Spending in Turkey

sarag1

Just bought a villa in Turkey and will be shopping there in July to furnish it. We'll be spending £6-8,000. Will it be best to use our Tesco Visa card and pay the whole thing off when we get our statement here........or........put funds in our Nationwide Flexaccount and use that Visa Debit card? OR.........open a Turkish bank account and transfer monies over beforehand and use that debit card? HELP?!!

KTF

Nationwide all the way. You will avoid any currency conversion fees and get the best exchange rate.

Rafter

Sarag,

Maybe worth applying for a nationwide visa card too - that way you get a months free credit - and some protection if the retailer turns out to be less than honest?

Because the rate that retailers pay for accepting visa in Turkey will be higher than it is in the UK, it may be worth you haggling for a cash price and then using your nationwide debit card to withdraw cash.

Also worth telling nationwide to expect a large volume of transactions and high value as they may block your card with that amount of spend in a short period.

Have a good trip.

R.