it? Where to find them?
If you want, you can quite easily reconstitute the IBAN of your LEP. It is, in fact, only an extension of the account number which necessarily appears on your account statements. On his websiteCapital Koala explains how to do it.
It is not certain, however, that this solves your problem. The other solution, Catherine, is to try to negotiate with Crdit Mutuel to maintain a technical current account free of charge, solely dedicated to funding your LEP.
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(1) General Decision No. 69-02 of May 8, 1969 of the National Credit Council relating to the conditions for the receipt of funds by banks