Send Money To Turkey

Tukey receives over $1 billion in international remittances every year. Over 50% of this comes from Germany and the rest from countries such as France, Netherlands, Austria, and the USA. These countries also happen to have the largest Turkish diaspora communities in the world.

When sending money to Turkey through any of the popular corridors, you’ll come across a number of channels frequently used. These could be banks, online money transfer operators, cash transfer service providers and all sorts of other players.

Some providers are corridor-specific while others such as MoneyGram, TransferWise, Xoom and Western Union can be found in almost every corridor. These operators charge different transfer fees, exchange rates and have varying transfer delivery times.

Before you send money to Turkey, you need to know the various channels available, the information you’ll have to provide, the recipient requirements, and some of the factors to look at that can affect your transfer. This guide will help you get a handle on that and so much more!

How To Send Money To Turkey

Sending money to Turkey is simple and easy. Follow these steps to get started.

Find a Trusted Provider

Use our comparison table to find the best provider for your needs.

Sign Up and Deposit

Sign up with the provider and deposit the amount you want to transfer.

Transfer Money

As soon as you're ready, you can start sending money online.

Ways To Send And Receive Money In Turkey

There are multiple ways to easily send and receive money in Turkey Kenya but these will largely depend on the provider you decide to use. Below you will find everything you need to know about sending and receiving money.

Ways to Send Money to Turkey

Whether you are sending money to your family, relatives or business associates in Turkey, there are a couple of formal channels you can use. You can make bank-to-bank transfers, use online money transfer services or walk into a store and do cash transfers to the recipient.

Bank-to-Bank Transfers

You can transfer money from your local bank to the recipient bank in Turkey. This method is reliable when transferring large sums of money. However, for small amounts, transfer fees can be significantly high. The time banks take to deliver transfers is typically about 3 to 5 days.

For instance, if you transfer 1000 EUR from Germany to Turkey through Deutsche Bank, it can take anywhere from 3-5 business days. The cost of the transfer is approximately €41.55, combining both the exchange rate margin and transfer fees.

For faster bank-to-bank transfers look for banks in the host country that have branches in Turkey. If you are making a transfer through Deutsche Bank, you could link up with Deutsche Bank Istanbul.

If you are transferring money from France, you could use BNP Paribas as it has a branch in Turkey, BNP Paribas Turkey. This ensures that your transfers get to the recipient a little faster and in a more cost-effective way.

Online Money Transfers

Money transfer service providers such as Ria, TransferWise, WorldRemit, Xpress Money, Remitly, and Smallworld are some of the most popular operators on the various remittance corridors to Turkey. Compared to banks, these providers give you faster transfer times, simpler platforms to make your transfer, cost-effective in fees and exchange rate margins.

To make a transfer, you have to sign up for an account, give your information for verification and once approved, you can pay for your transfer. It takes a few minutes to do all this save for the one-time verification that could take a couple of hours depending on the provider.

When paying for your transfer, the provider you go for will determine whether you will use debit cards, credit cards, or bank transfers. Some providers like Xoom are flexible on payment options. As for the payout options, some providers have both cash pickups and direct-to-bank transfers while others only have one of the two.

The most important factors to look at when choosing money transfer service providers are the transfer fee, the exchange rate margin, and the speed of delivery. Some providers choose not to charge transfer fees, others do not charge exchange rate margins, while others charge both.

TransferWise is a good example of providers that don’t charge exchange rate margins. All transfers are processed at the mid-market rate. For instance, sending 1000 EUR to Turkey through TransferWise will cost you from 8.32 to 12.37 EUR depending on the transfer payment option you choose. WorldRemit charges you 17.99 EUR for a similar transfer.

In addition to cash pickups and bank deposits, some providers such as WorldRemit allow direct to mobile phone recharge. The airtime top-up is instant and the recipient receives an SMS notification. WorldRemit can recharge Vodafone and Turk Telekom prepaid mobile phones.

In-Store Cash Transfers

Cash transfer service providers like Western Union, MoneyGram, and Ria, use agents as access points in making transfers. You deposit money at an agent and they process the transfer on your behalf.

When sending money from the United Kingdom to Turkey, the maximum you can transfer through Western Union is 8,000 GBP. The receiver can get the money either in cash or as a deposit into their bank account. Direct-to-bank deposits take about 1 business day to be delivered.

The maximum amount you can transfer through MoneyGram from the United Kingdom to Turkey is 4068.00 GBP. All transfers are directed to cash pickup points and can be paid for via debit/credit card, Sofort or cash at location. Cash pickups are delivered in minutes.

What is Needed to Send Money to Turkey

Before you begin the process of transferring money to Turkey, there is some information you’ll need. Providers have varying requirements but the following is a generalised list of what is typically required.

A government-issued photo ID document. Depending on the country you are sending from, you can use a passport, social security card or driver’s license.
The recipient’s name as it appears on their legal documents
The recipient's physical address and phone number
If you are sending directly to a bank account, the recipient bank details (bank name, branch and the account number)
The amount of money you want to send, the transfer payment option and payout methods

The bulk of this information is only required when opening the account. Going forward only the recipient information will be asked for. In the case of repeat transfers, no extra information is needed, the systems can recall al the details of the previous transfer.

Common Reasons for Sending Money to Turkey

There are many reasons indicated by those sending money to Turkey. The reasons are as varied as the number of transactions processed at any one given period.

Family Support

An increasing number of Turkish diaspora send money home to support their families. This could be in the form of an income supplement or basic support for household expenses.

Purchase of Services and Goods

Businesses that hire Turkish contractors, employees or freelancers usually send money for wages, salaries and contractor payments. Also, some of the money sent to Turkey is for vendor payments for goods supplied.

Income Repatriation

Turks working abroad may from time to time send part of their earnings back home.

Property Purchase

Turks have the desire and intention to invest in real assets back home. One of the most preferred investment niches is the real estate sector and specifically buying of residential and commercial properties.

Savings

Turks who plan on coming home someday usually send money to savings instruments and vehicles back home.

Why Send Money with a Money Transfer Service?

Money transfer service providers introduced innovative ways of transferring money from one point to another across and within country borders. Some of the benefits and knock-on effects of these investments include:

Faster Transfers

It takes a maximum of 3 days for money transfer service providers to deliver funds to the recipient. If the sender pays for the transfer through credit/debit cards and chooses cash pickup as the payout option, the transfer is processed within minutes.

Low Transfer Fees

Compared to banks that may charge up to $40 for transfers to Turkey, money transfer providers may charge only 10% of the bank charges for the same transfer. Some providers such as TransferWise combine all transfer charges including payment methods fees into one price for ease of transactions.

Low Exchange Rate Margins

How much you will get when you exchange your host currency with the Turkish Lira depends on the exchange rate margin the provider charges. Banks charge margins of up to 5%, way higher than the 0.5-3% money transfer providers charge.

Ease of Signup

Opening a money transfer service account and the subsequent verification process takes less than two hours. Going forward, none of the verifications would be required meaning faster transfers.

Multi-Currency Support

With transfers coming into Turkey from countries as far as Serbia, Puerto Rico and Panama, the need for a provider that can support a host of currencies can not be overemphasised. Money transfer operators support funds transfers from over 200 countries in 60+ currencies.

Security

Cybercrime has become one of the highest risks in money transfer operations. To safeguard their customers, money transfer providers have put in place industry-grade security measures such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and two-factor authentication (2FA) systems.

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Things to Consider When Sending Money to Turkey

When transferring money to Turkey, the last thing you would want is an interruption to your transfer or missed opportunities. This could be from the provider or from the recipient end of the transaction. When sending money to Turkey, you need to consider the following factors:

Taxes On Personal Income - Turkish residents are taxed on their global income but non-residents are only taxed on the income earned from Turkey. Therefore, remittance from abroad doesn’t constitute income for the recipient hence not taxed.
Tax Amnesty for Repatriation of Foreign Assets - There is a minimal tax burden for Turkish residents who want to bring their foreign assets whether they are physical or financial assets. The tax amnesty is set at 1% of the value of the repatriated assets. Within 3 months of the declaration date, the assets must have been repatriated to enjoy the amnesty.
Foreign Exchange Performance - The Turkish Lira has been subject to stabilising measures by the government. In terms of its performance against other currencies, its record has been a little shaky. With international sanctions not far off the radar, it is important to consider its near term and projected long-term performance to help you time your remittances.

Getting the right channel when sending money to Turkey is extremely important. By all means possible you should opt for providers who guarantee lower transfer fees, favourable exchange rates, timely deliveries and the other factors discussed in the guide.

Your Questions Answered

What’s The Fastest Way To Transfer Money To Turkey?

The fastest way to send money online to Turkey is through the fast options provided by either Ria Money Transfer or Western Union. These two options should be comparable in price, too, with Ria Money Transfer’s fast option being slightly cheaper. Regardless, both of these services’ fast options will see to it that your money reaches its Turkish destination in a matter of minutes.

Choosing a faster money-sending service is recommended, but not necessary. Some of the best companies for money transfers offer great deals for sending funds to Turkey. Use our money transfer comparison services to find the right deal for you.

What’s The Cheapest Way To Send Funds To Turkey?

The cheapest way to send funds online to Turkey is through OFX. OFX offers the lowest rates on the market, so long as you can meet their requirements for minimum transaction size. With OFX, the more money you send, the more money you save. While they don’t charge any upfront stated fees for the transaction, OFX charges a tiny currency conversion fee. This fee is around 1% at their minimum transaction volume, but it can go down to about 0.4%.

If the minimum transfer volume enforced by OFX doesn’t work for you, TransferWise and TransferGo should charge only slightly more.

What’s The Easiest Way To Send Money To Turkey?

TransferWise is the easiest option for money transfers to Turkey. TransferWise makes it easy to send money to and from any country with their intuitive peer-to-peer system. All you need to do is tap in an amount of money and a destination. After that, all you must do is pay TransferWise for the transaction and wait one or two days for the money to reach its Turkish destination.

Current Exchange Rates For Turkey

The current exchange rate for the Turkish Lira (TRY) is 5.9391 TRY per American Dollar (USD) as of the time this was written. The TRY reached a high of 5.9768 TRY per USD and a low of 5.6981 TRY per USD. The average currency exchange rate was 5.8292 TRY per USD for the last 90 days.

The TRY had an average volatility rate of 0.94% over the last 90 days. This is a very high volatility rate which is indicative of the current economic situation inside Turkey. The TRY has been unstable for some time, and the last few months have been particularly brutal. You can reasonably expect wild fluctuations to continue for the short term, barring any unforeseen changes in circumstance.

What’s The Overall Best Way To Send Money Online To Turkey?

The overall best way to transfer funds to Turkey is through TransferWise. TransferWise offers the lowest costs after OFX, but without the minimal transfer fee. While you have to wait a little while with TransferWise, the 1-2 day waiting period is quite fast compared to most of the competition. When all three of the above factors are considered, TransferWise is the best choice for sending money online to Turkey.

Looking to Send Money Somewhere Else?

Sending money anywhere else in the world is as easy as sending money to Turkey. If you're looking to send money to another country, here is the list of the most popular destinations.