Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Can anyone confirm that the bele is now not taking payment for monthly charges direct from the bank?
Just been told need to visit in person and pay over the counter...anyone else had this ?

Still paying through bank.

check your bank statement then you'll know for sure

turtle wrote:Can anyone confirm that the bele is now not taking payment for monthly charges direct from the bank?
Just been told need to visit in person and pay over the counter...anyone else had this ?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "not taking payment for monthly charges direct from the bank"...

Do you mean that they will no longer take Direct Debit Payments from your bank account which they have done in the past, or do you mean that you can no longer go into a local bank to pay a Belediye bill, because either the bank will not do the transaction, or they have been made aware that the belediye will not accept the payment?

Checked my bank and they stopped taking direct debit in June.
Belediye tell me they no longer collect money this way anymore which if true i find it a backward step surely ?
Just had to pay the 3 months in the bele ? I would have thought this would lead to a lot of uncollected cash from people like me who only spend a short time here ?

turtle wrote:Checked my bank and they stopped taking direct debit in June.
Belediye tell me they no longer collect money this way anymore which if true i find it a backward step surely ?
Just had to pay the 3 months in the bele ? I would have thought this would lead to a lot of uncollected cash from people like me who only spend a short time here ?

Hi turtle, that does appear to be absolutely mad!

Not so long ago, I was in a local Alsancak Bank, trying to pay Belediye bill in cash, over the counter, and they were encouraging me to open an account so that I could pay by Direct Debit!!!

As a short-term measure, you could try to pay in advance, if you've got the cash to spare, at least you won't get hit with overdue/interest payments, but I don't know what to suggest otherwise

<edit> - I just had a thought, I wonder if you could set up a Standing Order with the Bank to pay your average monthly payment, rather than a direct Debit? - I don't know whether they would do that, but it might be worthwhile to ask..

Hi Turtle, presume you are talking mainly about water bills here? Have just checked our bank statements and Alsancak beli are still collecting our payments by direct debit.

No nothing to do with water as when we arrived back here a few weeks ago a neighbour handed me a new water card for the new meter they had fitted so i went to the bele and topped the card up and it was then that they told me about the new payment system ?? Really confused now as some seem to still be paying through bank.
I am not really bothered which way they do it so long as they dont take it twice ..i mean 20tl taken twice each month might cause some distress

If you have a new meter with a card then I would have thought you would have to pay through the beleyide because no one knows how much you want to put on the card unless you tell them, and you can't tell the bank.

Sultan...its nowt to do with the water as I said.
Its to do with the other charges like bin collection, mozzie spraying, street cleaning & general bele charges, yes the water element of that monthly charge will be reduced off the bill but its the rest that they are not taking from my bank anymore.

We still pay all those through the standing order with the bank.

That is what I can't understand Sultan...for some reason they are not taking mine anymore..

Turtle and Sultan, do you both have the new type water meters that use a prepayment card , or the old type?

Brand new pre paid card type...recently fitted.

The Belediye do not separate the water & other charges therefore a portion of the payment you make when topping up the water card goes towards the costs of rubbish collection etc.
Therefore if you never top up the card i.e. buy your water elsewhere you will still be accruing charges to your account.
You have to pay the Belediye direct as they do not advise the banks how much is owing.
You now have to show that payments are up to date before a property can be transferred.

turtle wrote:Brand new pre paid card type...recently fitted.

Thanks for that turtle -

Sultan? - how about you?

I have the old original water meter. Maybe/ if/when it gets changed I might face the same issue.

Sultan, we still have the old style water meter and long may that continue. Its all so simply other than paying for "air" on occasions!

That's what I suspected!

The Belediye have not thought this through very well (Surprise Surprise )

They may well have thought that because 'everyone' with a new type meter would have to visit the office periodically in order to top up their water card, then they would be able to take payment for the rest of the Belediye services at the same time, and not considered those who are away a lot of the time...

It does seem like a backward step

...and I haven't seen any evidence that the new meters will not charge you for 'air' either!

You are probably right Keith,... didn't of it like that ?