Several thousand people are affected.
“Hello, please regularize your payment as soon as possible.” Thousands of people have received this type of message, by SMS or email. In principle, the authorities warn against this type of communication, which is often fraudulent. But for thousands of people, it is a real alert before the suspension of their subscription, whether with a telephone operator (Free) or on one of the most popular merchant sites (Amazon and Ebay among others).
Usually, a certain number of these subscriptions are paid each month. When you signed up for a contract of this type, the company asked you to provide a bank account number in order to debit you monthly. Since that day, the debit is always the same, on the same date, and you can benefit from the service without asking yourself any questions. Except that in recent weeks, some users have had the unpleasant surprise of receiving an injunction to pay their due as soon as possible because they could not be debited.
They all have one thing in common: having their account at HSBC. Or at least, CCF. This is the “new” bank that succeeded the British group since 1er January. After 19 years under the HSBC flag, Crédit Commercial de France has reclaimed its name, abandoned in 2005. For customers, the automatic transition from HSBC to CCF was supposed to be painless. But some will ultimately have to take steps.
Since July 1, 2024, RIBs issued under the HSBC banner are no longer valid. Thus, if you had provided it to Amazon, American Express, Ebay, Free, Paypal or any company not domiciled in France to pay for a subscription with one of them, it is necessary to transmit the new one to these companies. The CCF was unable to automatically switch your old RIB to the new one with companies that are not based in France.
Customers must therefore provide their new bank details to pay their subscriptions. Otherwise, they risk receiving reminder letters, possibly having to pay late payment interest and, above all, seeing their subscription terminate.
For establishments domiciled in France, on the other hand, no steps need to be taken. The CCF assures that it has systematically informed the companies concerned by the change of bank details of their customers. “The only cases of direct debits “stopped” by organizations were for direct debits based on credit cards in the process of being renewed and not for IBAN/RIB issues,” states the bank’s management.
Furthermore, in order to be sure to receive the money you are due to receive at the beginning or end of the month, your new RIB must be communicated to your employer, your pension fund, France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) or any other entity that pays you. You must also not forget to make the change to the tax authorities.