Sterling cheque into Itkisat bank

Davliz


Joined: 14/05/2010
Posts: 42

Message Posted:
03/08/2010 22:28

Can anyone tell me if you can pay in a sterling (english) cheque to an account at Itkisat Bank and if so how long does it take to clear.Thanks.

Jefferson


Joined: 17/05/2010
Posts: 360

Message Posted:
03/08/2010 22:31

don't know but why would you need to? Transfer direct from uk account or bring out cash and get a better rate when you exchange.

susief


Joined: 06/11/2008
Posts: 529

Message Posted:
03/08/2010 22:42

I don't know about Itkisat Bank but to give you an idea - Turk Bank used to charge £2 per sterling cheque and it used to take 30 days to clear. This was last year though so maybe North Cyprus banking has improved a bit since then....or maybe not!

fiendishpaul


Joined: 18/05/2008
Posts: 1720

Message Posted:
03/08/2010 22:50

Paying in a cheque is much cheaper than transferring money electronically from the UK. However, as susief says, it can take up to a month for the cheque to clear. Depending on how much you intend to pay in, the interest earned on that amount in a month may well exceed the cost of transferring the money electronically.



Hope that makes sense



Paul

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 07:12

Do you mean the interest lost whilst the money is in limbo?

nurseawful



Joined: 06/02/2009
Posts: 5934

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 07:38

Yes you can pay a UK cheque in to this bank. We did it 5 years ago, the cheque was for 10K and the charge then was 40stg! It took 1 month to clear and then was put into a current account by mistake but all fairness to the manageress she contacted their head office and we were given the interest that we had lost.



Chris



p.s. The one in Girne has an excellent English speaking department up stairs.

petsitter61


Joined: 19/06/2008
Posts: 180

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 08:12

cheque deposit at TURKBANK 2.00 sterling charge + .06 tax

cheque can be for any amount take 20 working days to clear



Linda Roy

Customer Rep Karaoglanoglu

mustafaleak


Joined: 08/02/2009
Posts: 199

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 08:23

You Can make a bank transfer into Iktisat it will take 3 days somtimes less, talk to Mustafa at Karaoglanglu branch.

nostradamus


Joined: 15/04/2008
Posts: 557

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 09:18

Iktisat Bank and some of the others do have accounts with other banks in UK - ask in your bank for details of these accounts. You can then do an on line transfer to their UK account, quoting your account number here as a reference. In this way, the money arrives here in about 3/4 days and costs you nothing. I have done this regularly from my UK account to Limassol Turkish, via HSBC International, and no problems at all. I believe Iktisat's London bank is Lloyds TSB but ask them for details.

gates


Joined: 08/12/2008
Posts: 1096

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 11:48

an english cheque takes 4 weeks and cost £30 i used to pay that at turksi bank to all the same

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 12:42

There are 2 ways.

The cheap way with some banks is to pay a small fee or nothing at all. If you pay nothing then the money, when it arrives here, has to go on deposit for a month. It takes around a month from drawing the cheque at this end until the money arrives at this end. Anyone paying £30 & still waiting 4 weeks is mad.

The dearer way is to do a Swift payment from your UK. account & be charged variable amounts depending on the UK. bank. My bank charges £25. Money can arrive in 48hrs. If you want instant access at this end, then you will have to pay the charges of the TRNC bank as well. These will be based on the amount transferred & much less than the UK. fee for small sums - say £1k or £2k. If the money is put on deposit at this end for 1 month, then no charge for TRNC bank.

As far as I know only Turk Bank & Bank of Limassol do the low fee (so much per £1,000) & no strings arrangement?

Creditwest do the no fee, but must deposit for at least a month version.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 12:48

ctd

I'm not aware of any other banks here doing cheap transfers with or without strings.

You can completely discount any loss of UK. interest after the cheque has cleared. Who cares about .5% interest for 2 weeks max?

You have to work out how much interest you lose at this end for approx. 1 month less 2 or 3 days. If this is likely to more more than the quick route transfer fees then this is the way to go. Assume 8.1% per annum interest net after tax & do the sums. It is likely to cost you more in fees than the interest lost for small sums.

Fawsley


Joined: 01/05/2010
Posts: 59

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 21:36

Ref. msg 9.



Anyone else had problems doing online transfer to Iktisat UK account (lloyds) from a lloyds account? It's recognised as a foreign transfer so does not allow!

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 21:41

You cannot do cheap foreign transfers via the internet unless you have a Premier account with HSBC, with £50k on deposit (or is it more now).

Fees charged by UK. banks to move money here is one of the ways they make their money.

Over & over I read posts on here from Brits who live in the UK. & haven't a clue. They say transfer the money via the internet as though it was an internal UK. transaction. It isn't & you can't do it.

Fawsley


Joined: 01/05/2010
Posts: 59

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 21:54

"Over & over I read posts on here from Brits who live in the UK. & haven't a clue. They say transfer the money via the internet as though it was an internal UK. transaction. It isn't & you can't do it".



Perhaps it's because the bank staff at Ikitisat say that the account with lloyds is a UK account It isn't.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 22:30

They probably use Lloyds as their Correspondent Bank. When I made enquiries of Iktisat Bank, by email, earlier this year, about their arrangements for moving money from UK. to here, they made it perfectly clear that there would be a charge from both my UK. bank & also from Iktisat bank as well, for the fees that they incur from their Correspondent Bank.

Davliz


Joined: 14/05/2010
Posts: 42

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 23:31

Thank you for all your help and advice.It appears that the best way is to bring cash with me and credit it to my account that way.

scoobydoo


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 2434

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 23:33

After reading all the conflicting reports above, I would just ring Iktisatbank and ask them.



We have accounts with this bank and it never used to cost anything to put a sterling cheque in but it did take 30 days to clear however it may well have changed hence the reason I suggest you ring the bank.



with regards to online banking, I am with lloydstsb and if I try to transfer to iktisatbank's bank account (in London) with lloyds, I get charged as international transfers but what is interesting is my husband has an account with the Yorkshire bank and they do not consider it an international transfer and do not charge at all, needless to say we transfer all our monies via the Yorkshire as we only pay once it gets here which is minimal.



It really depends on your UK bank.

johnnybgoode


Joined: 08/12/2008
Posts: 252

Message Posted:
04/08/2010 23:48

just remember that the most { cash } you are allowed to bring into any country is 10,000 euro's or equivalent, anymore and you could be fined for money laundering, { if caught }

scoobydoo


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 2434

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 13:53

Was in Iktisatbank this morning and as I said in msg 18 we do not incurr charges from Yorkshire bank to transfer money into Iktisat's Lloydstsb account in London and the charges we receive in North Cyprus are 0.2% of the value of money you bring over with a minimum charge of 20TL (or its equivalent on that particular day in GBP)

TopTen


Joined: 15/04/2009
Posts: 1246

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 14:38

Msg 15 What are you talking about we transfer funds every month by internet from Yorkshire Bank to Iktisatbank via Lloyds it takes 3/4 days and we are charged £8 on £1010. It is a BACS transfer

honestie


Joined: 22/02/2009
Posts: 468

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 15:02

msg 18 youre right depends on the bankFirst direct wanted to charge as said it was international transfer but I argued the case.not tried it by internet yet but have you transferred from here to uk on internet withou t charge. Just curious as have to send some soon.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 18:12

It would seem from the last few posts that for some reason, Yorkshire Bank who use exactly the same clearing system in the UK. treat the transaction differently. Especially irritating is that Llloyds themselves make a charge for transferring money via Lloyds, but Yorkshire Bank do not.

scoobydoo


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 2434

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 21:08

Msg 21 - Topten,



As I said, my husband does an ordinary on line bank transfer and DOES NOT get charged for this by Yorkishire bank BUT when the money is transferred from Iktisat's bank account with Lloydstsb in London to Iktisatbank,TRNC then we do get charged which as I said 'we only pay once it gets here which is minimal' and this morning as I put in my msg 20 it is a charge of 0.2% with a minimum charge of 20tl or the equivalent in GBP,m about £8.



Now you may have different charges and if you are paying more than this, well that is between you and your bank account but this is what we are charged and was only this morning.



Now then, I have a current account with Lloyds tsb and they definitely charged me for 'international' banking to transfer my money from my current a/c to Iktisat's bank a/c then ON TOP of that I was charged 0.2% etc etc. It is annoying when I am a lloyds customer and get this ridiculous charge and yorkshire bank do it for free!

Aeyeofspirit



Joined: 01/05/2008
Posts: 34

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 23:11

Can anyone tell me how much we need to open an account in a TRNC bank - may go with HSBC (as they have branches in UK).



However also saw that Iskelit Bank (not sure if spelt correctly) have an account with Lloyds TSB (which is our current bank in UK) - but as the date was i think 2008 - not sure if this is the case - also don't know if Iskelit bank is TRNC or Turkish - goven the discussion on the threads



Ayesofspirit (Anne).



Ps as learning to use the forum - please accept apologies if i have jumped in on someone else's area

Aeyeofspirit



Joined: 01/05/2008
Posts: 34

Message Posted:
05/08/2010 23:12

Can anyone tell me how much we need to open an account in a TRNC bank - may go with HSBC (as they have branches in UK).



However also saw that Iskelit Bank (not sure if spelt correctly) have an account with Lloyds TSB (which is our current bank in UK) - but as the date was i think 2008 - not sure if this is the case - also don't know if Iskelit bank is TRNC or Turkish - goven the discussion on the threads



Ayesofspirit (Anne).



Ps as learning to use the forum - please accept apologies if i have jumped in on someone else's area

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
06/08/2010 13:43

The minimum now for a time deposit account is 500TL This has been brought in by the Central Bank of the TRNC early this year. Even the Turkish banks with branches here are governed by TRNC Central Bank rules.

For a current account, the minumum amount may be as little as £5 or even £1, unless that has been changed as well.

According to the TRNC Central Bank website, Iktisat Bank (correct spelling) is listed as a local TRNC bank, whatever others might tell you.

I have lived here for 8 years plus & have banked with 4 different banks. All TRNC banks & never a Turkish mainland Bank with branches here.

I have never used HSBC despite the fact that I bank with First Direct in the UK. I have heard too many horror stories from others who do or did & this is because of the queues, which make UK. banks seem wonderful. I'm sure HSBC are okay if you see a visit to a bank as a good day out?

Fawsley


Joined: 01/05/2010
Posts: 59

Message Posted:
06/08/2010 21:19

I read somewhere that the HSBC in TRNC is not the same as HSBC in the UK.



I have no problem with iktisat bank, just lloyds in UK for the charges, perhaps it's time to get a Yorkshire account.



Glad it's not only me getting additional charges with lloyds.

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
06/08/2010 23:14

WE use HSBC International, with a minimum of £60k with them charges are zero for transfer to HSBC in Girne useing internet banking. As scruff said earlier it is not like transfering between banks in UK ie automatic but may take 4 days, the process is manual following instruction and takes half day.



The queues mentioned above are no longer there because most people are using banks where you get a higher interest rate which is what we all want at the end of the day. So I use HSBC as an intermediary transfering cash when I need to.



msg 25, I would open accounts with Turkish banks first ie HSBC which technically are more secure and then when you work out what you want and who with go with the slightly more risky options with TRNC banks. We use Garanti which is Turkish and better rates than HSBC.

Aeyeofspirit



Joined: 01/05/2008
Posts: 34

Message Posted:
10/08/2010 21:35

Oh wow - what a lot of replies - thanks I will digest slowly & careflully

Aeyeofspirit



Joined: 01/05/2008
Posts: 34

Message Posted:
11/08/2010 18:38

Thanks fir all replies

journey1


Joined: 05/12/2009
Posts: 134

Message Posted:
12/08/2010 11:54

which TRNC bank is currently paying the best rate of interest in a high rate account since the government increased the tax by 2%? Thanks