How to withdraw money without fees in Turkey?
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Three years after our previous stay in Turkey, I had forgotten how difficult it could be to withdraw money without fees. The current monetary crisis in Turkey certainly doesn’t help.
To hope to withdraw money without fees in Turkey, you absolutely must:
- Have a bank card that doesn’t charge foreign exchange fees outside the eurozone. I recommend the following free cards:
- Boursorama (€130 in referral bonuses using this link)
- Fortuneo (€50 referral code: JEMO8585)
- Binance (which allows you to get cashback: referral link)
- Crypto.com (cashback as well, $25 referral with this link)
- When you withdraw money from the ATM, absolutely refuse the exchange rate scandalous offered by the ATM, it’s systematic in Turkey (read my article on pitfalls to avoid)
Note that Visa and Mastercard cards are all accepted by ATMs without any problem.
These two points are prerequisites, then you need to find the right bank because most will charge fees even if you have an international card. Here’s the benchmark I was able to do.
These are the fees noted on December 6, 2021, I imagine it can change quickly.
| Bank | Fees | Observed in |
| TEB | 5% | March 2021 |
| AKBANK | 8% | March 2021 |
| QNB FINANSBANK | 5 USD (fixed fee) | March 2021 |
| TURKIYE BANKASI | 5% | March 2021 |
| YAPIKREDI | 6% | March 2021 |
| Garanti BBVA | 5% | March 2021 |
| alBaraka | No fees | March 2021 |
| Ziraat Bankasi | No fees | June 2023 |
| Türkiye Finans | No fees | March 2021 |
| ING | No fees | March 2021 |
| Halkbank | 10% | June 2023 |
| PTT Bank | No fees | July 2023 |
You guessed it, I had to test 7 ATMs to find the rare gem: alBaraka which charges no fees. Later, I discovered Ziraat Bankasi which also charges no fees.
Otherwise, QNB FINANSBANK is interesting because the fees are fixed. If you withdraw the equivalent of €200, that’s only about 2% in fees.
EDIT : I continued my research and so far, the best ATMs are those ofING. Not only are there no fees, but the withdrawal limits seem quite high (whereas you’re often limited to 1000 TL with other banks), and the icing on the cake: they don’t even try to rip you off with a disadvantageous exchange rate. Top-notch! (same for PTT Bank)
PTT Bank: no fees, and no exchange rate scam
The exchange office alternative
If you don’t have a bank card with no foreign transaction fees, the alternative can be to bring euros and exchange them for Turkish liras at a currency exchange office.
In this example (December 6, 2021), you can see the exchange office buys (BUY column) 1 euro for 15.15 TL, with no commission. The market rate that day being 15.56, that represents a fee of 2.6%, which is still very reasonable.
