Banking in Istanbul

Hey everyone,
to follow Yud's question
I would reccomend Citibank if you want to transfer your money FROM or TO Turkey.
There is a lot of information on its website - and they have fee free international transfer offers.

Cheers,

Hi ZarinaS!

Thanks for your help

Armand

I don't want to sound negative but banking in Istanbul is a pain in the a**!

Most big banks offer pretty much the same services because there's high competition. The problem however is the hassle of opening a bank account as a foreigner..

First you need to get a residency permit, then you need to go to vergi dairesi (tax room) to get a tax number, then you take your tax number, passport, and residency permit to a bank and open an account.

But because you are a foreigner, you don't get all the services as easily as a local does. Some are even not allowed. Plus the whole acceptance process takes longer.

Also, good luck finding a bank who has English speaking bankers too..

Mo how do u get a tax number??? Where would u recommend??? Also what is the situation with paying cash???

You go to the vergi dairesi closest to your address, give them your residency permit and say you want a vergi numarasi. Its free and takes a few minutes. Nicky this one is closest to your house, I went there my self, just copy and paste this GPS location in google maps (40.992306, 29.029332). Its on the second floor.

I don't understand what you mean about paying in cash.. Paying for what and to whom? What about it?

Sorry not cash I meant tax!!!! As in money going into your account monthly.... Does that look a bit weird?!?!

From what I know, and I'm not quite sure, if you're getting your salary sent to you by bank transfer, a tax amount is deducted automatically. I don't know why. Get paid in cash and just deposit it into your account personally. My bank said I have to pay yearly fee of around 40TL unless I get my bills (electricity, water, gas) paid automatically by the bank. I don't know about monthly transaction fees though, I honestly didn't ask and wasn't told anything. Didn't bother to read the 110 page contract either.. Which bank?



Note: Don't open a bank account in Garanti Bahariye. Its such a small branch, I went there once and had to wait for 25 minutes then I was asked to photocopy my own paperwork (Passport, residency, tax number) at a shop near-by because the BANK didn't have a photocopying machine..

Note 2: Your tax number needs one day or so to "enter the system" so don't bother to open an account the same day..

Thank you

Actually Hsbc was very easy. I just needed the tax number and any statement with an address. I happened to have an online version of a phone bill from the us and that worked. You
Need a bank account with a few thousand euro or so to get residency permit. Citibank wanted the residency permit to open the account even tho I was citi gold.. Bit of catch-22. Garanti is always crowded and very little English speaking at least in the branches I go to. My paycheck is deposited there so I have no choice to deal with them a bit. But always ATM machines around!

I agree that you need luck finding a banker that can speak English. I have gone through Is Bank and they are okay. I can't say anything negative or positive about them. Their Internet banking takes FOREVER to log onto, with security codes this and that and accessing one-time codes from your phone, but I think this is general with all Internet banking in Turkey.

From what I know, all banks need a residency permit to open an account according to Turkish law, or so I was told at IsBank, Akbank and Garanti. Hope is right about the Catch-22: Banks want residency permit but the residency permit office wants bank account. This was a problem over 2 years ago when I first moved here and its sad that this still hasnt been figured out! (If anyone wants to know the loop-hole in getting residency permit without bank account, message me).

In America, Wells Fargo charges international transfer fees, so CitiBank sounds great.

We had no hassles opening accounts in Turkey and we live in Hong Kong. We visited the bank in Central HK, the bank officer completed the Turkish HBCS's account opening forms for us, we signed them, and 4 days later we got the advice that our HSBC accounts were open in Turkey. Transferring $ between HK and Turkey is easy over the internet - the security is pretty heavy duty though with 3 different codes!. We have spoken to the staff there a few times and their English is good and they are very helpful.

HSBC only wanted a tax binder which is easy to get and any bill with an address even from your home country. It took me less than half hour... No problem. Forget Citibank ... They were horrible.