Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Just been to withdraw sterling from the Bankamatic atm, and have been charged just over £20 to withdraw £460, it used to be around £13, anybody know why it’s changed again!! Getting ridiculous.

anybody know why it’s changed again!!

Because they can!

... and because they realised that they were providing a service that many needed, for little profit.

Stop using cash, get a Revolut card (or similar).

Keithcaley wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 2:15 pm

anybody know why it’s changed again!!

Because they can!

... and because they realised that they were providing a service that many needed, for little profit.

Stop using cash, get a Revolut card (or similar).

Never using an ATM again in the TRNC unless they dramtically bring their fees down.

... and because they realised that they were providing a service that many needed, for little profit.

You must mean doing very little for LOTS of profit!

I draw out the largest amount that my UK bank allows me at any one time and make it last. (until the next time that is)

A Revolut card does seem the answer, but getting one over here at the moment is a problem, I have a PO box on the South but of course have no access to it for now.

TEB = 5% on Sterling withdrawal! I did the math and opened a Turkbank account. Transfer in hours from UK bank to Turk Bank account. £3000 costs me £30. Then withdraw and change at best going rate or just transfer at bank rates into TL account. Saved me lots.

We have Barclays debit card,withdraw sterling from TEB,no charge it's part of the same group

Brinsley wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 3:18 pm

... and because they realised that they were providing a service that many needed, for little profit.

You must mean doing very little for LOTS of profit!

Yeah, I'll give you that, they're certainly making a hefty profit out of it now!

.. Although at one time they charged nothing at all...

elizabeth wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 3:34 pm

A Revolut card does seem the answer, but getting one over here at the moment is a problem, I have a PO box on the South but of course have no access to it for now.

If you paid to have someone to send the card over using DHL, you would recoup the shipping fee in one or two months...

Have you looked at Transferwise? Really easy to set up to send money from your UK account to your Cyprus account. Transferred £2,000 and cost just over £18 in total.

Revolut allows users to transfer up to £5,000 abroad for free per month.

Above that amount there is a small charge.

sophie wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 3:20 pm

I draw out the largest amount that my UK bank allows me at any one time and make it last. (until the next time that is)

As it is percentage based Sophie it makes no difference how much you draw out other than as you say you don't have to do it so often.

Keithcaley wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 7:32 pm

Revolut allows users to transfer up to £5,000 abroad for free per month.

Above that amount there is a small charge.

Didn't realise that Keith. Must look into it as even transferring funds across from Lloyds which only costs £9.50 incurs extra costs when it gets here. We used TEB last time via a friends account as Waddo says it only cost £30 for £3000 which was far cheaper.

Some TRNC banks will charge you for receiving GBP, so either get another bank account, or convert to TL first (as long as you don't need to pay someone here in GBP - in which case you might be able to pay them directly from Revolut or transferwise)

Indeed ours does charge to pay in GBP. I will have to have a look at Revolut and work out how to do it all. We use it for shopping all the time but I know I am not using it to it's best.

To Keith:

Can you withdraw GBP from a Revoult card here ? are the service charges made by the ATM the same as my UK debit card ?

Hair Cut wrote: ↑

Fri 21 Aug 2020 1:19 pm

To Keith:

Can you withdraw GBP from a Revoult card here ? are the service charges made by the ATM the same as my UK debit card ?

Yes and Yes (sadly)

If you convert GBP to TL in your revolut account, then most ATMs won't charge you, and revolut don't charge you either, the drawback is that the 'Free withdrawal' limit on revolut is £200 per card (GBP and TL/Euro etc) with a 2% charge by revolut thereafter.

That's for the standard 'free' account - if you pay another £6.99 a month for a premium account, the limit is £400, but it's not worth it if the only benefit you're after is cash withdrawals, you might as well just pay the 2% .

Note: withdrawal fee revised to 2% thanks to information from Goldwingalan on next post.

Revolut is £200 per 30 days ( £ € tl )
Thereafter it is 2% for withdrawal over that amount not 0.5%

Goldwingalan wrote: ↑

Sat 22 Aug 2020 10:54 am

Revolut is £200 per 30 days ( £ € tl )
Thereafter it is 2% for withdrawal over that amount not 0.5%

Thank you very much for that Goldwingalan - I will amend my previous post. Was it always 2% or did they increase it without my noticing?

I think that it is still not worthwhile upgrading to either Premium or Metal simply for the benefit of the higher cash withdrawal facility, as the monthly charge would be greater than the withdrawal fee, although some might consider the other benefits to be worth it.

Thanks again.

So by Revolut the original posters £460 would have cost between £5.20 and £9.20 depending on whether the £200 monthly allowance was part of the £460.

That's it ETS. I mainly get by without going over the £200 monthly withdrawal limit, and one of those annoying sods paying by card. Think only once I have done it, because I really needed the cash and couldn't pay by card for some work on the house, wasn't a great wad of interest that I paid out, and was certainly cheaper taking out TL than £s the way things are nowadays.

Whenever I eventually get back to UK, will be going for a Starling card or perhaps Monzo (or both), to have in conjunction with Revolut. I like belts and braces.

Apart from essential “cash” purchases, I.e. gardener, Petrol attendant tip, etc, pay by Revolut. Why touch the dirty filthy cash?

You can always get your Revolut card sent to a friend in the UK who can use Royal Mail Track and Trace to your address in TRNC. Cost is less than £7.

Just for info, after trying a few bank ATM's in Famagusta this morning with no joy, finally managed to get cash (TL) using Revolut card from Nova Bank which is beside Lemar, İsmet İnönü Blv with no charges.
Other banks couldn't complete transaction, why I have no idea (TEB and Creditwest), Limassol Koop bank wanted to charge 50 TL for taking out 1000 TL (5%).

If I need money from my English bank account and get charged from here and by my bank in uk. Ok I have to pay. Yes I do not like paying charges but need the money. So pay charges!!

Fair enough S&P, if you are willing to pay the high bank charges, that's up to you. I am not talking about taking out Sterling but TL, and my card is loaded with TL, so why the heck such a high charge for local currency? 50TL may not be a great amount for 1000TL, but it can buy a few large tins of dog food, or a small dried bag of dog food. Let me think about where I'd like my money to go....hmmmm, it's a tough one.

Yes I take out lira and get the 2 bank charges. The amount of charges each month I could feed all the strays in Girne. Option (New Year Resolution in September). I will have to start spending less. No more handbags or shoes!!

Unfortunately with some UK bank cards, you do have to suck it, hence me and many others getting a multi currency card such as Revolut. It's just a bit of a cheek to have such high interest rates. Luckily, my need for cash is not great, so I generally, but not always, get by with the £200 limit without charges (at Revolut side of things), and try to avoid charges with local banks here, if I can.
Have you worked out the difference between taking out cash or using your UK card for shopping purposes? Might be advisable to consider a card like Revolut, Monzo, Starling etc.

Thank you. Will consider.

waddo wrote: ↑

Thu 20 Aug 2020 3:56 pm

TEB = 5% on Sterling withdrawal! I did the math and opened a Turkbank account. Transfer in hours from UK bank to Turk Bank account. £3000 costs me £30. Then withdraw and change at best going rate or just transfer at bank rates into TL account. Saved me lots.

What about bank account charges for running the account?

Busy painting just now but will dig them out for you later. They are so small I never bothered to remember them!

Razr63 - sent you a PM, hope it helps.

Thank you for all your replies, hopefully we have circum navigated the problem with our bank, and are paying much less than we were before, your help is much appreciated

Things working well with the revolut card. It may be worth noting:-

It is not accepted by all the CC machines (Garanti always OK)
At 1 petrol station it defaulted to $ therefore I technically lost on tl-$-£ exchanges
I drew cash out at Garanti ATM, it drew from the GBP part of the account and charged 5%

Jonnie wrote: ↑

Sat 03 Oct 2020 7:01 am

Things working well with the revolut card. It may be worth noting:-

It is not accepted by all the CC machines (Garanti always OK)
At 1 petrol station it defaulted to $ therefore I technically lost on tl-$-£ exchanges
I drew cash out at Garanti ATM, it drew from the GBP part of the account and charged 5%

I find that Iktisat Bank ATMs consistently allow me to withdraw TL using my Revolut card without charges or exchange issues.

Thank you Keith

Jonnie wrote: ↑

Sat 03 Oct 2020 7:01 am

Things working well with the revolut card. It may be worth noting
At 1 petrol station it defaulted to $ therefore I technically lost on tl-$-£ exchanges

If the card machine offers $, generally you can hit the red button (cancel) and it will then charge you in ₺. You do this after you have input your pin, it should ask if you wish to pay in $, pressing the red button says NO. Be careful not to hand the machine back too soon because the operator will select the green button for sure.

Keithcaley wrote: ↑

Sat 03 Oct 2020 7:56 am

Jonnie wrote: ↑

Sat 03 Oct 2020 7:01 am

Things working well with the revolut card. It may be worth noting:-

It is not accepted by all the CC machines (Garanti always OK)
At 1 petrol station it defaulted to $ therefore I technically lost on tl-$-£ exchanges
I drew cash out at Garanti ATM, it drew from the GBP part of the account and charged 5%

I find that Iktisat Bank ATMs consistently allow me to withdraw TL using my Revolut card without charges or exchange issues.

Tried Iktisat opposite Illeli today and yesterday. Both days stated technical issue and would not let me withdraw. ???

Update. Managed to get some without chard from Turkbankasi