Ismaël

My favorite banks are: BForBank and Monabanq. Even though I deeply prefer my bank (CE), I like them. Bforbank reminds me of Chase UK, clean app, clean cards (they aren't that clean now). Maybe Bforbank is better for my objective now.

I wanted to get rid of LCL, I won't. I wanted to get rid of Monabanq, I did, only to open it back a couple of months later. This is where I need to do heavy work. I HAVE to close side accounts.
Do I need multiple premium cards? No I don't. Do I need multiple bank accounts? No I don't.

What are the next steps? I don't know.

Am I confident in achieving my goal of cleaning and sanitising my finances? I still am. I have a clearer view on my spending, I now have a number and I know that much more is taken each month.

What’s more complicated is that my debit card is a deferred debit card. This means all my card payments are taken from my account at the end of the month, not gradually. As a result, most of my banking app’s budgeting features are rendered useless.

It’s tempting to do what I’ve mentioned, but I need to do it over a year because some subscriptions are paid annually, not monthly.

The most complicated part is not subscriptions that directly deduct money from my checking account, but those paid by card.

Basically, I always keep a certain amount in my savings. If I need to do a hard reset, I can transfer the necessary funds to a new account, set up payments on the new card, lock the old one, and wait for any payment failures from websites I might have forgotten.

However, there’s progress. I’m still saving money, but it takes much longer than I thought. I’ve referenced all my subscriptions and calculated the final amount: ~€680 per month.

This means that if I want to start from zero, I should open a new account with this amount.

Monabanq is back, but I’m not sure how long it will last. Klarna is now available, so I’ve enabled my account and ordered a debit card. I’ll use it for online purchases that require a debit card, especially when PayPal isn’t supported.

I firmly believe that at the end of the year, LCL will be gone as well. We still need to convince my grandmother but it will be gone. However, that account is OLD, it has 20 years. Mine is only 4...

I still think that at the end of the year, I will be at a much better place financially. I'm cleaning my investments, I'm cleaning my spending.

It's May 7th, kind of a lot of progress has been made. SG is closed, Monabanq is closed, Trade Republic should be closed at the end of this month.

I'm slowly "cleaning" my other bank accounts. I'm currently using one checking account and it'll stay at that.

Of all my co-workers, I can safely say that less than 10 bank with multiple institutions. Less than 10 on ~40-50 people.

I'm getting close to what I want. I'm cleaning stuff, I should go back to 3 banks while my relatives also have it. My objective is to end up at my main bank and only bank with them. It will take more time though.

However, I already use one debit card more than the others.

I said most but it’s actually 95% of them. In my close friends group, there’s 5 of 10 people (me included) who bank with multiple institutions.

Most of my coworkers only bank with one institution and not multiple. Do we really need to have more than one bank? I don't think. I have to do like them. Like my mother.

Basically, every French needs a checking account, a savings account (livret A), and some investing account (PEA/AV/CTO). I will focus on Caisse d'Epargne as it's where the bulk of my spending is. The rest will be dropped one day.

It’s January 8, I couldn’t close SG nor Trade Republic (they’re stubborn) and now I have Monabanq.

However, I have a strategy. By December 2025, they will be closed. I will put order in my checking/savings accounts as well.

I just need to accept that these numbers are priceless and that they aren't worth keeping.

However, I still need to reduce useless subscriptions like extra phone numbers. I have close to 10 and I don't need all of them. I think my brother wants to switch phone numbers so he'll have a new one.

Trade Rep gets closed next monday. I think it should be the same for SG. I'm eager to see what I can achieve next.

BPCE got Google Pay! Meaning I can "freely" move from iOS to Android without worrying too much.

I had a little bit of regret when closing Hello Bank the first time. I shared this amount of regret when closing BforBank.

However, I felt some relief when closing Hello Bank this year.

But for SG? I felt like I have done one of the biggest mistakes in my life.

Unfortunately, I need more results and need to reduce my financial institutions. However, I am blocked with three as two of them are because of family.

Hello Bank is closed, BforBank closed, SG in closure. Amex will be closed next month. Progress is slowly made.

I have asked for Hello bank's closure once again. BforBank closed. I'll wait until next week to check if SG closed the account.
I'll contact Amex next month to ask for the closure.

Le réseau est pas mal vide

By 2025, I’ll have BforBank closed, SG closed, Hello bank! closed. I’ll probably have my Watch sent back to Apple. Probably no Twitch and/or Patreon subscription.

I’ll have to rethink what I value the most.

Domains: they’re getting cleaned.

Subscriptions: they’re getting cleaned as well.

My core spending is at 223,39€/month.

The rest should be reduced to its strict essential.

The extra spending is at 111€/month.

It’s still a lot.

Let’s recap what happened since then.

Banking: Curve is closed, Hello bank failed to close, BforBank failed to close, SG should close by next week.

Phone lines: my main phone line is there, the other ones are with Free for 2€/month. Total: 35€/month

Domain names? I will keep the essential ones (they're covered up to 2033) and will not renew the other ones.