cost effective finances!

[jazzdolly]

Hello!
I would really like some advice on this please from you clever people!!!

My husband and I have HSBC accounts in North Cyprus and the UK.
We need to access our English funds by moving money from the UK to here.

Is it cheaper to move sterling from HSBC to HSBC , take cash out (sterling) at an HSBC machine and then exchange it or take TL out from the UK HSBC account at a machine?

I am trying to establish the most cost effective way of paying bills and taking money out please!!

All advice will be very gratefully received.
I have spoken to HSBC international and cant get a succinct reply out of the lot of them. All they seem to want to do is listen to themselves speak.....

[come_on_aylin]

First point is do you get charged for transferring from HSBC to HSBC? - if you are a premier customer, I think not otherwise not sure. If you don't get charged, use internet banking to do the transfer from UK to here. Get a sterling account set up here (there may be a monthly charge for this if you are not a Premier customer) so you can then do a foreign exchange transaction from your TRNC GBP account, once the money has arrived, to your TRNC TL account. Generally, the rates are better than in exchange bureaus, I find. Then withdraw the money in TL from any HSBC ATM - other bank's ATMs incur a charge.
I imagine that withdrawing TL from a UK GBP account will incur charges so will be a more expensive way of doing it(most banks charge a fixed transaction fee plus give you are rubbish rate of exchange). In fact, HSBC may even charge you for withdrawing sterling from your UK GBP account because they charge if you withdraw TL outside TRNC/Turkey even for Premier account holders.
It's not really straightforward, there can be lots of charges esp. if you are not a Premier customer here - you need 100,000TL deposited in TRNC account to qualify - small bonus is that you can use the very good HSBC lounge at Ataturk airport if you are departing from there.

[Philoz]

Jazz dolly-you didn't say how much you were wanting to get out?
If it's a big amount,and by that I mean £2-£3k and above,you are always better setting up an 'Interbank rate' transfer.
The Interbank rate is the rate the banks use between themselves,and its the best rate you can get-you would pay a fixed fee for this-typically £30-so, for a larger transfer, it's very cheap.
For day to day money,If you can access your sterling here at an ATM without charges,then I would change it to TL here as you normally get better rates,at places like Monex in Karakum which is always well rated by other forum members.
Changing money is quite complicated,and you have to beware of 'commission free' scams in the UK (like the one the post office pull)-It depends on how much you need to change in basic terms and then you need a calculator to work out if you are better paying a % of the amount (more suited to smaller amounts)or a flat fee for larger amounts.
Hope this helps.

[owl]

If you are flying between UK and NC, remember the most cost effective way to bring £ to NC is in cash.
The current limit for 'undeclared' cash is 10,000euros or equivalent (say £8,000) per person.
This is a EU limit, but still applies if travelling from NC to UK or EU country.

That way a couple can travel with £16,000 quite legally per flight and use somewhere like Monex at Karakum for rates better that any Bank (UK or NC) and,.........NO bank 'transfer' charges/delays/lost transfers etc!

Same in reverse, if you want to transfer your ytl into £ to take back to UK.

Don't know if this is useful for your own situation.

[wanderer]

Always have proof of where your money comes from receipts from the bank
Having watched a few reality customs programmes if you cant prove its provenance the customs will keep it
Sometimes ILLEGALLY
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-28217970

[come_on_aylin]

Can I just point out that the HSBC gives preferential rates to customers allowing them to do online foreign exchange transactions at better rates than the exchange bureaus including monexchange.
For example at this moment monexchange are offering 3.61TL to £1 and HSBC are offering 3.6266 - the rate is constantly updated so you can pick your moment to do the exchange.

[jazzdolly]

THANKYOU everyone!!! I knew I would find some great replies!!! They really help!

[Owl Lady]

The minimum amount now for HSBC PREMIER ACCOUNT is now REDUCED to 75,000 tl. If you have Premier in ANY country, transactions are free. Still check as rules here change on a daily basis.

[come_on_aylin]

When was it reduced? We received an email saying that from July the minimum had gone up to £100K. See below:

'As you are well aware, to benefit from HSBC Premier, there are qualification criteria for your account which you need to continue to meet. Please note that Premier wealth criteria, TRY 75.000, updated as TRY 100.000 effective from 1 July 2014. After this date, you will need to meet the Premier qualification criteria to keep your current HSBC Premier customer status and continue benefiting from the HSBC Premier service.'

[Owl Lady]

I can't remember the exact date, but I did withdraw money and transferred some, to another bank. I asked how much I need to leave, to remain Premier and was advised 75,000.Maybe changed since then, but no letter to say it had increased again!!

[Shell232]

WANDERER - UK customs (Now UKBF) dont keep the money illegally, the story you refer to was a Police Community Support Officer not a customs officer. If you have above £1000 and can not prove where the money has come (bank statements, wage slips etc) or its intended use it can be seized under anti money laundering legislation.

The person it is seized from then has time to prove and claim it back if it is legitimate.

I dealt with large cash seizures leaving the UK and not once did the person the money was seized from claim it back but these shows don't tell you that.