Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Also look at KeithCaley's post above where he was charged, but couldn't remember what buttons he hit on the ATM

Keithcaley wrote:

I did find that Iktisat Bank don't charge for TL withdrawals...

alphamike wrote:

Keithcaley wrote: The screen on this particular machine is rather faded, and in Turkish, so I may have missed this question, I certainly do not remember seeing it on this occasion, so I may well have inadvertently pressed 'Yes' .
After topping up the TL on my card, I noticed that the transaction seemed to be a little faster - 'somewhat shorter', this may be due to the fact that once the ATM saw that there was TL available, it simply skipped the bit about the exchange rate as it would have been irrelevant. That's just a guess of course, and I could be wrong.

After the first attempt, when I was charged for the transaction, I transferred enough TL onto the card account to more than cover all of my subsequent withdrawals.

The Bankamatic / İş Bank ATM did ask the question (in English) about using their exchange rates etc. to which I answered 'No', but the İktisat Bank ATM didn't ask, it simply dispensed the TL with no fuss and no charges.

Bearing in mind, this is completely from memory on the Ziraat ATM. Once you key in your PIN, the very bottom right hand side on screen gives you "other Languages" and then choose whatever, obviously English for me.
Then comes all the blurb about % rates, press the NO button at left hand bottom of screen. The Yes button is on the right hand side, you don't want the bank converting at their exchange rate.

First time I used the machine, I panicked when I saw all the blurb and high rates and pressed No, thinking that I was cancelling the transaction, and out came TL with no charge by ATM or Revolut, so it was handy to have the brief panic for the knowledge learned. I haven't tried with only Sterling on my Revolut card. Very useful to know that Iktisat bank don't charge.

I was thinking that even if you need more than £200 per month, it would be worth paying the 2% interest with your Revolut card, taking TL out, rather than paying the charges for taking out Sterling at the various ATM's.

Incidentally, I noticed someone had said they were charged a high fee for taking out 4000TL. I've checked on the websites of a few banks, but not all here, and the limit seems to be 1500 TL daily, and you will be charged for taking over that, so worth bearing in mind. Probably better taking out the 1500 TL limit over a few days if you can. Probably a good idea to check out individual bank websites for details.

Deniz1 wrote:Turk bank no charge for tl

Trigger wrote:
It also doesn’t help if you go around lunch time and it is sunny. It’s a right effort just to be able to read the screen.

Great advice btw, very useful. Thanks

Deniz1 wrote:Turk bank no charge for tl

Deniz1 wrote:No charge from this end using a uk card but charges from my uk bank. Its actually less than the ATM charges here and I dont have to go to the money exchange.