Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Information and Services in Turkey Section => Banks, Interest, Money Transfers, Insurance => Topic started by: Firo on January 23, 2007, 14:11:24 PM
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Has anyone any recommendations about Turkish Banks....for example which has the best English language web site, English speaking staff in Fethiye, quickest transfer times & lowest charges of cash from UK bank, high savings rates etc etc.
Looking to change our bank when over next so info from those of you living and using the different banks greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Fi
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Garanti, Akbank (I think) and Finans all have English language online banking; there may also be others. We use Garanti and Finans, and from a usability aspect, Finans wins hands down. Fee's and charges are reasonable, we negotiated fixed charges for receiving funds which helps. Quite a few staff in the Fethiye Finans speak English; the girl who deals with expat accounts, Ayse, has a good reputation for being straightforward and helpful.
JF
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Fi
We use Finansbank www.finansbank.com.tr the website is easy to use and Ayse who works in the Bank speaks excellent English and is very helpful, she also arranged my insurance cover for my apartment and put my electric on DD.
Mark
Mark
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Have just moved my accounts from Garanti, always horrendous queues (unless you have a magic card to jump them) information scant & English speaking staff thin on the ground. Am now with Finans & feel much happier with the service.
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finans bank are very helpful they have a lady there called aysa who speaks very good english and deals with all our transitions etc
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We have been with Finans from day 1 and they are ace! Ayse is brilliant. Wouldn't dream of banking anywhere else.
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Looks like its Finans bank for us then Fi. xxx
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Seems an overwhelming vote for Finans so Eric we'd better change.
Thanks everyone for your advice much appreciated.
Fi
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Has anyone any information on Koc bank. However I think they may have chaged their name now but not sure. Any info would be appreciated on service, setting up of DDs etc
Kevin
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Koc bank is the bank we are thinking of changing from...
Reason is that when we transferred £22k,for the house we are having built,earlier last year from our UK bank, it was over 25 days arriving there. Traced it from our end and KOC bank had been sitting on it for over 3 weeks saying they had not received it. As soon as we launched an enquiry and asked for interest it suddenly appeared in our bank account. Make of that what you will but it left a bad taste and have not used them since.
Fi & Eric
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Hi - We are with Koc bank and have had more errors in transactions than my husband has had pints of guinness (well, almost). There are always queues and the staff have little english, so when you wish to discuss the errors that appear on the account, we struggle to understand. We have been thinking of changing too, Finans sounds ideal. Thank you.
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We have 3 accounts at Garanti with full internet access from home. If you avoid Mondays and maybe Tuesdays there are no queues and we have had no language difficulties. We also got a good deal for our insurance.
Ken & Sue
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Hi we are due to move to Turkey in May and here so many stories regarding the banks ,such as if you don't take your interest out on a certain day you lose it and you can only have a certain amount of money in an account that is guaranteed to be paid back should the bank collapse.
Does anyone know the truth,can anyone shed any light on the situation,
All comments appreciated.
Bob & Angela
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Not true.........You have (with a monthly account) a specific date to carry out transactions,deposit withdraw etc or move from a daily account to a monthly account. You will not lose interest but if you do not take advantage of your date you will not enjoy the possible higher interest you may have got in a higher interest account until the next transaction date. A daily account has no such restrictions but has a much lower rate of interest.
Turkey's main banks are no different to UK banks in that only a certain %age is bonded. :)
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We can recomend Teb, they have cashiers who are english speaking and very helpful, also Cagri who is on the first floor who will arrange anything bank related for you.
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Koc Bank are much better than Finnans - at least they will give you tyyour money when you want to withdraw it which is quite an important quality indicator!
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I tried many banks and all of them made me mad . I am working with Finansbank now and feel much more comfortable than the others.
Nearly all staff can speak English and they are very helpful , especially Ayse.
Cenk
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Ayse is a total star. It still amazes us that she always recognises us & calls us by name even though our 1st & 2nd visits to her were 6 months apart. We've only been into Finansbank about 9 or 10 times in the last 3.5 years yet she still remembers our names & was quite concerned when I went in one day without Carl as he was trying to find a parking space.
We've sat at her desk a few times & she's been busy chatting away for a few short minutes yet in that time she's ordered tea for us, updated all our books, made a note of all the electricity payments for the last year, refound our tax numbers for us & asked the cashier opposite to get our withdrawel ready. Then she looks up & smiles when we ask if she'd also do .....whatever & she says I've already seen to that!
Of course we expect the same efficiency from Barclays, Lloyds here but unfortunately they're not quite in the same league. Can you imagine being offered tea or coffee here, often a smile is out of the question too?
DON'T go to Finansbank - we want to keep Ayse our little secret. Can't have any Tom Dick & Harriet getting the platinum treatment too.
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Linda, we also use Finans and have found the same as you, that Ayse is a real star. She does absolutely everything with just one visit to her upstairs. There is also another lady in the same area as Ayse who also speaks good English but we don't know her name yet.
Pete
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Probably Gozde Derin. :)
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Many thanks, Tribalelder; I am sure that is the lady concerned.
Pete [^]