Paphos People

We have transferred all our pensions to be paid into the Bank of Cyprus on a monthly basis to avoid having to mess around with transferring money from the UK. I asked at my branch today if it would be possible to have a credit card issued to enable flights to be booked over the internet etc and was informed that since I was a foreigner I was not allowed a B.O.C. credit card. Has anyone else come across this and if so how did you get around it ?
We still have a UK bank account with a credit card but I didn't want to use it and then have to keep topping it up from our savings accounts - just trying to simplify things really.

I have an Alpha bank Debit card which I use in Cyprus.

I've booked Easyjet flights with it when I was unsure as to how long I was going to stay.

I have never used a Credit card in my life.
If I haven't got the money I don't get it.

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Age improves with good wine

It's not a case of not having the dosh more of the method of paying for a flight etc since my B.o.C. Visa Direct card I use at the ATM etc can only be used in Cyprus and I don't think that will allow me to use it on the EasyJet web site although I haven't tried - just what I am told by the bank.

Yes..... when we first asked for a credit card after being a customer with Laiki bank for 3 years and my salary being paid in on a monthly basis, we were informed we could have one but with a limit of only Cy£200 and which would be blocked from our bank account.

The reason for the low limit and the block (which totally defeated the reason to have a credit card) was because we were "not residents". We queried this 3 times but kept hearing this same phrase even though we were full time residents with a pink slip and alien cards to prove it so eventually said "do you mean we are not Cypriot?" and finally received the answer which we knew all along "yes"....

We told the poor girl relaying this information that was not the case, we were EU citizens and were supposed to be treated the same as any other full time resident, Cypriot or not. Off she went to the Managers' office and eventually came back and filled in the forms. We got the card, albeit on the low limit but with no block on our funds.

Since then, the card has been renewed each time it expired and the limit has increased also to an acceptable level.

Don't just accept what you are told first off. Don't get angry or lose your temper, just ask the questions and keep them very simple so they can only answer yes or no to the most pertinent ones!

One other thing to note, when using your Cyprus credit card we've found we try to always make sure the price we pay is in EUR currency rather than GBP or any other.... the reason being is that since the banking crisis last year, our cc transactions (if not in EUR) are charged initially in USD before being converted back to the currency of the transaction which means two lots of exchange rates being applied and therefore costing more than the "approx" authorised amount we agreed to.

So now if we only have a choice of paying in GBP by credit card, we use our UK credit card.... but we try to keep this one purely for emergencies and only spend small amounts on it to keep it active and to maintain a credit history in UK.

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Regards
Shell

Thanks Shell for your constructive reply. I have emailed BoC to enquire with head office direct and I await their reply.
Geoff

You're welcome Geoff... the only thing though is I would not hold your breath on getting a positive reply by email. If you can, I think you may have a better result if you go and park yourself in someone's office in person.

It's much more difficult to wriggle out of a situation when the person is sitting right in front you

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Regards
Shell