°µÍø½ûÇø

Wise

@Cayeux

Thanks.

Do you have any personal experience with this method?

If I where you I would send the money by western union, or moneygram so they can pick it up in cash. Too many people I know in Turkey after they got wire transfers either had their money held for weeks (or months) for no reason. Also banks simply deny they ever got the money even with evidence presented, etc.

But if you want to send it directly to a bank account in Turkey then you can do it through regular wire transfer with your bank, you can do wire transfer with wise. You can do direct to bank account with western union or moneygram.

But your bank may offer it for free depending on which bank you are using for the wire transfer.

Hello Thomas,

Welcome to °µÍø½ûÇø.com!

my wife's family who has been completely displaced and had their homes destroyed.

It's quite disheartening to see the images and the level of destruction caused in both Turkey and Syria.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the affected families.

Perhaps you can consider starting a GoFundMe page. It will be much easier to raise some money that way.

All the best,

Yoginee

°µÍø½ûÇø team

@Thomas Arm

Yes I have send money to Turkey via Wise a lot of time.

@Yoginee thank you.

I have considered gofundme but am having trouble registering. Perhaps because I'm in Turkey. I'm awaiting a reply from their support team.

Then there's the issue of getting the funds from gofundme to the proper account. I suppose I could just link my bank account to the gofundme and then do a Wise transfer from it to the Turkish bank in question. I think this might work! Fingers crossed that I can setup the gofundme.

@Randomguy2000 thank you for the info.

It's something to consider, them being able to get the money in cash. I wonder if moneygram/western union is even available to them at a time like this?

I use Ally, which does not support international transfers (unless they go through a mediary like Wise, I guess?)

@Randomguy2000 thank you for the info.
It's something to consider, them being able to get the money in cash. I wonder if moneygram/western union is even available to them at a time like this?
I use Ally, which does not support international transfers (unless they go through a mediary like Wise, I guess?)
-@Thomas Arm

You would need a full fledge international bank in the USA to do wire transfers like US bank, BOA, Chase, etc. Usually, they are the ones who offer the wire transfer for free directly through them. They allow you to also do wire transfers online without having to go into the bank in person. Otherwise you will need to use a 3rd party service like wise to do the wire transfer.

Yes. Western union/money gram is available all over Turkey, and its available to everyone as long as they still have operating ones in their area. They can also possibly go the next city over if their city is too badly damaged. But they are only open Monday-Friday in Turkey. Some bigger cities it may be open on Saturday.

This is all great info. I don't know about their ability to get to a western union or moneygram so I think I'd better wait until we can speak with them and find out. As far as I know, they're not even 30 minutes from the epicenter of the first quake.

I'll also check with Ally to be sure they are able to process Wise payments. I'm currently in Northern Turkey otherwise I'd look into opening an account with one of those larger banks you mentioned.

Thanks again.

@Thomas Arm I am sure you’re probably an honest person, but during disasters like this there are dishonest people, scammers who try to take advantage of a bad situation.  The best way to help ALL those affected by this tragedy is to donate to known organizations like the Red Cross/Crescent and other many organizations helping on a large scale.

You're right and I have donated and encouraged donations to broader relief efforts. The gofundme will primarily be for my family and friends from the states who want to help my wife's family specifically--in addition to other donations they've given.

@Thomas Arm Further in the chain you intend to support your relatives/friends, which is good. But I really do not see the technical issue, I transferred TRY and EUR to my bank accounts, IBAN is what you need (and all have).

If you have a bank account in Turkey and the people have a bank account as well, where is the issue?

@Thomas Arm You imply you live in Turkey throughout, why do you not have a bank account (or for that matter one of the trusted relatives).

Alternatives I think are at least suspicious to me. I would like to prove that I transferred if I would (not in your case though I have to say, far too sticky as I feel)

Why not through official channels.

Western Union and alike are not good. (apart from the commission taken)

@cdw057 I think you're based in UK? Or somewhere that uses IBAN. I was born and raised in USA and my friends and family who want to help are there too, naturally. USA banks, as far as I can tell, do not use IBAN numbers at all. My cousin, who is based in the US, has opened a gofundme on my behalf but we haven't fully completed the fundraiser info as she's not clear on the details yet. It's a developing situation--our affected family doesn't yet know what they will need in the future. They think their homes are at least mostly destroyed but they won't know until they're able to reach them and see. We have a few cousins coming to stay with us, so that makes me feel like we're doing something of value. I wonder if they feel lucky to be alive or where they are mentally. I'll find out soon enough. Thanks for all the help.

@cdw057 I think we're getting confused here somewhere. I don't know what unofficial channels you're talking about. If US bank accounts used the IBAN system, this would be quite easy because I could share mine and they could send money within minutes.

If I could edit the title of this post I would. It should be "Sending money from US to Turkish bank account"