mjdell

Hi there

I just wanted to share some information with you all. Apologies if this has already been posted, although I couldn't find a reference to it.

We wanted to open an account with Garanti, but didn't have chance on our last trip, as we were too busy actually buying the house.

However, we worked out on our return that we could actually open an account with any of a number of Turkish banks from the UK. Garanti, Is Bank, Turkish Bank and Ziraat all have offices or branches here in the UK, all in London I think. They were all willing to arrange to set things up from here for no charge.

In the end, we selected Garanti, based on advice from this forum and other personal recommendations. I went to the Representative Office in Sloane St, London with my passport and filled out some forms. Two weeks later, we have an FX and a Lira account, and internet access to manage them in English. I was able to select which branch of the bank in Turkey the account should be held with, and given telephone and email contact details for them.

See this site for contact details of all the Turkish banks with offices in the UK.

http://www.turkisheconomy.org.uk/tr_banks_in_uk.html

Hope this helps someone else.

Mike

Dellol

Excellent post Mjdell. Whilst I am happy with my Turkish Bank, I am sure most members will find this very helpful.
Thank you for the info.
Lorna

Andywebb

We are with Garanti bank and whilst we have had no problems at all with them their Internet banking can be a pain. I know it's for my own good but having to change the log in Pin number every couple of months is getting to me. I am run ning out of ideas of numbers to use. OK maybe once or twice a year or at the cutomers request, it is not as though it is an easy process either. But I shall stick with them for the moment.

JohnF

Thats good news for new buyers in Turkey, the previous policy was that you could only open the account with that branch, i.e. the London one. Makes sense that Garanti let you do it as they are always promoting themselves as "The Expat's Bank". I wonder if IsBank will let someone do the same?

In respect of PIN's... Finans Bank is the same. You have to change the PIN a lot more frequently than with UK banks... and it is a pain the arse! Saying that, it's fairly easy with them, just enter your current PIN, then the new one, hit submit and it's done.

JF

starman

I just revert to my old pin so have only 2 I cycle. Garanti does suck though and have recently seen how poor the english site is after trying to help others for automatic payments. I always use the turkish side which has everything.

tessintrnc

Sorry if this has been answered already - but I am a little confused!!

If you can open a "Turkish" bank account OUTSIDE Turkey, how do you get your tax number? I thought you needed a tax number FIRST? Also what documents apart from passport do you need?
Thanks Tess

Harem

Hi Tess, this is a very old thread and at that time you didn't need a Tax number to open an account. You do need one now, though.

mandy

I have opened an account with the garanti bank here in turkey so does this mean when i go to england i can draw money out there.

tessintrnc

Thanks for that!! I will get the tax number and then go to the bank then.
Tess