Alior was financed by an Italian, and staffed by all the talent who left during the merger of Bank BPH and Pekao SA (so mostly ex-BPH staff.) They offer astounding returns, but they're a VERY new bank so I have no idea about how long their dynamism will last.
I cannot urge enough to stay away from Pekao SA. But Millenium have been very good to me with their current account and mortgage products.
Merged:Bank Account without Polish residency and NIP
When I came to Poland 12 months ago I was led to believe that you could not open a bank account unless you were a resident and you had a NIP.
Have since learnt that is boll**ks.
I went to WBK last week and opened a PLN account and Euro account no problems without being a resident, the whole process took just 15 mins! Comes with full internet access and helpful English speaking staff.
Well chuffed, now I will only pay 3 PLN to make a withdrawal instead of 3 Euros!
Well chuffed, now I will only pay 3 PLN to make a withdrawal instead of 3 Euros!
Yep, you just need an address and a passport ;) I had mine in PLN and GPD, when GPD was good id just take out cash, go to huta, exchange it at better rates (cos it was outside tourist area), make a wee profit and stick it in the PLN account :)
6-7 year ago the differences between the kantors on the market square and in huta were huge. We used to make circle trips back and forth a day making around 300pln per trip. They caught on to the difference in the 2 locations quickly though, only lasted about a week :/
It's total nonsense. Some ill informed people might say such - but mBank for instance couldn't care less if you are legally resident or not - they just want you to declare that you're residing in Poland.
Makes a mockery of the UK's money laundering laws, really.
The fact you can open a bank account without being a perm. resident has little to do with anti money-laundering practices. But if you deposit at least Euro 15,000 in cash into such an account you can be sure your name and a transaction will be reported to a polish regulatory authorities. Now if you wire it from another account (from UK, PL, your debtor, etc. ), it's okay as this money can easily be tracked.
I thought it was a bit strange,its not as if im even trying to get credit with them,i simply need an account to pay money in and withdraw as required.I think I will try WBK tomorrow as Millenium dont have any branches close enough to where i am.
told me i needed a contract from work to prove that money will be going in
Most strange it took about 1/2hr of form filling and id checking to open my PKO account.I personally have never had any problems with them over the last 4 years.I transfered money from the UK with no problem and still do.But it is interesting to see most of the posts on here saying stay away.I guess you all had problems.
hello i ve also Millenium bank but i think that is not a good bank for work and for make same operation. Is very difficult find a people that speak in english and i live in the centre of Krakow,the people that work inside create a lot of troubble,and is necessary find all the operation like a supervisor (but the client dont work in the bank)bcs there is high possibility that the worker make same mystake.
If u ve any problem Good luck !!! I lived in Poland from 5 years ,start the hell !!!i work also with different bank of this,for my point of wiew this bank is the wars.
Do u want take same euro (for example also 100 euro)?Forget that take immediatly is necessary order 2 days before. The euro count have a cost (1 euro for month ) and if u want take yr money is necessary wait same days for few coins???? why is necessary pay this service ??? For what ??? If i pay same service i want have a good service!!! So in the end i think that depend for what do u want have a bank ??? For have only a count in Poland and use only the card bankomat and polish pln is ok if u want make same operation more and want sleep well without any problem ,is better have another bank.
For my experience the best service u can find in deutsch bank without any problem.
Hello u are lucky, bcs in millenium this is a normal situations! After 5 years if u want i can write a lot of episode like this also wars. the top arrive when the Bank worker tell u : U are in Poland and u must speak in polish and same another things,is not strange that this people lavat u bcs u are foreigner.
For me the best bank is deutsch bank,i opened account only from few years but never problem and mistake.
Merged: Opening Bank account in Poland remotely to receive money from PayPal
Hi!
I m looking for ways to open polish PayPal account to get money through PayPal. I've asked PayPal support about this issue and only one option is to have PayPal account and registered Bank account in country allowed for receiving money(Poland is ideal choice for me).
Will be much better for me to make all remotely. Perfect scenario will be to register bank account locally(for example in Bank of Cyprus, it has the same IBAN length with Poland, I've asked PayPal support about it, waiting for responce) or remotely(some Banks offer gift debit cards) and use virtual office/address with postage redirect as billing address.
Do you know any virtual offices in Poland that support postage redirect? May be you have better idea how to make this real, experience? Any suggestions?
UA account can spend money, but not receive. Support told that bank account must be from bank of the same country, so Bank of Cyprus is not an option. :(
2 convex Thanks for reply. You are right, Regulus is too expensive for my purposes.
2 delphiandomine Thanks, that 3-5 times cheaper! :)
What about Bank account? May be some Bank can open bank account with Debit card by mail? Something like Payoneer but in Poland. If you don't know, Payoneer can open bank account and send you debit card for free, they will charge this from first incoming money transfer.
You'll need some ID, passport...something with you're address, so you'll need the temporary residency thingy, I don't remember but you'll prob need your PESEL number too. Best to bring all the pieces of paper you've collected since moving to Poland.
That should be it. If you're going to set up a business acc you'll need your NIP number too
I've heard mBank is good but I went old skool and with PKO, mBank have f*ck all ATM's and they all charge you 5zl if you use an ATM that isn't the same bank as you're bank account. Also most banks charge you when putting money in your account. Don't know why, it's a bit weird, maybe its the norm on the continent.
PKO have always been good for me tho, anytime I've called them they've always had an English speaker on hand to speak to me when my Polish desends into goobledigook.
Just bring your ID and that's all. I go with Citi, perhaps expensive but reliable. Had used Millennium as well. mBank is recommended by many on account of them being cheap in term of fees (if any), but they are an internet bank.
Best to bring all the pieces of paper you've collected since moving to Poland.
I am non resident, I have address in Spain, I stay in Poland only 3 months per year (september - december).
I have no clue what PESEL is. I hope I don't need all these things, I remember opening a bank account in Austria only with my passport and that was all.
But then again, Poland is the mother of bureaucracy, so that's why I 'm asking you, which bank is foreigner-friendly?
More first hand info: No PESEL, no residency permit are needed for Millennium, not sure for other banks. Only passport is required. They will struggle but will set the account up. And the address can be any address of a friend you live with for example, or some other.
