Turkish bank accounts

Mumoftw0

Hi All,

My mum is going to turkey next week and is going to open an bank account, she is going to deposit 10k into it and leave it for a year!

I know nothing about bank accounts abroad only that she should use a goverment bank??

Does anybody have any advice to how risky it is..... etc

:cool:

Sceptic001

Do you mean she is going to convert her £10k to Turkish lira? If so, why? Does she need Turkish lira for some reason?

Do you know the Turkish lira lost over 25% of its value against the GBP last year? So £10k would now be worth £7.5k plus whatever interest she could get.

So the answer is: It is very risky, even assuming the bank in question does not go bust.

Biggles

She'll lose the first year's interest just in the cost of converting/depositing £10k. And that's without even considering the currency risk. Pointless.

opinions4u

She is exposing herself to a handful of things here.

1) Currency changing costs. UK > Turkey and then back again. The spreads alone could mean this erodes 20%+ of her funds. A bad thing.

2) Interest rates. Doubtless higher in Turkey, so a good thing.

3) Provider risk. I suspect Turkey has a higher risk of unsupported bank failure or failure of government to honur guarantees. Speculative on my part, admittedly.

4) Devaluation of currency. This could be done by the markets (highly likely) or by the nation's government (possible, but less likely).

If she intends to bring the money back to the UK I'd suggest she will be worse off doing this.

crazyguy

She maybe sorting out Visas and a wedding for her new toyboy.

de1amo

to get interest off an account in turkey you need a tax number and to get that you need a residence permit(kimilik number)- the rates in turkey are about 8pc less 15pc tax.---if you are investing pounds into lira there has never been a better time.

i started living in turkey 5 years ago and the rate i thought was high at 1 to 2,76 but now it is 1 pound to 2,89.--the best way to transfer the money is into a pound account and then bargain with the bank in turkey at local level.

Hopper55

I opened a Turkish account with TEB a couple of years back and to be honest it has not gone well for me. I now wish to transfer most of the funds back to my UK account with Halifax, but am finding it very difficult to do so.
I have tried contacting the branch by phone and email without response.
I am wondering if it is that simple to get your money back once it is deposited in at Turkish bank.
Is there something I am missing with regard to the process?
I seem to have tried all the online banking routes and got nowhere.
It was all very easy transferring the money in . . .

de1amo

i dont know if it helps but isbank in turkey are connected to lloyds--they have an association and i know isbank have an office in london!----its a connection which i use to make smooth transfers from the uk to turkey so maybe it will do the reverse!

Hopper55

Thanks de1amo, I don't want to be opening another Turkish account unless it is the only way to get my money out of the country though. I have just tried again (in vain) to make contact with them. I am able to login and 'see' my money there, but am unable to email them via the site despite my address being registered with them. The 'Help' section gives details of how to transfer to other accounts with them or other banks in Turkey, but not overseas banks.
I am wondering now if it is even possible.
I feel like I am hijacking this thread, but for the life of me I cannot find how to begin a new one on the MSE site !!
Perhaps you or someone else could advise me if this is possible as I am beginning to doubt my own abilities at present !!