Help with Banks

[Brandi]

Hoping someone can help me.  I have opened an account with Garanti so electric and water can be paid by direct debit. This was set up in Sept through Burcu at Garanti Fethiye.  However I see online that the electric bill is due and that nothing has come out of the account. There is money in the Sterling account and nothing in the lire account. I have emailed half a dozen times to Garanti (including one to head office) and have had no help or reply about this. I am concerned the electric could be cut off !  So
a) how do I move money electronically from sterling to lire
b) get an email response from Garanti
c) ensure that the d/d is set up correctly, which it does not appear to be as the bill remains unpaid !?
any help appreciated - thanks x

[The Crinklies]

Hi Brandi, don't know if this is any help but there is a time period in which the electric bill is required to be paid within. At the bank that we are with, our electric bill is always paid on the last 'required by' day. Maybe it is the same at your bank? Can you remember which of your accounts is meant to pay the bill? Would suggest that if it is the lire one, nothing will happen until there is some money in there. If you have internet banking with them, maybe you could sort it out that way?

[Brandi]

thanks - I too think that it will be paid from the lire account as the bill is in lire !  But do not know how to transfer from sterling to lire accounts? Thats why I was asking if anyone knows how to do this on the Garanti internet banking site.

[kenkay]

Hi Brandi, Sorry I don't know how to do the transfer but to get replies from Garanti I normally bombard them with e mails. Meaning I send mail to all the addresses that I have for Garanti and usually get a reply.
Try mailing Sibel Duman,  SibelDu@garanti.com.tr  and Ulvi Aktas,
UlviA@garanti.com.tr
Hope it works for you.
Ken  

p.s. Still mailing Burcu of course.

[littlereddevil]

I also have a ytl and gpb with garanti and have found it impossible to transfer money between the two online. I understood this would be  no problem to do. I am going over next week so will pop in and see them, but if I can't transfer between the two I am just going to close the gbp account as it was only there as a backup in case  the ytl ac was running low.

[karaokemark]

With Fortis I change money from each other all the time, if it is the same, you need to go into foreign exchange and investment, then click on buy currency and it takes you through from there.
Mark

[Brandi]

thanks for replies - I will continue with emails - my daughter already has me labeled as a cyper nag !  fingers crossed. The thing with the banks in Turkey, that although exasperating you do always get them to do things in the end.  Its just the battle you have to fight to get to that point which is frustrating.  Will have a look at foreign investments - wouldn't have thought of that route.
cheers

[Brandi]

hooray - got it sorted
In case any one needs to know. To move money from sterling account to lire account within the turkish bank you go to the foreign currency and choose the option to buy/sell and then click on sell foreign currency - this surprised me but it seems in that transaction you are selling your GBP for lire.  You will then see your lire account credited with whatever amount you chose.   Hope this helps someone - its driven me mad the last couple of days!!

[pookie]

Brandi  -  do they make a charge for doing this exchange ?

We are with Yapi and still need to sort online banking out....

[karaokemark]

pookie there is no charge you just get the rate at the time.
Mark