Banks!

Notsoboredhw


Joined: 15/03/2007
Posts: 1254

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 18:02

Sorry I am sure this question has been asked before and I may have even asked it but cannot remember but we want to open a bank account next time we are over and someone said we can earn quite a bit of interest? Do you know if we can transfer any amount over from our UK bank? And what banks are good at the above and also have internet banking so we can move money around as and when?

Thank you

Bradus


Joined: 25/02/2007
Posts: 2641

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 18:27

http://www.phpbb88.com/northerncyprus/viewtopic.php?t=885&mforum=northerncyprus



Boredhousewife the above link gives lots of useful information re banking in the TRNC. I think you will find it useful.

orangekazzie



Joined: 31/07/2007
Posts: 1091

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 20:32

Hi Boredhousewife



We have an account with HSBC in Girne which we opened about 5 or 6 years ago when we first decided to buy out there. At the time it was easy because we had an HSBC account in the UK and it was simple to move money over.

We've stayed with them but a lot of people have opened accounts with other banks over there for various reasons. We find HSBC a bit of a pain if you need to go into the branch for anything because of the queuing system they have in place but 99% of things can be done on via internet banking so the need to go to Girne is reduced.



K

cressy


Joined: 01/10/2007
Posts: 36

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:12

Hi Boredhousewife.If you look at the following posts they may be of some help to you. Job possibilities page 6 and fone accounts page 8.

cress.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:16

hi boredhousewife

yes you are right that it was discussed in previous posts

so what ive done is provided you with links to them take a look and hopw it helps if you need any more help just post me or email me ill be happy to help



http://www.cyprus44.com/forums/show-message.asp?messageID=686

http://www.cyprus44.com/forums/show-message.asp?messageID=674



i personally only use hsbc because of the fact i have got accounts in the u.k, turkey and n cyprus and i can access my accounts more easily, but like karen said the queues are murder in the girne branch but thats because its one of the most popular banks but i have devised a system to aviod the queues

i never go in a monday or friday or the begining or the end of the month, and i go in about 11 or around 3ish lol i know im sad!!! lol i hate them queues!!!

regards to all

ukturk

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:28

No ATMs in NC??

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:41

tony

there are many atms around cyprus lol

the subject is about opening high interest accounts and to do this you have to go in to the bank to speak to a human lol and if its a weekly or monthly interest account you have to go in quite a few times

and also there some people who have accounts in cyprus and turkey that have not got cards just a book because unlike the u.k you dont get a card straight away you have to apply for one

regards

ukturk

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:43

lol......thanks Ercan

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:43

TonyH



What do you mean no ATM's in NC????????????



If you are asking whether or not there are ATM's in North Cyprus I can confirm that there are many.

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
28/11/2007 23:47

It was a poorly phrased question which Ercan kindly answered thanks anyway



Kind regards Tony

Teresa


Joined: 21/11/2007
Posts: 1018

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 03:53

I Recently Opened a Turk bank account and the whole process took me approx 10 minutes from start to finish. Went to HSBC to open an account there and it took almost 2 hours and cost me 12.50YTL in the process. Guess which bank i will use more?????

AbbyG


Joined: 26/11/2007
Posts: 113

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 09:44

I recently read somewhere that every time you transfer money from the UK to your NC account you have to pay a rather large transfer fee. Is that true??

Dusterbruce


Joined: 03/08/2007
Posts: 1125

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 10:17

When I have transferred payments to KKTC for my property my UK bank has charged me £25stg each time.

When I was in Girne in September I opened an account using a sterling cheque and there were no fees.

The cheque took a month to clear and I lost interest for that month but it would be far less than the £25 transfer fee.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 11:35

hi guys

abby you do get charged for transfering money from england to cyprus or turkey, but a word of advice if you have a hsbc account in the u.k and one in cyprus you get charged less because the transfer in done internally between hsbc, and even better than that if you have internet banking for both of the accounts then you can transfer money for next to nothing

hope this helps

take care all

ukturk

Notsoboredhw


Joined: 15/03/2007
Posts: 1254

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 15:38

Thanks guys for all the information. UKturk I will look at the info you posted. Many thanks. One last question - is it true the interest rates are good and if so what are they? And are there any restrictions?? i.e. you have to live in TRNC? We own a property but dont live there.

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 15:58

hi boredhousewife

the rates are very good start from around 18% upto around 24% depending on how much you invest of course and remember this type of account is only in lira (ytl) there are no restrictions anyone who has a account can do this the name of it is called 'fones' and you choose how long you want your money to stay in for from 1 month to a year

lets say you go for 1 month what happens is that you put your money in from begin of month then at the end of the month the intrest gets deposited into your normal account and if you want it carries on but remember you cant touch your intial money which is in the high intrest account otherwise you lose that months interest money

hope this helps you further and if you need any more help give me a post or email me

regards

ukturk



p.s when i first moved over to turkey i was getting 50% on my savings but inflation was very high and the lira was very unstable so it was a very risky buisness but reaped good rewards, but you dont have to worry because inflation is low now and the lira is a very stable currancey and the risk is quite small

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 16:01

also boredhousewife i can see you hail from hertfordshire

where abouts do you come from cos i used to live in enfield/palmers green and have many friends who live in cheshunt - broxbourne - ware etc

take care

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 16:13

Boredhousewife



Be very careful if investing into a YTL account, yes the YTL has been pretty stable for quite a few months now.



If you are going to invest into a YTL account I would suggest that you do not put all your money there.

grahamlil


Joined: 10/10/2007
Posts: 143

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 18:54

Erkan "anyone can erkan can"



Let me get this right, if I convert my money to YTL and I deposit say 100,000 YTL I can expect to get 18,000 YTL interest per year, that seems very high, where is the catch, or perhaps I have misunderstood you.



Regards Graham

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 19:19

hi graham

yep you got it right mate

you will prob get more of a % if you leave it in for a year and you dont touch it

dont forget thou that 18,000 figure is before tax, you will prob have around 1500ytl taken off for tax (the tax figure is a rough estimate)

not bad extra income dont you think!!!

what lovingcyprus is saying about being carefull is to do with the exchange rate, but there is ways round this, all you do is wait and play the exchange game, you wait till the exchange rate hits quite high then you change your sterling into lira and this way you sort of guarantee to have the exact english money if you ever change your lira back in to pound, plus this way if the rate does fall down from your original rate you changed your money, you will earn extra money on the rate

i.e lets say u changed £10000 in to lira and you got a rate of 2.75 you will get 27500 lira now if the rate goes down to 2.25 and you change your lira back in to sterling you will get back around £12220 but remember this can have the reverse effect if you change at a lower rate then it goes up

hope you understood that and it helps you

regards

erkan

Lozzie


Joined: 17/05/2007
Posts: 46

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 19:37

Hi Erkan



you mention that you can invest in an ytl account monthly, is the interest rate paid monthly at 18%, or is this the yearly rate in which case you would receive 1/12 of the interest per month.

Hope you can clear this up for me.



many thanks



lozzie

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 19:45

hi lozzie

no the 18% is paid on a monthly rate, the rate increases if you put more money into it or if you leave it in for a longer period

18% is generally the lowest rate you get but you can actually barter with the manager for a better % depends if you have banked with them for ages or if you got good liasons with the bank etc

hope this clears this up for you

my pleasure

erkan

Lozzie


Joined: 17/05/2007
Posts: 46

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 20:00

Hi Erkan



Yes that does clear it up.



Thanks for your help.



best wishes



lozzie

grahamlil


Joined: 10/10/2007
Posts: 143

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 20:12

Erkan,

Thanks mate, this could make the differance to how soon I can retire and live in TRNC and have a fairly good income, very interesting I think you just might have made my weekend.



Regards Graham

paul90


Joined: 07/11/2007
Posts: 350

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 20:30

To see how the New Turkish Lira has performed against the £ click on:



http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=forexqkchart&curcode1=GBP&curcode2=TRY



and change the "period" to 3 years.

TonyH


Joined: 22/11/2007
Posts: 107

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 20:53

Nice one Paul, that link has gone into the Favourites

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 21:53

The YTL is very strong at present therefore now could be the wrong time to invest in the YTL. In recent years the YTL has weakened in the winter months and then strengthened in the summer.



Playing the currency game is very risky, I will say again that you should not invest all your money in the YTL.



Remember, that in the recent past the YTL has devalued by up to 20% overnight.

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 21:56

Tax on interest in a YTL account is 8%

lovingcyprus


Joined: 02/03/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
29/11/2007 22:00

Here is an article I wrote for Cyprus Today in July this year:-



I understand that the rate of inflation in North Cyprus is currently running at around 20% p.a. lets imagine you invested £1,000 in July 2006 into a YTL account and you earned interest at 18% less of course 8% tax on the interest (this is automatically deducted by the bank) you have a net return of around 16.50% you are therefore eroding the spending value of your money by 3.50% p.a. This is the situation if the exchange rate and interest rates remained constant, of course as we all know the YTL is at a 12 month high against Sterling at 2.60 YTL to a £.



As you had invested in the YTL last July when the exchange rate was 2.90 YTL to the £ you would now have £1,299 when the interest at 18% and less tax has been deducted, this has been calculated at the current exchange rate. The net result being that for a UK resident the return of nearly 30% is pretty(very) attractive but from a TRNC resident not so, but still a 10% approx return after allowing for inflation is still quite good.



Lets look at another scenario you invest £1,000 in July this year with the exchange rate at 2.60 YTL to the £ into a YTL account once again you earn interest at 18% less of course 8% tax on the interest (this is automatically deducted by the bank) you have a net return of around 16.50% you are therefore eroding the spending value of your money by 3.50% p.a. However, in twelve months time the YTL has devalued and there are now 3.20YTL to the £ you would have the YTL equivalent of £947.00. So you have lost £53 and with inflation at 20% you have seriously eroded the spending value of your money.



Now can this second scenario happen, it has before and quite possibly could happen again, without a crystal ball it is impossible to say, however there are two events coming up in the future which could and they are the General Election in Turkey on 22 July and of course there are the EU negotiations taking place. Additionally, a lot of foreign money has flowed into Turkey and this could easily be repatriated.



The Turkish government has received lot of credit, since it has been responsible for a number of major structural reforms in recent years, including a complete overhaul of the financial sector not least in bringing inflation under control which is currently running at around 7% p.a. according to the opinion polls in Turkey it is predicted that the AK Party will win a landslide re-election if this happens the YTL will probably strengthen a little and the Turkish stockmarket will rise, (it has already risen by 20% in the first six months of 2007) and interest rates could start reducing. However should the AH Party not be re-elected the financial market will be in turmoil with the YTL devaluing.

grahamlil


Joined: 10/10/2007
Posts: 143

Message Posted:
30/11/2007 10:34

lovingcyprus,



Thanks very good article, clear and precise.

paul90 nice one.



boredhousewife, Sorry I feel I have hijacked your post, but thanks anyway it has answered a lot of questions I had.



Regards grahamlil

ukturk



Joined: 01/09/2007
Posts: 1974

Message Posted:
30/11/2007 10:53

morning guys

i have included a link to a currancey converter for you guys very precise

http://www.xe.com/ucc/



i have a also included a link to hsbc turkey on a full explanation on the fone accounts which in english they call mutual funds



http://www.hsbc.com.tr/eng/retail_banking/investment_services/mutual_funds.asp#Bbelgeler1



hope this helps you all

regards

ukturk

simma



Joined: 03/02/2008
Posts: 346

Message Posted:
17/02/2008 02:35

Hi Erkan, I'm getting 14% on a monthly account at Turkish bank in Karakum. Are you saying the fone at hsbc are the best? And can they be opened from england?

ossie9


Joined: 12/06/2008
Posts: 2

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 13:16

Hi ukturk I am new to this its because of you that I have joined the north cyprus forum I also like many are thinking one day to live or to part live in cyprus I have not been back for some 7 yrs & have lived in uk all my live but this time round I have made up my mind I what to live the live in cyprus. I was born kefke by the sea pendayia i saw on another page you you was saying about interest rates & for years now the rate has been between 2.30-2.70 & when to change from one to the other i have more questions for you about a bussiness i was going to buy but i will get back to you later on that thank you very much take care ossie9

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 14:39

Bank with HSBC here and Jersey. Have Premier account and all transfers to here are free and take less than 24 hours to arrive in local account.



HSBC is now falling behind on the interest stakes. Just opened account with Iktisatbank, their deposit rate is 18% up to 50k ytl and 18.5% over that.



Would always open an account with one of the main players ie HSBC or Turkbank then when settled and you find your way around the slightly riskier options then you spread your assets. Just like you would do in UK!!!!

mishmash


Joined: 05/05/2008
Posts: 336

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 17:03

Hi

Has anyone had any dealings with Creditwest re high interest accounts and what their service is like?

tufty


Joined: 03/05/2008
Posts: 45

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 19:18

I have just been offered 21% by the Continental bank on amounts over £10.000 i have the mobile phone number of the General manager of all the branches on the island if anybody wants it i have accounts in four other banks in the TRNC the best i find is the IS Bank in Girne i deal with a chap called Firat who is always willing to help and if you apply for a credit card from them when you go to any of there branches you put it in the ticket machine and the ticket you recieve will put you to the front of the q i have never been in there for more than 10 minutes the card is also good in Ataturk airport if you have a long layover they have an executive lounge which you can use on production of your credit card this is like the banking system in the uk once they get to know you you dont have the problem of producing id to get at your money their internet banking is also very good and simple to use and the fees are the cheapest of all my banks

denali2007


Joined: 04/01/2008
Posts: 111

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 21:27

We have opened an account with Creditwest Bank in Karaoglanoglu and did it all over the internet. Great service from the manager there. You don't HAVE to visit the bank in person at all.

mishmash


Joined: 05/05/2008
Posts: 336

Message Posted:
12/06/2008 21:35

Thanks denali2007 - I take it interest rate was on par with the other banks?