sterling bank accounts in Turkey

[Carpete]

Having looked at the Garanti web site and being an idiot :-\can anyone tell me if I am reading it properly. Can you put £2,000 sterling into a sterling account for 1-3 months and get 17% interest p.a. or do I need to go back to school?
Carol

[AnneandTerry]

I think the interest rate is more likely to be 3.25% p.a.   It is only the lira accounts that earn high rates of interest.

Anne and Terry

[Carpete]

Can you pay the money in in sterling  then it be converted into a lira account? And can you then change it back to sterling when you withdrawn your lira after a year plus the interest? or must you keep it in lira and therefore spend it in Turkey? Sorry to be such a dumbo!
Thanks. Carol

[AnneandTerry]

Yes, you can pay the money in sterling and have it converted into a lira account, and then withdraw it in sterling, although of course you could lose out doing this if the exchange rate changes drastically.

We were advised to put money in for a calendar month at a time.   The interest is then compounded each month.   For example, if you invested £1,000 and earned, say, £15 interest in the first month, then during the second month you would earn interest on £1,015, and so on, automatically.   Withdrawals can be made after the first month.  

Hope this helps.

Anne and Terry

[siemli]

we opened with KOCBANK i had to open the account go downstairs see the cashier change it into llira go upstairs and pay it in.
Phew...
the cashier said if i put sterling in i get 2% per month if i put lira in i get 22% per month.
work that one out...

[glennat]

Hi Carol,

There have been some other posts on this subject and the long and short of it all seemed to be this.

Short-mid term interest gains can be substantial and currently are better than inflation by quite some amount (inflation is about 9%).  So, the net interest pa will be about 6-9% of the amount deposited (after tax and after taking inflation into account).  But, history has shown that Turkey suffers from violent financial changes which has caused the currency to be devalued twice per decade on average (methinks??).  
So, if this happens whilst you have a bulging Lira account then you could find yourself on Monday with the equivalent of £5000 and then on Tuesday with the equivalent of £3000.

HTH

Glen