Hi, and welcome back to my new column. Many of you may be familiar with the financial comparison sites on the internet that help us to find the best borrowing or saving rates at the touch of a button. Well, now an enterprising Bulgarian guy has launched a similar service for Turkish people whom, he states, are uneducated when it comes to comparing financial products.

The site currently compares the costs of car loans, mortgages and general loans from many of the major and minor banks. It promises to also add credit card and deposit accounts soon, the latter of which will be of real benefit to ex-pat savers who want to quickly find who is offering the best rates without having to traipse around town.

The website can be found at www.finzoom.com.tr and has an English language option - just click the Union Jack flag on the top right.

I ran a few comparisons to test out the site. It was interesting to see that a YTL mortgage in Turkey has an APR of around 25%! In the UK the APR of a typical loan is around 6%. Turkish car loans begin at 30%, but home refurbishment loans come in at a staggering 40% APR. At these rates no wonder ‘cash is king’ in Turkey.

I'll be checking the site regularily and will let you know when the deposit rates are published.

Bye for now.

JC