Bank recommendations?

[jofra]

In considering buying a "holiday home" (probable use 4-5 months per year), the problem of making regular payments (direct debit or the equivalent) for maintainance, rates, electric, etc. comes up. I would be grateful for people's opinions/experiences of which bank(s) are/would be best to choose. Online banking is obviously the best way to go, and I know HSBC have branches in the UK and Northern Cyprus - but they also have rather unfavourable reviews....
Is HSBC that bad, or are they 'reasonably' OK - and are there any others that could be recommended, please?

[namps]

We have banked with HSBC for 11yrs not had any bad experiences.They helped from here to set up an account with their bank in uk so we could have pensions paid into it and whenever we have had to transfer large sums of money they have never charged us. Never used them to pay bills, but we live here. As regards buying holiday home,make sure you have pre 1974 land and that it has Kocan, or even rent for the term.

[PoshinDevon]

Bank with CreditWest and have had no problems in the time we have been with them, very good service and advice. We pay all bills via direct debit and use there on line banking to keep track of things, plus bank cards and have GB and TL accounts. Initially we were out here for a few weeks 3 times a year, we are now here for an extended period of 6mths.

Had to go in the Girne HSBC branch last year to cash a cheque, wont go into detail but we were not very impressed with the customer service. Whilst sat around for the 2hrs it took them to sort things out we could observe the service and there were a fair few who were not happy. However, it was not our bank and maybe if you bank with them and deposit a lot of money things are different.

It will come down to what is important to you, if you dont have reason to regularly go into a bank then maybe the face to face contact is not so important. Good luck with your choice.

[ozankoys]

Hi can assure you that in the HSBC branch the cashier service is normally inadequate for ALL customers. i have previously complained to both the local manager & Turkey when there has been 1 cashier working & a bank full of people waiting.
That said their onlne bankng is verygood & if you want to trnsfer money between here & UK it is very easy to do.
Beware of putting large amounts in Cypriot based banks go for ones backed by Turkey.

[mrsgee]

My experience of HSBC has not been good. Garanti Bank is much better and offers a very good online banking service. Secil, the account manager is very helpful. I would google HSBC pulling out of Turkey and Brazil, before deciding. Apparently, HSBC are looking for a buyer for the Turkish Banking operation, which is what the branches here are.

[Groucho]

I think it is fair to say that HSBC's on-line banking is very good and their Girne branch customer service does not match it - there are some good staff and so the service is patchy at best and poor if you get a customer rep whose raison d'etre seems to be as a wind-up merchant. In their defence I would say, the banking system as a whole is hopelessly tied down with a largely paper-based system - so all the banks seems to have to go through hoops for the simplest of transactions. If the UK system is as hog-tied they hide it well but here it seems they like to show you how tedious it all is!

Whilst waiting to get served you could:-

Start havering
Get married
Have kids
Grow several beards
and expire....

We avoid personal bank visits where at all possible.

[kaiserphil]

Groucho, I well remember my early days there, when having opened an HSBC account I eventually regretted it.

When friends told me that they would take a ticket, check which numbers were currently being dealt with, then go shopping, I thought they were being funny. They were not!

A dreadful, bureaucratic paper-logged system, huge queues, and a few indifferent staff caused all the problems.

Puts me in mind of the banks here in Bavaria, where their ATM systems are so slow that in UK the queue would be up and down the High St and twice round the Town Hall.

[Fesenjan123]

We bank with Credit West and have always been very happy with the service. The staff are polite and efficient. I would certainly recommend them.
Avoid HSBC like the plague! Our last landlord insisted we pay the electric bill into his HSBC account. For this we had the pleasure of visiting HSBC in Girne on a monthly basis. I have never seen such appalling service. There were always queues of people waiting and if you got served in under 40 minutes by a surly, ignorant cashier you could count yourself lucky. Gruelling on hot days as no air con and just the overpowering stench of body odour. Of course if you are a premium customer investing a considerable sum of money then you could escape cattle class and be served upstairs. We would sit there watching the cashiers chatting amongst themselves, going off to make a drink and chatting in the telephones. Doing almost anything than have to serve you, despite the huge number of people waiting.

[johnny1]

hi ozankoys
you said beware of cypriot banks....
isnt there a guaranteed amount with all banks....i think its 20.000 euro?
are they not all guaranteed by turkey..cypriot and turkish..?
is credit west a turkish bank?

[ozankoys]

Hi as far as I am aware Credit West are a Cypriot bank & they grant a lot of mortgages. Yes there is a guarantee by the TRNC government but the figure is in TL I am not sure that it would equate to 20000 euros I would have to check.
i am just saying that IMHO I would not place a lot of money in a Cypriot Bank obviously the higher the interest the higher the risk.

[johnny1]

hi
yes please check it

[Bowman]

If you check, the central banks document you will find it is 20,000.00 euros.

regards Bowman

[johnny1]

bowman are you sure about that?and how can you check?do i have to ask inside the bank itself to see it?
and is that 20.000 euro an account or each customer?

[Ragged Robin]

I have accounts with Turk Bank(Türk Bankasi) and Credit West (on the "eggs and baskets" principle.) I tend to use TB for day to day transactions, they have an English customer representative at the Catalköy Branch (and I think some others) who goes out of her way to help and all the staff are usually helpful and always polite.

Credit West , again Cköy , are also polite and helpful and at least one with good English.

Maybe the "out of town" branches are more modern and more expat orientated than central town.

Both banks have parking, comfortable seating and air con, and , although it depends on time of day, I dont too often have to wait long.

The paperwork and bureaucracy and some of the banking rules are trying, but I think that applies everywhere.

Turk Bank has the advantage of having branches registered in the UK. They are all in London, but it does make some transactions easier and gives "credibility" with British institutions that are being snooty about the unrecognised status of N. Cyprus.

[Owl Lady]

I agree with not" all eggs in one basket". Have accounts with TEB, Credit West and HSBC. Been with HSBC for over 15 year with Julie as customer service relations manager for most of the time. Never had any problem at all!!Make an appointment for date and time and always met.

[jofra]

Thanks to all of you for your comments, insights and advice.
It does sound as though HSBC are let down in the "face to face" side of their business - even if their online side is OK, it's when that goes wrong that extra-good personal service is most needed. So....
Unfortunately, Turk Bank only have UK branches (for joining) in London - and I'm 'oop North' - but then none of the others (as far as I can find) have UK branches...
Looking at Credit West, I see they have an "Expat Service", and they advertise their facility for utility bills payments, to various services and most (all?) belediyeses - but then probably Garanti and Turk Bankasi do the same?
Anyway; food for thought, and again, thank you all!

[johnny1]

i was supposed to meet that julie at hsbc once a while back.she actually let me down..the day i was supposed to go to see her she was sick..no phone call or email to let me know not to bother going...so i said stuff that...if thats how hsbc care about there customers.....

[ozankoys]

I have checked with a bank this morning & the guaranteed amount is 18,000 euro per account. However in practice I would dread to think how long it would take for Central Bank to refund depositors should the worst happen.
I have no idea how the regulatory bodies work here but it is just my personal thought that unlike the Turkish based banks Credit West grant a lot of mortgages maybe they have different criteria when looking at prospective borrowers or maybe they have so much on deposit so they can lend more.
As advised above do not put all your eggs in one basket.

[Owl Lady]

Johnny,I do agree should have been advised by someone else checking Julies appointments. You can't blame Julie for being sick!

[NOTOUT246]

I use Turk Bank Alsanyak English lady called Susie looks after my account, had no problems at all.
Would recommend.

[johnny1]

owl lady
i dont blame her of course for being sick...but an email or phone call would have been nice.
i went from lefkosia to kyrenia for the meeting.