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Foreign Savings Accounts - Turkey
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Keanu
Posts: 51 Forumite


Hi
rumours are going around that the interest rates that can be gotton from Turkish banks is far in advance of anything we get offered over here. Person I spoke to made mention of 20%. I can't for one minute beleive this is true, otherwise surely we would be all salting our money over to the Turkish banks.
What is on offer in Turkey, does anyone know?
Can you shed some light/point me to websites to bring some order amongst my rumour monging mates!!
rumours are going around that the interest rates that can be gotton from Turkish banks is far in advance of anything we get offered over here. Person I spoke to made mention of 20%. I can't for one minute beleive this is true, otherwise surely we would be all salting our money over to the Turkish banks.
What is on offer in Turkey, does anyone know?
Can you shed some light/point me to websites to bring some order amongst my rumour monging mates!!
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Comments
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For a start, you could check out the information on the web site at
http://www.turkisheconomy.org.uk/buying_property.html
I'm not sure whether the interest earned to accounts owned by foreign nationals is paid gross or net. I did see on the link I've given you that a 'Tax reference number is needed' but 'it only takes a few minutes' to get one. Neither am I sure whether there is any reciprocal tax agreement between Turkey and the UK so that if a Turkish bank does deduct tax you can have this offset on your disclosures to the UK Inland Revenue.
I holidayed in Turkey last year for about a week and loved the place, the friendly people and the food. I also like sailing and consequently did a bit of 'looking at property' whilst over there. There are some lovely properties at very attractive prices and, hopefully, Turkey might well be admitted to the European Union within a decade or so.0 -
Higher interest rate never comes without higher risk attached. This is a financial law. Turkish currency had 19% fluctuation against £ during last year - and this is not stable growth against £, but quite the contrary. See http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory.
See also: saving money abroad .0 -
Gonna have to be really niave here;
Established that Turkey offers a 14.25% interest rate, against our 4.5% interest rate.
What is stopping me putting my £10k in a Turkish bank and attracting, say over a year, £1425 rather than £450? Obvioiusly there is a tax to pay on this but it would have to be a lot higher tax rates in Turkey for it not to be worth doing?
Cheers0 -
Currently the Turkish Lira is "strong" against the British Pound.
Let's suppose that in 12 month's time it weakens by 10% so that the £1,000 you put into Turkish Lira is then only worth £900.
Of course, you will have earned 14.5% on it. But on what? The original value, the final value or the end value?
And what if it were to drop by 20% against the British Pound?
Surely, the best place for your money is one where the currency is strongest and best protected by the country's economy and one where they don't charge you once for converting it 'in' and once again for converting it 'out'.
Hmmm? Hey! On second thoughts, Turkey might be the best place!0 -
Thanks DocProc/Grumbler,
So basically what we're saying is with the much fluctuating lira, and taking into account conversion fees this is way too much of a gamble?
However, following the discussion on one from that, if you were to retire out there then transferring you £ pension into Turkey where you now live, even with a negatively fluctuating lira, the cost of living would also presumably drop so you would be quids in?
This is getting too much like an economics discussion!!0 -
The September inflation figures (CPI) out today were lower than thought (2.5%) instead of the expected 2.7% so the British pound falls as it leaves open the prospect for a bank rate rate cut in the coming months.
Turkish Lira looking even stronger.0 -
Where foreign currency interest rates are high, the currency itself tends to be subject to depreciation.Turkey has a history of wild inflation and frequent lira devaluations.
Since this is often unpredictable, it is usually only sensible to invest in such foreign currencies if you live in the country concerned and have some understanding of what economic and political forces are at work, so you can take fast action in any emergency.
It's worth noting that the better-off people living in such countries usually keep most of their money in stable currencies like the US dollar, the Euro and the pound.Trying to keep it simple...0
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