Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Has anyone done this ?
If so what was the most cost effective way of doing it.

Is it possible to use transferwise to TRNC?

thanks

I think a lot of that depends which bank you are with. With Lloyds it is a standing charge of about £9 for whatever amount you transfer. Never used Transferwise so can't answer that.

Bewere it must have the right iban No you cant transfer sterling to a lira account go to your bank and get advise from there . Last time somebody tryied to send sterling to me 2 weeks ago the bank said they had to change it to sterling . Now weather that was the bank trying to get a bit extra money out of it i dont know . But you need a Stirling account to send sterling witch you can open at the bank . Beware as if you dont get it right it can be a very costly long winded exercise with the money going back and forth at £30 a time i know i have been there

As above you need to send sterling to sterling all the banks here i know also charge at this end as well to receive so you need to . check that out to.

I understand turkish bank have a low charging facility to transfer money from the uk here but you need a uk account at turkish bank set up nit sure if that can be done from here .

From what I know its not possible to send GBP from a UK Account direct to a TL account in TRNC....Why ?
At some point a Foreign exchange will need to take place to convert the currencies from GBP to TL

you can however send GBP from the UK to a GBP account in TRNC ……different charges apply depending on your bank.
NatWest charge £20 and the receiving bank ie Credit west charge £12.50 for non urgent transfers.

However if you want to send GBP and have it converted to TL at the same time then that is possible to do using an FX broker.
They offer much better FX rates than most UK banks.

GBP vs TL spot rate at 15:50 GMT is 8.30

frugal90 wrote: ↑

Wed 01 Apr 2020 1:46 pm

Has anyone done this ?
If so what was the most cost effective way of doing it.

Is it possible to use transferwise to TRNC?

thanks

One option if you have a smart phone. Get the revolut app and sign up (I used my north cyprus address but with country of Cyprus). You can then, even before you get a physical card, transfer from a UK account in sterling in to revolut with no charge and near instantly. Once the Sterling is in revolut, set up a TL account in revolut. You can then exchange the sterling to TL within revolut at essentially 'money market rates' (up to 6k euro per month) without charge. Right now revolut is offering me a rate of 8.29 to pound for example. Once it is in TL in revolut you can then do an TL to TL swift transfer from you revolut TL account to your local TL account here. Revolut will not charge for this but you local bank probably will to receive it and revolut say such takes 1-3 banking days. In addition you can use revolut to pay 'online' in TL , that is where a physical card is not required. If you can get the physical card (revolut at the time I singed up were happy to ship such to PO box in south that was not the address I used to sign up with) then you can use that in local shops here directly.

If you sign up to revolut via a referral from existing revolut customer I think the shipping cost to send you a physical card is free as well, If you want I would be happy to refer you or ask someone you know who has revolut to do so.

I use Transferwise every month to send money from my UK Bank Account to my TRNC Bank Account without a problem and at very good exchange rates.
However, when I banked with Creditwest Bank this wasn't possible because they were a TRNC Bank and the IBAN number they give you is not your own but theirs, however when I changed to Turkiye IS Banksi (which is a Turkish Bank) my IBAN number became my own and I could and do every month transfer money easily from my UK account to my TRNC account within a couple of hours.
My brother-in-law in New Zealand also used Transferwise AND WE BOTH would recommend it!!!!!!!
Hope this helps.

Sent money LLoyds to Creditwest there the next day sent in TL as not to confuse Lloyds banking site

Erol , The method you mentioned above using Revolut is really good. The FX rates are near spot rates I just joined up and it was easy Thanks for the advice.

Saddique wrote: ↑

Wed 01 Apr 2020 5:50 pm

Erol , The method you mentioned above using Revolut is really good. The FX rates are near spot rates I just joined up and it was easy Thanks for the advice.

I have been 'pushing' revolut here for some time. Anything that helps people avoid the excessive charges of traditional banks is worth promoting in my book. Just to note following PortisheadScouser info re tranferwise, the TL account you will get in revolut is 'in your name' and not a generic one. This is not true of all currencies but is the case for GBP, Euro, USD and TL but not NZD for example.

Totally agree Erol. I was a bit sceptical about Revolut a good while ago, but totally converted. Hardly use cash here any more, only for very small amounts, or for paying when a card isn't possible.

I use TransferWise very successfully each month.very reasonable too

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I don't know if this helps. This is the method I am using and find it very convenient and cheap.

You can transfer sterling from your UK account to Turk Bank on the SAME day. Yes, the same day!. No issue with IBAN numbers and money going missing.

I do accept there are benefits with Revolut, but there is a monthly limit. Turk Bank have a limit of £3k per day and the cost is £30.

The method is simple. Turk Bank sets up an account for you at their London HQ and locally. You transfer money from your UK account to the London Turk bank account (similar to you sending money to your grandchildren at Christmas). There is no charge for this. The London Turk Bank office AUTOMATICALLY transfers the money to your TRNC branch. It takes a couple of hours to do this during normal working time.

But you want Lira. OK so withdraw the sterling from your sterling a/c at your local Turk bank branch and get the Bank (yours or Turk bank) to change it into Lira.

Hope this helps.

Joe Soap

I have a UK Bank Account + Revolut Card

I transfer Sterling from UK Bank Account to Revolut Card
No charge/FREE
Sterling now on Revolut Card

I can then "Exchange" Say GBP £100 to Turkish Tl (via the smart phone app)
The exchange rate, as I type £1 = Try 8.2956 (Bank Rate 8.2415)
£100 = Try 829.56

You can watch the rate LIVE, Go UP/DOWN, via Revolut App.
Exchange at the best time to suit you, or set it to Auto exchange (Set target), say when it reaches 8.40!
Job done.
On the home page, of the Revolut App, change your currency back to Try

I can now spend/pay bills online, in Try, Kibtek etc.

I also go shopping for some elderly friends, under the present circumstances,
pay for their shopping with Revolut Card.
They refund me in Cash/Try,
I now have Cash/Try in my pocket.

No need to travel to ATM then bank, when it's open.
To get lower rate than offered via Revolut Exchange!

Also withdraw up to £200 free per month from ATM

Just to add to Navek's tips...

Once you've got the Sterling onto your Revolut account balance, you don't actually need to convert it to another currency in order to spend it - if you use the card for a Euro or TL purchase, then Revolut automatically convert the appropriate amount of Sterling into that currency for that transaction, and the details are shown on the app.

You can, of course do as Navek suggests - if and when the exchange rate seems particularly favourable, you can convert any amount that you like at that rate, which is handy if you have a large bill coming up in say, TL, and want to be sure that you have enough TL to cover it, rather than relying on the exchange rate on the day.

Hi Keith,
No more low exchange rates at the bank etc.
£ to Try jumped over 8.33 for a while there

Yes lots you can do once you get familiar with the Revolut App.
Trf to friends in your phone book too!
Too much to go into in detail here.
Plenty of info on YouTube.

Best thing since sliced bread, as far as I'm concerned.

There are other cards out there too, no need to pay any transfer/withdrawal charges again.

Since Paypal have withdrawn operations from Turkey and by extension the KKTC I have set up a new Paypal account with my Revolut card...

So pleased that I got my Transferwise card in December. The best thing I ever did.

thanks very much for all of this really useful advice, much appreciated

if you want to withdraw more cash without limits :
Starling is currently the best card to take abroad with you. That's for the simple reason that it has an unlimited fee-free allowance on cash withdrawals while you're away. While Monzo and Revolut both cap free ATM withdrawals at £200, then start to charge, Starling has no such limit.
However be mindful the local ATM provider will charge something depending on the bank and ATM.

Starling doesn't charge you for basic transactions and banking services. There's no monthly fee and card payments and ATM withdrawals come for free both in the UK and abroad.

So it may be worthwhile using both Starling and Revolut depending on your needs and having both could effectively save you money.

My account is with iktisatbank, does anyone know if it is possible to send £ to TL using transferwise or revolut?

thanks again all for you help

frugal90 wrote: ↑

Tue 21 Apr 2020 11:10 am

My account is with iktisatbank, does anyone know if it is possible to send £ to TL using transferwise or revolut?

thanks again all for you help

Yes, transfer GBP from your UK bank to Revolut - using Revolut, change from GBP to TL - transfer from Revolut to tour TRNC TL bank account.

Or, just leave it in your Revolut account as GBP, and use Revolut for all possible transactions, you can withdraw 200GBP worth of TL from an ATM here without any charges either by Revolut or the ATM operator, which should cover transactions where you can't use a card...

You can set an auto-topup from your UK bank to Revolut, to maintain a reasonable balance in the Revolut account, and manually transfer larger amounts if needed for major expenditure items.

If you're aiming to benefit from Interest on a TRNC TL account - forget it! - The TL is losing value faster than the interest rate can keep up with it!

Best keep your GBP and convert it when you actually need it...

Just my opinion, of course!

thanks Keith

I am UK based and it is just looking at ways to get TL into our current account

in the past we have just topped up our current account when we visited, but need to do it from the UK now

thanks

What you can do with revolut.

With revolut you will get a revolut UK bank account effectively with sort code and account number in your own name. You can then move sterling from a UK bank account to this revolut one, with no charges and pretty much instantly. Typical as soon as I hit send from my traditional UK account the notification on my phone that the money has arrived in the revolut account is instant. The longest I have waited to date is a minute or so. I think the offical maximum time is 2 hours for such transfers.

Once the sterling is in revolut you can then change it to into TL at effectievly 'money market rates' with no charge (limit of approx 6000 per month before charges).

My revolut TL account gives me a BIC and IBAN number in my name. What I have never tried is to then send from revolut TL to a local or turkish local account. It should be possible if the receiving local TL account gives you an IBAN number in your own name I think but have not tried this. Revolut will not charge for such a TL send but the receiving bank may charge to receive it and I am not sure how long such transfers take.

You can once you have TL in your revolut TL account pay for stuff in TL with the physical card or online with a 'virtual' one. This is what I do mainly and why I have not needed to send it to my local TL bank account (Isbank).

Hope that is of some help.

Looks like I ma a bit slow in answering

Keithcaley wrote: ↑

Tue 21 Apr 2020 11:44 am

you can withdraw 200GBP worth of TL from an ATM here without any charges either by Revolut or the ATM operator, which should cover transactions where you can't use a card...

Local ATM charges on cash withdrawal have been changing all over the place. so its hard to be definitive. I think if you use the right ATM this is true but I am pretty sure there was a time when I was charged for withdrawing TL from my revolut card AND my local isbank TL account card as well ! I have never been charged for a cash withdrawal here in any currency without being 'pre warned' however.

Same is true with withdrawing Euros using south machines, back in the days when you could go south. Some ATMS I could do so without charge and some not. My revolut card is VISA. My wife's who got one later id MC. I have been at south ATMS that did want to charge on one of those cards but not on the other. It is a bit of a moving target but again have never been charged without pre warning.

just found this link, so it appears that all transfers go via the central bank, so expect there would be a receiving charge


https://www.iktisatbank.com/incoming-money-transfers

Just heard back from Iktisatbank and usually their receiving few is 2%, however this will not be applied for april,may no r June due to the virus.