Interest on sterling account

[kevin b]

If I has cash in a Sterling account in Turkey will it gain interest the same way a Lira account would.

[tinkerman]

no, it's about 4.5 to 5%

[kevin b]

Would I be better leaving large amount in Lira acount for better interest rate or split between Lira & Stirling.

[tinkerman]

I've gone for the first option but Im not a financial adviser

[number2]

I have 3 accounts, a lira account, a sterling account and a high interest account, the interest from the high interest is deposited into the lira account, then i can use the atm, cos that comes out of the lira account. Alan

[Scunner]

I guess it depends on how much the £/YTL exchange rate matters to you. If you are here full time, it is fairly irrelevant on a day to day basis (how many pounds your lira's are worth) because you are saving & spending lira. For people looking to invest in YTL while living in the UK, it can be something of a rollercoaster as the rate against the pound goes up and down from 2.1 to 2.8 (approx, over 3 at one time recently). If you need your sterling investment back at a time when you need a lot of lira's to buy a pound, you could have wiped out anything up to 25% of your initial investment. Of course, you could also make up to 25% if you invested in lira when the rate was high(to the £) and you can cash in at a lower rate.

As I see it, the YTL pays good interest because there are risks. Short term exchange rates can change dramatically in no more than a month or two. That said, long term the rate has been pretty stable for at least five years. It's all about how many lira you got for your pound when you bought in, and how many lira's they give you for your pound when you want out.

[kevin b]

Interesting Keith but we will be coming to live full time in Turkey so no need to change back to Sterling so some sort of high interest account will more than likely be the way to go do you think with maybe another Lira account to pay bills & draw cash out from machine.
Hoping to book up tomorrow for 1 week visit soon so will be in touch re viewings.

[Scunner]

If you are living here full time the rates are pretty irrelevant - and you would be mad not to make your money earn you 18% p.a.

If you had £100k to invest you could be earning £18,000 a year - not a bad income  

[number2]

If you are going to bank a lump sum, i dont think it is worth hanging on to see if the rate is going to go up, if it goes down, you lose out, if you bank it etraight away, the interest you get from the first month will make up for the difference if the rate goes up. Alan

[Scunner]

Agreed to a degree but that is right over a couple of months. It's if you ever need to take the lot back out in sterling in the longer term that you may be hit heavily by changing exchange rates.