Marko

Hi, I hate travellers cheques and have always used ATM's, Does Turkey have good availability in areas outside major cities ?
Or should I stock up on Lira ? Also is the adoption of the Euro on the Agenda now ?

Tangata

I may be an isolated incident, but I had great problems using ATMs in Istanbul. I tried about eight machines at different Banks and the responses were either ?Your Bank will not authorise this transaction? or ?You have entered an incorrect PIN? ? which I most definitely had not.

I never did manage to get any money and my card was cancelled. My Bank cannot explain this; they insist that it was not a problem with a six digit PIN. They say it might possibly have been because it was a Sunday and Banks were only servicing their own customers ? I am aware of some places that do this; including Thailand.

ATMs are still the way to go, but you do need a backup.

sinan

I am using ATM for along time, and I didn't have any problem anywhere in Turkey. ONLY we had really big storm in KUSADASI the year before last year we were not able to connect to our bank via Turkish bank that's it in almost 10 years. I just got some money yesterday from ATM machine. Some foreign banks has own restrictions so you may have problem(s) for instance I have a visa card that really high credit on it when I was in Ankara I took my mother to supermarket which one of the big one in Ankara we bough some thing and I want to charge to my credit card and gave to cashier and then she told me that card rejected by the system in that time I didn't understand what happining, but 3 days later we got phone in USA from our visa company and they are warning me that someone charging my credit card in Turkey, then I understood that the company didn't know that I am in Turkey so they are very caution about FRAUD Payment. SO you may tell your bank that you are going to .....country I am sure you will be OK anywhere in the world.

Have a nice trip in Turkey

Sinan Akdeniz
[email protected]

jimar

I am planing a trip to Turkey in OCT 03..Understand that due to the Euro varable value, the US $ is preferred.. But pretty sure that cant get USD from a ATM in Turkey!!... Should I bring $s?.. Generally, Credit Cards really rip us off (6%, + interest, + bank fees, etc.) on European transaction!!.. Rather bring $s if they are freely accepted?
Is the Lire still used?...
Jimar

Patrick

Tangata, your bank may have insisted that the problem was not with your six digit pin, but I've never heard of an ATM in Turkey that didn't work with a four digit pin. We had no trouble anywhere in Turkey, including the smaller villages.

Carolred

Outside of NA most ATMs use a four digit PIN. You can change it at your bank before you go.

We found ATMs plentiful, although we were not in too many small villages. In fact, we only had two problems: in Urgup, where two of the three ATMs in town were out of order, and at one point in our trip the lira was a bit volatile and the ATMs would only give you a hundred million at a time. ATMs only give lira.

US$ are very useful if you do not mind carrying cash. You can also get them at a bank in Turkey, but pay a fee. You should bring at least enough US$ to pay for your visa at the airport.

sandi

And the cost of the VISA for US Passport holders is $100.

It's not likely that you can even get Turkish Lira in the US, so wait till you get to Turkey. If you run into problems with ATMs, there are plenty of places (not your hotel) to change USD and the exchange will be fairly good - difference only in pennies vs the ATM - considering USD$1 = 1.4 million TL (est).

But the USD will glady be accepted just about anywhere you wish to make a purchase even in small towns.