Comments on: Rant about International Bank Charges

By: TomB

TomB — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:18:11 +0000

I use sepa for transfers from mbank to uk, cost is 5PLN.

For transfers for UK to PL, I would suggest looking into “Citibank Global Transfers”, apparently all you need is accounts in both countries (which don’t have to be in the same name) and you can send money between them for “free”. Free = no transaction fees, but the exchange rate is based on what citibank provide.

By: Aldona

Aldona — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:27:11 +0000

I have used paypal.com to send money from my US bank account to Polish one. They weren’t great sums, so the fees weren’t great. Not sure how it would work with larger amounts. Anyways it requires some setting up at the beginning, but later it works pretty quickly.

By: EuroPete

EuroPete — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:59:50 +0000

Hi Ben,
I am wondering if the SWIFT system has obviated the fees?

Also what is the GBP/PLN exchange rate you are getting? I cannot see the “BRE/mBank rate schedule so I don’t know if they charge a hidden fee inside the exchange.

Thanks,
Pete

By: Joost van der Voort

Joost van der Voort — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:12:50 +0000

Hi Ben,

Not sure if you still have these issues, but HSBC have a branch on the Rynek in Cracow these days, as a British bank they should be able to help you I’m sure.

Joost

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:19:09 +0000

Update – it seems the system has changed in the last few months.

The last time I used my broker my funds arrived via a different intermediary and they didn’t charge me anything for it.

Also it seems that my broker has started giving me the the option to specify a receiving bank for my transfer in the case that I have a preference.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:35:44 +0000

Make the payment in euro, even though your account in the UK is denominated in Sterling. You’ll generally attract far better exchange rates at the receiving end and lower fees.

Always make cross-border payments in euro within the EU, even though none of the countries involved are in the eurozone.

By: Guardian

Guardian — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:10:25 +0000

I never bother with all that nonsense. I use my UK online banking with RBS to transfer money from my main UK account to my UK debit card account then if I need money I just use the local ATM to draw a wedge of cash. I do this in Germany, Poland and Slovakia and although their is a charge, it’s fixed.

By: Gosia

Gosia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:10:15 +0000

Hi Ben,

What about all those bank accounts for Poles living in the UK who send money home? I heard NatWest has some scheme with Polish PKO and you can send money directly to your Polish account quite cheaply . Might be worth checking.

Regards,
Gosia

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:47:37 +0000

What about xe.com — I find they have the best exchange rates, and if you are able to deposit a bank draft without fee then the cost would be rock bottom.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:20:53 +0000

I’ve got it.

http://www.moneybookers.com should be your friend. As far as I can gather, it should be a pretty painless and very cheap way of transferring money – as far as I can see, current costs are about 10PLN plus 2% exchange costs – which is pretty reasonable if they’re offering a good exchange rate. At the moment from EUR (they’re not listing GBP for some reason) – they’re offering 4.48EUR to PLN – the xe.com rate is saying 4.51, so it’s a good deal.

As far as I can work out, on 1000GBP, you’ll get hit for around 35PLN using this method, which works out cheaper than the sending fee from the UK alone.

Hope this helps :)