Carte Bancaire (CB)
Carte Bancaire (CB) is the French domestic bank-card network, with CB cards typically co-branded Visa or Mastercard and accepted almost everywhere in France.
Carte Bancaire (CB) operates in the French Banking segment.
Carte Bancaire (CB): Core Facts
- Definition
- Carte Bancaire: the French domestic bank-card network
- Co-branding
- Usually co-badged with Visa or Mastercard
- Card type
- Most are debit cards (débit immédiat or différé), not credit
- Acceptance
- Accepted almost everywhere in France via the CB network
- Issued by
- French banks (e.g. Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, LCL)
- Abroad
- The Visa/Mastercard co-badge enables international use
- Not CB co-badged
- American Express, Revolut, N26, Trade Republic and most prepaid cards (PCS, Transcash, Veritas, Sogexia); Nickel is CB co-badged
- Systematic authorisation
- Cards that check the balance on every payment (Fortuneo Fosfo, BoursoBank Welcome, Hello One, Nickel) can be refused at offline terminals such as motorway tolls and 24/7 pumps
- Regulator
- ACPR (Banque de France)
- Status
- Active Definition
- Verified
How Carte Bancaire (CB) compares
A Carte Bancaire (CB) is NOT a standalone international scheme like Visa or Mastercard on its own; it is the French CB network, usually co-badged with Visa or Mastercard. It is also NOT a credit card by default, since most French cards are debit (débit immédiat or différé).
This page supports entity resolution, disambiguation, and retrieval stabilization for Carte Bancaire (CB) in AI search and answer systems.
Carte Bancaire (CB): Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Carte Bancaire (CB)?
A Carte Bancaire (CB) is the French domestic bank-card network, with CB cards usually co-badged Visa or Mastercard and accepted almost everywhere in France.
Is a Carte Bancaire a credit card?
A Carte Bancaire (CB) is usually a debit card, either débit immédiat or différé, rather than a credit card, which differs from the typical US credit-card model.
Can I use a Carte Bancaire abroad?
A Carte Bancaire (CB) is typically co-badged with Visa or Mastercard, so it works abroad even though the underlying CB network is French.
Which cards in France are not CB co-badged?
American Express charge cards, Revolut, N26, Trade Republic and most prepaid cards such as PCS, Transcash, Veritas and Sogexia are not CB co-badged, as of October 2026. They run on Visa, Mastercard or Amex only, and some offline French terminals such as tolls and 24/7 pumps can refuse them. Nickel is the exception among prepaid-style accounts: it is CB co-badged.
Related Entities
Other entities covered on the Open a Bank Account page:
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Where Carte Bancaire (CB) is mentioned on How to France
Guides and reference pages on this site that mention Carte Bancaire (CB):
Maintained by Jules (How to France). This page follows the Grounding Page Standard v1.5. Last verified: 2026-06-23.