tomc1984

That sounds good, we have an account at Garanti in Bodrum but would like to transfer it to Yali, do you think this would be possible and how would I get a debit card and /or cashpoint cad?

sunseeker

I had a strange experiance with Turkiye Bankasi in Yali (now located between Carfor and Tansas) two years age I completed all the necessary paperwork to pay my monthly fees to my sitesi and was horrified to get a demand for non payment from them after 6 months.
When approached I received a shrug and a comment about the upstairs office. It appears that Turkiye Bankasi, at the time, didnot talk the Oyak Bank who represented the sitesi.
Therefore with any Turkish bank transfering money I would always use a bank with an english internet service and monitor the account.

Montemaranne

As I said, we opened our account at Garanti in Bodrum and they suggested we should use the Yali branch. They gave us a name and we simply wandered in and introduced ourselves. I suggest you just go in and say you want to use their branch. Didem speaks good English and she is delighted to get new customers. Take your bankbooks and ask them to update everything and also order a debit card for you. The only problem is that these cards generally take about 3 weeks to come and they send them via courier to your Turkish address. Not much good when you have already left for home. We finally managed to get ours (one lot sent to Germany and the other held for us in the bank in Yali) but only after a couple of failed attempts. The staff in the Yali branch are very friendly and it's much more convenient than Bodrum.
Oh yes, their internet banking is also easy to use, so you can check your accounts without any trouble.
Hope this helps.

Kara_bag_lady

I use HSBC in Turgutreis and also in Scotland because I can transact my own international transfers using their internet sites - for a much lesser charge than most banks. I think its £15, but don't quote me. HSBC Turgutreis Branch has a great english speaker who emails me to let me know if the interest rate is going up!

PASH

Hi, I use the Halk Bank next to the Mosque, have no complaints at all and also nice and handy for the centre of yali.

JackGD

Hi
If you are still monitoring your request I think there are 5 banks in Yali. Halk Bank (in town centre), Yapi Kredi (new branch near PO petrol station) Garanti (near roundabout and Yapi Kredi) IS Bank and FinansBank (on Gudogan Road). I understand that Halk, a government own bank is possibly to be sold to AkBank - so possible problems coming up there.

Mike Taylor

Hi Pete and Mags

We have HSBC accounts in Bodrum. They have great internet banking, we have had excellent service from them. Only needed our tax number and passport to open both £ and YTL accounts have transfered money from the UK on a few occasions. They dont have a branch in Yalikavak but they do have cash points.

I have also set up an e-mail deposit account - the 18% interest is well worth having!

Setting up the accounts was much easier than doing the same in the UK

Mike and Ninette

sunnymark

I have been using Guaranti bank for about 18 months. This is their branch in Kyrenia, North Cyprus. I live in the Uk but need to make payments over there. I have been overall pretty happy with the service, nothing bad has happened, but a few things that made me scratch my head...

To join, a passport was all I needed. I patiently waited while another english couple who had just moved out here opended an account. The bank made them sign a contract in English, but refused under any circumstances to allow them to keep a copy! This caused some consternation with the english couple but they agreed eventually. I had the same demand made of me. I resolved to read the 10 page document in its entireity. Bank woman waited. Queue grew longer. There was nothing very odd that I remember in it, usual annoying bank stuff. But once again they insisted I sign but would not give me a copy. They had copies, but would not give me one to take away. Eventually I refused to sign unless I had a copy, and that did it. I pointed out that there were duties and things I had agreed to do in the document: how could I do them if I had no record. (Things like not go overdrawn!) So that was the first thing that really made me laugh, it is bank policy to do something that in England would be illegal, but of course this is not England! And, as no one normally reads these documents anyway, I suppose it doesnt matter. But seriously, dont take common ordinary things for granted here: Its obviously completely insane to try to bind someone with a contract and not give them a record of that, yet nobody on the Turkish side could see that, everybody on the English side could but few kicked up any kind of fuss, accepting it on trust that that is the way things are done here.

Second head scratcher is phone banking. It works well, and Ive used it a lot. Late hours, weekend banking, its all good. But I am a little worried about security. They always ask not only for my account number and "security code" in full, but pretty much the same 2 letters of my mothers maiden name. Well you know, its a matter of record. Duh, Anyone can go and look it up. Ok, so I should have fabricated one. But you might be in quite serious trouble if you forgot it. I really hope noone is listening because I think that that would pretty much give access to my account..