Comments on: Foreigner Friendly Banks

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:00:42 +0000

You should be able to use all the major cards such as visa at any cash machines without any problem. These machines are everywhere – banks, petrol stations, shopping malls, airports etc..

I have done this using British debit cards. I would check what rate/fees your bank might charge you if you used a credit card though.

By: sora

sora — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:12:54 +0000

Hello, I hope you can help me with this. I am a student going to Poland for an exchange. I wish to bring a credit card( visa) with me to withdraw money there. How and where should I do that? Are foreign banking accounts accepting to withdraw cash? Thank you for your help! :)

By: Alistair

Alistair — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 12:04:17 +0000

I retired and moved to Poland in March. I looked long and hard at all the options to get my measly pension from the UK to Poland without losing too much in charges. I settled on Citibank as they offer instant free transfers from a UK Citibank to a Polish Citihandlowy. Ok I had to open a UK Citibank account first whilst I was still living and working in the UK. When I got to Poland it was easy to open a Citi account here – no PESEL required – they just wrote my passport number in the PESEL box on the form. It took about an hour to get the account opened but at the end of the hour I had a Zloty current account complete with a bank card, a zloty savings account (paying about 4% interest) and a sterling account. I pay 3 zloty a month for the card but no other charges. Online banking is in English. I got a whole banking manual in English when I opened the Polish account. I can transfer from the UK to Polish banks instantly using online banking and can either transfer sterling to a sterling account with no fees or transfer to my zloty account at a given exchange rate (which is shown before you make the transfer). The rate is usually only very slightly worse than what you would get at the Kantor. Citi have English phone banking so despite knowing very little Polish I have no trouble.

By: Piet Vlanders

Piet Vlanders — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:31:13 +0000

Hi, I strongly advice anyone who’s considering to go to Millenium Bank , not to do it. I opened a business account there and everything went smoothly in the beginning. Later all the problems started. I’m now in a situation where they refuse to accept my signature, so i can’t do any transaction anymnore in any outlet. Namely I found out that someone has linked a message to my name in their system to double-check my signature. So everytime i try to do a transaction, the employee sees the warning and gets confused with my signature, and refuses to do anything. I have emplyees knowing me for 3 years who suddenly refuse to deal with me. I can assure you it is a very surreal experience. Now my laywer has to send them a written order to close down my account because i can’t even to that anymore myself. I never found out what has caused them to do that, but I suspect it’s a few employees who did it and their motivation was racism. Don’t go to Millenium Bank.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:23:59 +0000

Having been here a while I can do these things in Polish now but nice for everyone to know. Thanks.

Yes the account takes a bit of configuring – the daily limit on cash withdrawals is 500 PLN and given that there are no physical branches to visit to withdraw larger sums that often isn’t enough. Again this can be changed on their website. You can also change the monthly withdrawal limit there too.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:15:47 +0000

Actually, just to update you…

They do have English speakers on the mLinia – but it often takes them a while to rustle one up. I’ve called at stupid times and still managed to get one, but the usual trick is to get someone to call in Polish first. They need to speak to the account holder to do certain things, so once they establish that you’re not just calling to annoy them, they’re good with getting an English speaker on the phone.

By the way, might be worth mentioning that mBank are thoroughly ridiculous in the sense that you have to tell them that you want to use the card for x amount of transactions via the phone/internet – the default is 0.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:17:26 +0000

Hi all,

Just found ya’ll and find the site already great.

About banks, I’m with Citi, yeah I know, maybe not the best
at this moment in time *lol*
But until now, everything has been fine. A few English speaking
people at the bank, friendly and willing to help and there online banking
is in English with also direct email support to English speaking people.
Also there Citi bank phone has English speaking people on it, so
until now, impressed……..

Regarding the Pesel, from what I know its deff needed, they’ll
be asking for it when you go to the doc’s and unfort. I know
that too well this year…..on a positive side, I can say the hospitals
are not too bad, at least the 2 I went too although it looked I was lucky
as the departments I was at had just been done new over…..

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:17:57 +0000

Hello<

just for interest, I now have an account with Nordea. The reason I chose it is because internet banking can be done completely in English.

Chris

By: paulo

paulo — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:17:42 +0000

I don’t have problems with Millenium Bank also.
Website, internet service in English, only Passport to open account… And in my home branch there were a couple of guys that could speak English… :)

By: fulopandi

fulopandi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:17:25 +0000

Hi,

I just found this blog and I find it useful as foreigner in Krakow.
I also recommend Millennium Bank, I have account there for a year and didn’t have any problems with them. In some branches they even speak English.