# Hellenic Bank



## PaulStewart (Jun 23, 2013)

I am thinking of opening an account with Hellenic Bank. Can you provide me witgh any experiences as to how you have found it. They seem to have a lot of branches around Paphos area where I am.

Are they reliable etc.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Br,
Paul


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2013)

PaulStewart said:


> I am thinking of opening an account with Hellenic Bank. Can you provide me witgh any experiences as to how you have found it. They seem to have a lot of branches around Paphos area where I am.
> 
> Are they reliable etc.
> 
> ...


It is not so easy for the moment to open a bank account here. We tried Hellenic the other day but I gave up. They need so much papers and the fees are incredible. And you cant put in cash on the account.

I decided to use my German one until things change

Anders


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## PaulStewart (Jun 23, 2013)

A few questions I got from your reply:

What fees they requested
What papers they requested

And did I understand right that you cannot make a deposit in cash?

Whats the point in that?

Br,
Paul


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2013)

PaulStewart said:


> A few questions I got from your reply:
> 
> What fees they requested
> What papers they requested
> ...


For us it was fees for putting money on the account if they came from another bank and were over 500 euro, cost 10 euro. Sending money to other bank inside EU cost 10 euro. etc etc. Maintenance fees they could not say, it depended on the use of the account 

They need a document stating that you have no other account in a Cyprus bank. If so you must close that first. You must state why you need an account. This document is sent to Nicosia where a commission decide IF you get an account. This all comes from the bailout.

This with cash is probably a way they think they can stop money laundering. 

So we gave up


We also visited 2 other banks and it was about the same


Anders


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## H&S (Jun 12, 2013)

We managed to open an account at the Yeriskipou branch of the Hellenic, but it was about 6 weeks ago and it sounds like they may have made the process harder since then. 
All they needed from us was a copy of our rental agreement and passports. This is our first and only Cypriot account and money going in will be from the UK, which we told them. I think we opened the account with €100

Hilda


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

Since the Bail out/Bail in the government have placed restrictions on the banks, if the account is to receive money from abroad and it will be your only account then it should be fine. 

The issue will be proving this.

Last year we moved from Alpha to Hellenic because Alpha were making random charges, since we moved we haven't had any charges.


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## PaulStewart (Jun 23, 2013)

How is the online banking with Hellenic, is the site easy to use?


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## Stretford_Ender (Jun 12, 2012)

We use Hellenic online banking, and so far it's been straightforward and seems to work fine. However we've only used it to check money from the UK has been received and to check statements - we've not set up standing orders/ direct debits yet so we may have a different view down the line!

Ian


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## PaulStewart (Jun 23, 2013)

Ok, very good.


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

We opened an account with Alpha bank as they have an arrangement with our UK bank that means we can transfer funds in at a reasonable rate. I had checked this out with Hellenic and they had no such arrangement and any transfer would need to be made via a correspondence bank, this means significantly higher charges so its worth checking out if you intend transferring funds from abroad.

We also found it's impossible to pay cash into a Cypriot bank account just now, this is all due to the conditions of the bailout and preventing money laundering. I expect this rule will change in the future but it could be a long way off.

Another rather annoying thing, we applied for internet banking but were refused as "we could use it to transfer money out of the country" although this would not be the case, quite the opposite in fact - but it prevents us keeping tabs on things online. Again another bailout condition.
According to friends who set up internet banking prior to the bailout it's not affected and still works OK.

All banks here are in need of increasing their income so beware they charge for everything.

Whilst we found opening the account was easy you do need to provide various evidence and paperwork. We are very happy with the counter service we get as the staff are both friendly and helpful - even though some of the rules do seem a little strange and unduly bureaucratic.

Hope this helps, 
Richard


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## PaulStewart (Jun 23, 2013)

Thanks for the response Richard

When you say "evidence and paperwork", what should I prepare regards to these? So that things can run smootly when I arrive.

Br,
Paul


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

Paul,

I think this depends on an individual banks requirements but we provided, passport copies, property purchase contract (or rental agreement as appropriate), telephone number, postal address and utility bills. It was all very straightforward even though the application form was in Greek - the staff at the bank did all the filling in for us and it took just under 30 mins to complete the process.
We got our account details immediately and three working days later our pin numbers arrived by post.

Richard


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## Guest (Jun 26, 2013)

Rema said:


> Paul,
> 
> I think this depends on an individual banks requirements but we provided, passport copies, property purchase contract (or rental agreement as appropriate), telephone number, postal address and utility bills. It was all very straightforward even though the application form was in Greek - the staff at the bank did all the filling in for us and it took just under 30 mins to complete the process.
> We got our account details immediately and three working days later our pin numbers arrived by post.
> ...


When was this in time? The bailout has changed very much.

Anders


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## Rema (Aug 12, 2012)

Vegaanders said:


> When was this in time? The bailout has changed very much.
> 
> Anders


Two weeks ago

Rema


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## lucylocket (Oct 5, 2012)

We opened an account with Hellenic with no problems, took a week, we use currency fair to exchange money, costs 3 euros for each transaction, easy


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## H&S (Jun 12, 2013)

lucylocket said:


> We opened an account with Hellenic with no problems, took a week, we use currency fair to exchange money, costs 3 euros for each transaction, easy


We have been doing the same but Hellenic have been charging us €2 for some incoming transactions. Anyone else have this?


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2013)

H&S said:


> We have been doing the same but Hellenic have been charging us €2 for some incoming transactions. Anyone else have this?


Hellenic told us that incoming transactions under 500 € is free, over cost 10€ Alpha said 5 € for all incoming transactions

Anders


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

Yesterday I had an incoming transaction from Currency Fair to Hellenic with no charges at this end. Currency Fair made the usual 3 euro charge. It was over 500 euro.


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## terry&jane (Jan 14, 2009)

Have had an incoming transaction to Alpha Bank this week over 500 and no charges. Have never been charges by Alpha for any incoming monies.


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## Pam n Dave (Jun 11, 2007)

terry&jane said:


> Have had an incoming transaction to Alpha Bank this week over 500 and no charges. Have never been charges by Alpha for any incoming monies.


That's one of the reasons we left, the charges were random. On a sterling account they took £50 for two years running but nothing for the previous 5 years, when we queried it they just said that it was an account charge and started to give us the run around.

We had many payments into the euro account without charge then we got stung for 5 euro which increased to 20 euro which was the straw that broke the camels back.


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## buster12 (Oct 9, 2012)

We have been using Hellenic Bank since we got here and it has been fine, apart from bailout restrictions that have been imposed. All the staff at various branches ( including Yeroskipou) that we have visited have been very helpful.

Only downside is that they only have branches in the main towns, which is a pain now I am living in Pissouri!

Make sure you open the 'Savings' rather than a 'Current' account. charges are very much lower but you can still have a Bank card for ATM and use direct debit etc.

We transfer money from UK using Currency Fair - good rates and only €3 a transfer!

hope this helps.

Best wishes,

David


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## Guest (Jul 2, 2013)

buster12 said:


> We have been using Hellenic Bank since we got here and it has been fine, apart from bailout restrictions that have been imposed. All the staff at various branches ( including Yeroskipou) that we have visited have been very helpful.
> 
> Only downside is that they only have branches in the main towns, which is a pain now I am living in Pissouri!
> 
> ...



After all fuzz with the others we opened an account with Co-oP in Pissouri today. reasonable fees both for incoming and outgoing money, no maintenance fee and a good internet bank in English. And no problem to put cash on the account. 
I know that Co-oP have demands from the Trojka to close and merge 35% of the a local banks but the banking in Cyprus in generally shaky and for daily business use its very ok.

Anders


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