Statements will usually be sent quarterly. You may choose for them to be sent by post or email. Each statement will include:

• Invoices created since your previous statement
• Rental activity for the previous quarter
• Unpaid accounts
• For para-hôtellerie owners: invoices for your visits

You have several options for settling your accounts. The preferred method is using Secure Online Payment as it removes the risk of cheques becoming lost, credit card numbers being overheard - or misheard - on the phone, or details being miskeyed during bank transfers. Online transactions are visible and traceable, reducing our administration and cutting your costs.

Click the button to reach our secure online payment system (opens a new window).

Alternatives:

• Cheque: to the order of Souillac Country Club
• Credit card: either in person or by telephone to reception
• Bank transfer (updated May 2010):
  • Acc : SAS Société Nouvelle
  • BIC : CCBPFRPPTLS
  • IBAN : FR76 1780 7008 0375 3217 9386 985

Be sure to include your client reference (CL---) with the payment.

Sample RIB for the Société Nouvelle

You will find it difficult to manage your finances without a French bank account. There are branches of most of the major banks in Souillac.One owner recommends the Banque Populaire Occitane:

"Our accounts are with the Souillac branch but most of the time we deal by email or telephone with an office in Cahors set up specifically for English-speakers in the Southwest of France. They minimise the bureaucracy of opening an account in France (we did it within a week by emailing copies of documents) and handle all other questions about running our accounts.

We have a current and a deposit account. Money is automatically transferred between the two: any surplus in the current account is moved to the interest-earning deposit account and in the reverse direction to avoid defaulting on a payment (a serious misdemeanour in France). We also have a Carte Bleue (debit card), a chequebook and internet banking which allows us to check our accounts and make payments to the Club and Copropriété manager.

This service costs just under 100 euros a year (in 2008) but we feel it's good value for the level of service."

Email:

Website:occitane.banquepopulaire.fr (French)

In France it is often easier to pay bills directly from your French bank account rather than try to send cheques from another country. The attached document explains:

• What is a RIB?
• What is a TIP?
• How to set up a direct debit

Although the Carte Bleue predated debit cards in the UK by many years, cheques are still very widely used in France. They are usually accepted without a guarantee card simply because the penalties for bouncing a cheque are extremely severe.

On the cheque you’ll find spaces to provide all the usual information, but inevitably they're all in unusual places! The attached sample cheque was provided by one bank to help.

Remember also to:

• cross your ‘7s’ and be sure to distinguish them from your ‘1s’
• write the date as dd/mm/yy (digits rather than abbreviated words)

» Sample cheque