bank account /interst rates

fosterscan


Joined: 27/02/2010
Posts: 541

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 01:03

Hi can some one explain the interest rates creditwest have 4% for gbp and 9.5% for tl

i take it that i only need an address in trnc ( which i do )to open an account

so if i invest £3k for 1 year

how do i get the tl rate

and what tax is liable

what charges to transfer to and from 1 year later

is it worth the hassle compared to a uk isa cheers

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 01:18

Why don't you e-mail the bank.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 01:26

You do not even need a TRNC address to open an account here. I'm assuming that you are based in the UK?



If you want a TL account then you have to change the Sterling £3K into TL based on the rate Sterling/TL for that day. Today the rate is £1/2.25 TL at CW, but you do not have to change the Sterling at Creditwest, unless you are in the UK.

The tax on deposit interest in the TRNC is 8%, against 20% in the UK.

So if you decide to open a Time deposit account with £3K sterling & convert this to TL today, you will invest 6750 TL at 9% for a year. You will earn 607.50 TL Gross interest for 365 days & pay tax of 8% on that = 48.60 TL. Your net return will be 558.90 TL. You will then have to convert the TL back into Sterling at the exchange rate in a year's time or leave the interest in TL.

At todays rate of selling TL & buying Sterling - 2.31/£1, 558.90 TL would buy you £241.95.

I'll let you do the sums in Sterling at 4%. Tax is just the same at 8%.

Can you earn this from a UK ISA?

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 02:11

Of course what I forgot is that you don't pay tax on an ISA. I don't have one anymore (no point with UK. interest rates as they are).

So if your UK. ISA pays more than 3.68% per annum then you are better off leaving your money in the UK. 4% here less 8% tax = 3.68% net if you invest in s Sterling account.

In TL you will earn 8.28% net. 9% less 8% tax. If you want to convert your money back to Sterling in a year's time then you will need a crystal ball to know what the exchange rate might be then.

fosterscan


Joined: 27/02/2010
Posts: 541

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 02:18

isa only earns 2.5% so the trnc seams a better option so if the exchange rate goes back upto 2.50tl-£ then i lose a bit more but i dont think i would change back in 1 year if the rate here stay as is cheers scruff oh and eager

wearytravellers



Joined: 27/04/2007
Posts: 250

Message Posted:
28/04/2010 07:45

Please get in touch with Scott Kennedy from FMA Financial Services....he has products that you would be interested in. I invested 10K GBP in Australia 6% nett per annum. I also invested 25,000 YTL at 15% nett per annum. I sat with Scott for an hour, took 20 minutes to complete some paperwork.....voila !!! Done. I also transferred my pension with him as well and get a much better deal for my retirement in about 20 years time !!!!



If you don't ask you'll never know.

HildySmith


Joined: 02/07/2009
Posts: 1708

Message Posted:
29/04/2010 20:47

Is CreditWest guaranteed by the Turkish Government?

breezyboy


Joined: 14/05/2007
Posts: 1179

Message Posted:
29/04/2010 22:33

Hildy

It is guaranteed by TRNC government which is splitting hairs!

When the banks went down in 2001 they paid out quickly and everyone learnt lessons which the UK and USA did not.

MarkVPiazza


Joined: 14/08/2008
Posts: 530

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 12:37

You are still liable for UK tax on interest earned from Turkish/TRNC Banks

susiesusie


Joined: 09/03/2009
Posts: 337

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 12:49

opened an account yesterday and was told and also in writing that the rate is 3.5 on sterling. this is a monthly account. perhaps the rate of 4 pc is special depending on how much you invest?

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 13:00

Best return is.....change your sterling to ytl when you can get 2.5 or above...put the ytl into a high interest account paying interest monthly.....when rates drop to about 2.2...change all your money back...do this 2 or 3 times a year....and.....no tax to pay on any money made from exchange rates.....leave you to do the maths!

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 13:08

Message 10. susiesusie. 4% is the rate for an annual time deposit. 3.5% is the rate for a monthly time deposit.



Message 9. MVP. I'm not a UK. resident for tax purposes.

proger1



Joined: 18/04/2009
Posts: 2919

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 13:11

Nice idea Stewart but this year doesn't seem to see any improvement so far to change it to ytl, not lost anything yet but if it doesn't come back up I will not gain anything in the transfer but will lose on the available interest.



Arte et marte, Paul

gillken


Joined: 25/05/2008
Posts: 521

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 13:37

Really thick here, but can you explain to me about the difference in Monthly annual Interest Payments......

if you had 100000 ytl how much would you get

Monthly

Annually



I am not interested in the different interest rates, I just can't get my head around the fact that you will get interest of say 10% a month x 12 months

and then you only get interest once on an annual, am I making sense!!

Can I presume that interest is calculated monthly but it only arrives in your account annually?

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 14:14

Hi....you get say 10% on the monthly..but this is annual..so your get 10% divided by 12 = .833% paid monthly.



an advantage to this is you then get interest on your interest the following month ( known as compound interest )



dear proger1.....you have already missed one rise to over 2.5 this year...so at current level 10% has been gained.....suggest you don't lock your money for a full 12 months as this will happen again, at least once more....this is not simpy a "nice idea"..but realistic and achievable



At the moment most will have changed money back from ytl to sterling...now waiting for rates to rise again to buy back ytl

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 14:23

ps anyone thinking about changing a large amount of sterling to open a high interest ytl account must be mad!....wait till rates improve

HER INDOORS



Joined: 14/12/2007
Posts: 152

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 14:28

Stewart- message 11



Do you change all you TL back to Sterling or just the TL you made in your interest account? Thanks

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
30/04/2010 21:12

Hi....change it all ( unless you need to use it )



Close the high interest account..this will go straight into your YTL ( you will loose only that months interest )...then change this back to sterling....you will only do this when rates are favourable



many TCs do exactly the same

HildySmith


Joined: 02/07/2009
Posts: 1708

Message Posted:
01/05/2010 22:28

Opened a monthly ytl account last week, 6% interest at Turk Bankasi

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 07:25

Why open an account paying 6% when at many other banks you can get at least 8%??



Just curious!!!

phylray



Joined: 21/09/2007
Posts: 1727

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 12:08

I opened a TL a/c deposit a/c last July and the interest then was better. I see small amount

of interest each month, but the rate has steadily gone down. It is a good bank but can you

tell me which banks pay 8% now?

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 13:08

Getting 8.75 with Garanti.



Iktisatbank was 10% last month though may have gone down a bit. Credit West similar rate.



Probably about 6% at HSBC but away from the 2 main banks you will def. get much more than 6%.

lobylud


Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 242

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 13:47

Slight correction, I checked my Garanti yesterday and it was actually paying 7.75% interest minus tax.

phylray



Joined: 21/09/2007
Posts: 1727

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 15:10

I am with Iktisatbank now and they have an English dept. - very good service. Glad to hear it was 10% last month. I used to bank with Turkbank but found they were actually charging for direct debits.

When I worked in N.C I used to have Coop Bank as the college paid us partly in dollars, and you could bank

them and live on the ytl's. Managed to save a bit.

fosterscan


Joined: 27/02/2010
Posts: 541

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 16:43

so correct me if i am wrong put £3000 in a monthly interest gbp account when the rate goes to 250ytl-£1

change it to a ytl interest account .When the ytl drops again change it back to the gbp account cashing in on the interest rate and also the exchange rate .

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 19:31

msg 25



A recipe for disaster. You should only do this if you have loads of time to keep an eye on rates and can afford to loose money.



msg 23

Garanti 8.75 when you have large amount in, cannot remember exactc amount

lobylud


Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 242

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 20:08

I've just checked again on the Garanti website and I can see where the difference is.

On a Time Deposit Account the interest is 7.75%

On a e-Time Deposit Account the interest is 8.75%, it actually goes to 9.25% for 3 months and above.

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 20:40

Dear Fosterscan...yes, bang on

You do not need loads of time...it takes one minute to check daily with your bank on-line....you can do all this on-line with the hsbc..not sure about others

bazilbrush


Joined: 29/03/2008
Posts: 404

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 20:43

Limassol bank is 5% on sterling & 8.25 on tl monthly interest.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 21:47

Sorry to disagree with you Stewart. You can only move your money from one Time deposit account to another on Maturity day, unless you want to lose all the interest you have earned for the period on deposit. TL Interest rates have been strong now since November 2009 & steadily getting stronger. How come all you "experts" out there assume that the TL will weaken or again or the pound sterling will strengthen. I can understand UK. residents who think they can make a pile of money through speculation in currency rates, being preoccupied with moving their money backwards & forwards from TL to Sterling, but why not put a sensible sum into a TL deposit account here & leave it here, using the interest earned (& the capital) towards paying bills.

Yes, if the rate ever goes up to 2.75 TL/£1 again then you can make a killing by buying TL. I don't somehow see that happening for a very long time, given the mess that UK. Ltd is now in. Maybe you would like to guess as to when this will happen again

cyprusishome


Joined: 31/03/2007
Posts: 2381

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 22:03

If it was so easy to earn income in above way we would all soon be rich.



To say that you check on line "each day" is at best simplistic. To keep abreast of fluctuations you must be checking minute to minute. As scruff says about time deposit accounts you are more than likely to loose a fortune by such simplistic thinking.



Oh well J, at least we will sleep soundly in bed with our investments secure.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
02/05/2010 22:19

In my previous posting, I used the phrase "TL interest rates" in the 3rd sentence. I should of course have said "TL exchange rates."

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 00:27

Stewart, Trouble is that if you buy TL at 2.5 then the exchange rate goes down to 2.2, thats the £ to TL rate not the rate that the Banks will give you if you want to then sell your TL back to them, thats more likely to be around 2.5 so no profit there.....

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 12:44

Dear Scruff and eager, sorry to dissapoint you both, but you are both under the wrong impression



Firstly, scruff..you are correct in stating you will lose the interest if you take it from your high interest ac before maturity date....as i stated previously...however, if you you have it in a monthly account, you will only lose .8%....where as changing it back at the "optimum" time, can earn you between 8 - 10 % ie ten times more



dear Eager...I am refering to actual rates you get in your pocket..if you do not believe me, then so be it.



My advice is based on facts, not idealogy

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 14:05

Dear Stewart. I bought most of my TL, now on deposit, when the exchange rate was 2.70/2.80 TL, several years ago. I have bought TL until the exchange rate dropped to 2.45 last year. I shall not be moving my money back into Sterling. I live here in the TRNC 24/7 365 days a year, so what would be the point of having my money back in Sterling. Okay so I now move it all back into Sterling & put it on deposit at less than 50% of the TL rate. I'd gain on the conversion back, but lose on the interest earned.

What makes you think that Sterling will return to the former heady days, before the credit crunch, when it was much stronger.

Any money brought here since last October/November has been put on deposit in Sterling.

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 14:59

Stewart, As of today, if one was to change TL into £s what is the best rate that the bank would give you for your TL. Regards.

Stewart


Joined: 19/07/2008
Posts: 1107

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 15:08

Dear Scruff.....interesting....your money from Oct / nov last year could have been changed to ytl during the last week of nov for 2.52....you could have changed it back quite recently for 2.19.....about 13%, plus of course, 4 months @ .8% = 3.2% ( in the monthly high interest ac ) making 16.2% TAX FREEE



now it is 2.7 ..another gain from 2.19, ( 2.9% approx )



i am sure you are quite correct...making 8% per annum and paying tax on it, is so much more...prudent

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 17:03

My money from the UK. in Sterling was not brought here in the last week of November. I am talking about money brought here since that time. You have not read what I wrote. You have just resorted to cheap points scoring. You do your thing & I will do ming okay.

I am not advising others what to do, but you seem to be trying this. Are you a financial advisor? I think not.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 20:22

I'd also be fascinated to know when you quite recentlycould have bought Sterling with TL at a rate of 2.19/£1 since the selling rate for TL (or any currency come to that) is always higher than the buying rate.?????????

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 21:12

Msg 39, Thats exactly what i was asking in my msg 33.....yet to be clarified.

iankb


Joined: 03/09/2009
Posts: 32

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 21:15

My wife was given 10.75% by HSBC Antalya today.This was based on a 30 day time deposit.Maybe things are looking up.I have also noticed that what happens in turkey also happens in TRNC.



ıAN

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 23:03

msg. 40

eager. At close today. Creditwest Buy TL 2.25. Sell TL 2.305. The rates & spread at Creditwest are about the worst here.

Kibris Vakiflar per their website show at 8.23am this morning. Buy TL 2.259. Sell 2.289. Their rates & spread are usually about best here, assuming they pay what the website says.

Hope this helps.

fosterscan


Joined: 27/02/2010
Posts: 541

Message Posted:
04/05/2010 23:20

8% safe sounds good but to be fair changeing it back a forward does seam like more fun,my 3k tax free isa earned me a poulty £160 last year.

Stewart i dont think your a finance adviser as they wouldnt tell every one the 'best' investment unless there was a lump sum in it for them.

Remember every one should get a endowment as a 25 year one would pay out in 20 years and be cheaper 'Honest'

it does look like the ytl/gbp rate is on the up again.

i am sorting it out now so will be able to post results next year cheers

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 11:28

Scruff, Exactly my point in message 33.....but surely you mean that CW will SELL you TL at 2.25 and BUY your TL at 2.305 for £1......ie, you give them TL 2.305 and they give you £1

fiendishpaul


Joined: 18/05/2008
Posts: 1720

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:13

Playing the exchange rates is a personal choice but there is money to be made. That said you have to 'play' with fairly large sums to make it worthwhile.



For example:



If you changed £100k at 2.35TL you would have a fund of 235k TL which at current interest rates (average 8%) would give you monthly interest (after tax) of 1440TL (about £600).



If you were to change the TL back to sterling at 2.30 you would receive £102,173 - a profit of £2173 on your original £100k investment. The profit is about 3 and a half times what you would have received in monthly interest if you had kept your money in TL. So in effect, you would have 3 and a half months for the exchange rate to go back up to the 2.35 (and then change your sterling back to TL) before you started to lose money.



continued:

fiendishpaul


Joined: 18/05/2008
Posts: 1720

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:17

It is also worth remembering that whilst your money is in sterling it would be earning about 4% interest (about £312 per month on £102k) - so in real terms you would have about 5 and a half months for the exchange rate to rise back to 2.35 before you lost money.



This is all dependant upon how much rates fluctuate and they have been fairly static over the past few months. However the attached table will give a good indication of how much they have fluctuated over the past 12 months.



http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates



Hope the above makes sense and no, I am not a financial advisor. However, I have had the occasional dabble and to date have always come out smiling



Regards



Paul

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:29

Paul, What you have said is correct and i expect many people do likewise although the fluctuations now seem to be more stale than the did 12 / 18 months ago but Stewart has said that quite recently you could have exchanged your TL at the rate of 2.19 for £1 ....would love to know where this is.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:30

msg 44. Eager.

yes & no. The terms I used are the terms the bank uses. The buy rate is when you buy TL with £s sterling & sell your pounds. The transaction from TL back into pounds is called the sell rate. You are selling your TL back & buying pounds with it.

At the end of the day it really doesn't matter what the words are, as long as you understand the transaction.

Many people think that when buying exchange, the highest rate of the 2 rates quoted is best for them when they are buying TL. This is not true. The lowest rate is always the one you will get when converting sterling to TL. The highest rate is the rate used to sell your TL back & buy Sterling. To buy back each pound costs you more TL. The difference between the 2 rates is called the spread. The wider the spread, the more you lose each time you first buy & then sell. If you were to buy TL & then sell TL back to buy pounds, at the same rates, then you will always lose.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:45

I would never advise people as to what to do with their money. I would try to give them the facts, but they must make their own decisions. Similarly, I will listen to advice, weigh it up, but at the end of the day make my own decisions about how to proceed.

One important thing to realise is that Time deposit accounts do not pay compound interest. For eaxample if you deposit your money for 6 months or 1 year at say 9% per annum, you will receive just 9% less tax of 8%. This will be 8.28% net of tax. If however you make any withdrawal, whatsoever, before the maturity date, you will not earn anything at all. Tying your money up for 1 year, at the same rate payable for 1 month, is only worthwhile if you think that the interest rate will drop in the meantime. If the annual rate is marginally better than the monthly rate, can you be sure that monthly rates will not rise during the period?

None of us have crystal balls, unfortunately.

fiendishpaul


Joined: 18/05/2008
Posts: 1720

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 12:48

Also worth mentioning that when you exchange TL at the bank you pay a bank 'tax' of 1TL for every 1000TL exchanged. No charge when changing any currency to TL.



Paul

keithr


Joined: 20/08/2008
Posts: 720

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 16:38

Don't forget that the tax on interest is 15% in Turkey as opposed to 8% here,so some of the extra percentage will be eroded.

scruff


Joined: 15/07/2008
Posts: 1070

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 17:01

Good point keithr.

eager


Joined: 23/02/2007
Posts: 1272

Message Posted:
05/05/2010 22:21

Stewart's gone a bit quiet