Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Information and Services in Turkey Section => Banks, Interest, Money Transfers, Insurance => Topic started by: Linda1953 on July 09, 2004, 14:24:36 PM
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Are most of the banks safe to bank in - in Turkey? Would your money stand any possibility of disappearing? :o
Did you all just transfer your money from your bank here in England over to the Turkish bank of your choice?
Apologise for the dumb questions - I have not got a clue basically :D
Linda&Elaine
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Hi Linda & Elaine,
I can't answer from experience but this question has been asked already and the answer is....banks CAN go bust!
I have an account with Garanti bank (excuse spelling) as this seems to be one of the better ones....I hope!
Glen
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I have had an account with the Garanti for 6 months now.
I have internet banking so I can keep my eye on it from the UK. Also I have a ATM card which I used frequently during my stay in May.
So seems ok so far.
I transfer money from UK. Check what your bank for charges before sending. I'm with the Abbey they charge £25 fixed, others have recommended the Nationwide.
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We too are with Garanti and can certainly recommend them, both for banking and insurance.
Anne and Terry
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Dave
Did you get your ATM card when you opened the account, I have accounts with Garanti and would like to get a card.
Linda, Garanti is an International bank and a safe bet
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Garanti ATM cards are only available for use with a TL account. Just ask the bank and they will send you one. Just one word of warning, our card was sent to our agent, instead of to our Turkish address, as they had helped us upen the account in the first place, but it was no problem once we knew where it was. You then have to telephone Alo Garanti to obtain your PIN number - very easy - once you get through, press 9 for the English service and go through your security checks including your customer number, and they will give you the number straight away.
You can also use Alo Garanti to arrange internet access to your accounts.
Anne and Terry
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Is there a list avaliable of 'safe banks', those that carry a guarantee of £10.000 (or so I have heard) if it does go bust! With the chance of some banks going bust, it would make sense to stash your money into different banks. Any probs. in doing this. Thanks. Ty
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Thanks for the info A&T
I have some cash in my GBP account which I want to draw this August, if the Garanti card is only applicable to your TL account, can you draw on yhe GBP account with your pass book ?
Rimms
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Hi, Rimms
Yes, you can draw money out of your GBP account (in GBP or TL) with your passbook, or you can get the money transferred into your TL account with no charge and then draw it out with your ATM card.
Anne and Terry
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Thanks all, Garanti bank seems to be the best option.
Gosh there is so much I didn't know!
Linda
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I called in the Garanti bank in May on a Monday, they said it would take seven days to obtain. I explained I was only here for a week. They asked me to call on the following Friday. I went up to the first floor in the Garanti bank and collected my card. They sorted my pin whilst I was there, very helpful. Transferred cash from gbp to tl account, went outside to the hole in wall and bingo millions of tl's seconds later.
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Can anyone tell me if it's possible to open a/c with a cheque?
We don't want to carry large amounts of cash and it looks like our final payment will be due while we're over there.
Anne
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I am sorry but I dont agree with the words about Garanti.I can't say they are not safe but they give one of the worst service.
As a local I can reccommend Akbank , Finansbank ,Kocbank.There are some more safe banks but their service is not good.
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I opened an account with Finan Bank and the lady who deals with the accounts (English speaking) is Ayse, she was recommended to us. We turned up 5 weeks after originally opening our account in order to collect our ATM cards and she smiled, said hello and knew who we were by name - amazing!
Ayse is always busy and you will probably need to wait whne you get there, but I class that as being a sign of good service. You can always chat to other buyers while sitting there. We had intended to use Garanti but when we went to the bank the lady did not speak English (our problem not hers) and they also required a tax number and Finan did not. Heidi uses Finan and sent us their way and we do not regret it.
Ayse did all the form filling for us, explained everything very patiently and is a lovely girl - I hope you pay her well Finan Bank - she is worth her weight in gold.
Teresa
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We bank at Finansbank - Ayse who deals with our account speaks really good English & we think we get a pretty good service.
I suppose it's like over here Cenk, down to personal experience. I personally HATE Barclays bank because of the really poor service they have given me. Having been a customer for nearly 30 years - a pretty good customer too as I usually kept a good amount in the accounts - they refused to acknowledge our USA marriage certificate - the manager of the bank - a complete prat - even told us we would have to get married over here!
Strange as Immigration, Inland revenue, other banks etc. had no problem whatsoever.
My reaction was go next door to Lloyds - where we had no trouble opening an account & to take all our money out of Barclays, leaving just the minimum possible in & run ALL of our many direct debits from Barclays - therefore costing them money. Serves them right!
Linda
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Teresa
Does Finan have internet access to your accounts?
Anne
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No it doesn't Anne but it is possible to send Ayse a fax and she will move money about for you. I think she has an e-mail address as well for contact although I do not have it.
We had to go to Vakif Bank to pay our site fees and the lady took all our details and as we stood there with the money to pay she put on her coat and went to lunch. We had to go through the whole procedure with someone else - not recommended by us!!
Teresa
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I agree with everything Teresa has said about Finansbank, Ayse is lovely and she remembered us too!
Val
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Also bank with Garanti bank have turkish lira account and english sterling account have had no problems with them yet. Over here we bank with hsbc they charge £21 for transfering money to Turkish account. Have not heard of any problems with an American marriage certificate as we also got married in America 3 years ago and have had no problems with it not being recognised. Thats new to me. :)
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Was new to us too Skipking. It's only Barclays bank manager that has a problem. Maybe it was because Hubby has an American accent? Get married again - PLEASE! Such a prat! Still riles me - Barclays has had the privilidge now for 5 years of sorting out all our many direct debits + if I have to write a cheque for a few pence or pounds I always use Barclays. Still it makes me smile when I write a cheque. :-)
Linda
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quote:
Originally posted by Linda1953
Are most of the banks safe to bank in - in Turkey? Would your money stand any possibility of disappearing? :o
Did you all just transfer your money from your bank here in England over to the Turkish bank of your choice?
Apologise for the dumb questions - I have not got a clue basically :D
Linda&Elaine
You might find this link holds some alternative views and interesting information.
http://www.mymerhaba.com/en/forum/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=14&TopicID=300&PagePosition=1
and
http://www.mymerhaba.com/en/forum/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=14&TopicID=294&PagePosition=1
As the saying goes.....don't put all your eggs in one basket......
5-
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Hey thanks for that link 5neeky!
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no probs Linda
5-
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Sorry but I'm still confused LOL! If I have a UK bank account right then how do I transfer my money over into a Turkish Bank?
Do I get the Turkish Bank account first when I am over in Turkey? and leave my money with my UK account. Then ask my bank to transfer the money over to my chosen Turkish Bank when I've visited one and asked them to open an account with them?
Do I put my sterling into one account or split my money up into sterling and lira or do what someone suggested just transfer money from the Turkish Sterling account to the Turkish Lira account - total confusion despite reading the threads - sorry! lol
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First of all open your Turkish accounts - one in Sterling and one in Lira otherwise you will have no account to transfer your money to.
Once you have your accounts in Turkey you can go into your bank in the UK and transfer all your money over to your account in Turkey and divide the money as you see fit. You will get a lot of interest on your lira account and not much on your sterling. However the lira is more likely to be subject to inflation so you need to consider all points. Any bank will transfer the money for you but you will have to pay for it.
I will stop at this point because I am not a financial adviser and it is a personal thing.
Teresa X
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Great thanks teresa that simplifies it for me.
Oh I know the UK banks will charge - they will be rubbing their little legs together transferring my money over you can bet on that!!
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Hi Linda,
To be fair the bank charges for transferring money are quite reasonable. We transferred a large amount to pay for our house and Natwest charged us about £25, its a little more expensive if you want a faster transfer but not much.
Val
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Further to this question and linking to Teresa's sound advice. I have 2 accounts with Garanti- £ and lira. I need to transfer the balance of payment for my apartment . I understand what you say avout transferring and dividing- however, and this is being a bit t...k I know- if I transfer to £ account- how do they pay me out? In £? And if its a lot of money do they require notice or are they likley to have it in?
Also , I only have bank books so if I want to withdraw I guess its just a case of going in and using those. This all might seem a bit daft to you but I havent used a bank or a bank book for years- I'm a telebanker- never use a branch for anything.
Your help appreciated
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When you've opened your Turkish account ask them what the SWIFT CODE is for their branch. Some of the small provincial branches don't have their own SWIFT CODES so you will be given the code for the Area Offices.
When you go to your UK bank tell them that you want to make a SWIFT TRANSFER. Give them the details of your Turkish account and the SWIFT CODE and you shouldn't have any difficulties. Your UK bank will be able to print you a receipt with the unique SWIFT REFERENCE for your transfer.
If you want you can then quote it to the Turkish bank if there is any query.
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You can withdraw from you Garanti sterling account in either lira ot sterling they usually have large amounts of either currency. If you aquire a ATM card this will always draw from your lira account so make sure you leave money in the lira account. If you want to earn the higher rate of interest your money has to be in a lira account. If you set up internet banking you can transfer money between any of your accounts.
Hazel
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Garanti even give you a plastic carrier bag
to put all your money in he! he!
Carol
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Hazel, you're quite right about internet banking. But, I do know that some UK banks have a £10,000 limit on the amount your can transfer through the internet service. The SWIFT service is better for the large amounts required for deposits and final payments etc. Plus it carries a guarantee and tracking facility.
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I meant internet banking to move your money between your Turkish bank accounts not to transfer money from UK to Turkey.
Hazel
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Thanks Chippy I didn't know about that SWIFT service and good thing for the tracking facility too.
Linda
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How do I get a tax number to open an account?
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Linda
You can take yourself to the tax office, it's just by the roundabout on the coast road between Calis & Fethiye (near the trampolines). You'll need a photocopy of the photo page of your passport, but there's a cabin by the main entrance that does photocopying. Once inside, take the stairs to the 1st floor & then head to the right. It took me about 10 mins back in June. The only other info I needed was my parents' names & my local address
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thanks Liz,wondered how I got one of those.....!