Garanti bank...

[Elsa Padfield]

Advice please....we sold our apartment 2 years ago and have money still in the Garanti bank in a high interest account. We thought - stupidly it turns out, that we could transfer online from this account to the debit/current account. It seems we can't, and due to unforeseen circumstances we haven't been able to visit to move the money from one account to the other.

My question is, does anyone know whether we have to go to our branch (Fethiye) only to transfer the money from one account to the other, or can we go somewhere else in Turkey? Yes, I have emailed the branch several times but no response. I've also rang Garanti in London and was told that I had to go to turkey to do this.

If someone has the answer, thank you so much. There's not an enormous amount there but it'd be nice to get our hands on it.

[Scunner]

You can fax/email the branch with transfer instructions. You don't need to go to any branch. Alper (Banker on here) is very helpful, you can message him via the forum.

[Elsa Padfield]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[nichola]

Is it a time deposit account? If so you should be able to move your money on the day that the interest is due/paid.

If the account is a 30 day account then this will fall on the same day every month if not then the day/date changes every month so you will need to check on line to see when the interest is paid.

You should be able to move as much as you want if it is staying in the same bank but if not most banks have a limit on how much can be moved at any one time on the same day unless you make an arrangement with them.

[Elsa Padfield]

Yes it is a 30 day account but because I didn't ask at the branch to allow me to transfer online it won't let me.

[karaokemark]

telephone Alper or email him and ask him to take the trigger off which rolls your account over each month, then on your interest day set the new account up online and this allows you to move money about. Don't just look at monthly if you keep putting numbers in the daily I found 1/2% more for 32 day account.
Mark

[Elsa Padfield]

Ok, not at home till later this week (dog sitting in Hull whilst daughters on honeymoon) so I'll have to give it a go when we get home. Still not quite sure how to.  In easy to follow language, I have to check the date of the interest, when that's due, I set up another online account and transfer the money over. If it was that easy, why won't it let me transfer it to my debit account?  I don't know. It's so much easier with NatWest online banking!  I have messaged Alper so I'll keep checking my emails to see what he suggests too but thanks for the advice and I'll give it a go.

[nichola]

Garanti was I found the worst for blocking you from your own account and moving money without written permission in advance.

I had to make three separate trips to Fethiye to sign something - one to allow me to view my own money in my own account online, then another to allow me to move money from one account to another and another to up the minuscule limit imposed on the amount that could be moved.

That is what I got for trying to open and set up an account online and for that too I had to make a trip to Fethiye in the end; that makes four trips.

Maybe it would have been different if I had opened it in person in the branch.

[Elsa Padfield]

Ok, so I may have to visit Fethiye? What a pain......  

The return flights are expensive right now. I think we'll probably get a single, fly to Istanbul and then go home via gatwick instead of Bristol. A roundabout way of saving a couple of hundred pounds I suppose.  Thanks.

[nichola]

Well maybe not Elsa if you can get someone in the bank to respond to your emails or fax. I didn't have access to a fax machine at home so I had to go into town.

If you access your account there should be the name of your personal account manager top right with the option to email. If you haven't tried sending an email this way yet it may be worth trying.

Good luck