Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations.

Merged: Bank account in PL for a foreign company?

Hi All,

Could you please advise, which bank can open an account for a foreign company?

Thanks and appreciate your help in advance!

Millennium are a good choice for personal accounts:
1) No PESEL required, just turn up at a branch with your passport
2) No extra charges on ATM withdrawal (360 account, has some condiditons to achieve this, but generally low hurdle)
3) English language webpages
4) Good telephone service (also in English)
5) Very good self-service facilities in the web pages (eg create multi-currency accounts without staff intervention at all)

I like them.

I have a multi-currency ($, €, Zł) bank account with mBank. Everything about mBank is very good, except that I'm required to have a PESEL number to be able to withdraw dollar over the cash counter. Are you aware if Millenium also requires a PESEL number for non-ATM cash withdrawals?

It's a good topic. I want to open usd account for our Office in Poland and have spent a lot of time with Zachodni wbk. I will try to open at Minelium Bank as recommended by some of your posts above.

I was able to get it done at mBank with just my passport. However, as mentioned above, withdrawing cash across the cash counter seems unlikely without PESEL. Extremely happy with mBank's online banking.

Regarding the "withdraw money from the cash counter", I would be very surprised if that requires a PESEL number.
If you are able to open an account without PESEL, have your salary paid into the account, use the Debit card to pay for goods in stores and withdraw money from ATMs, there is absolutely no reason why you would need a PESEL number t owithdraw cash from that account via the cash counter. After all, to pay money into the account via cash counter, they wouldn't ask for a PESEL either.

It is not part of the Polish banking regulations to require a PESEL number to open a current account with a debit card. If you want to add a credit card however after let's say three month, you would need your PESEL.

I found it very easy to open accounts in Poland. Three years ago I opened one with Nordea with just my passport (EU citizen). In February I changed banks and opened one with Getin Bank with passport and employment contract.

I then realized that i actually need a credit card (for car rental purposes) so I applied for one at Bank Millenium. I chose Bank Millenium because their website is in English and the application process (online application, phone verification etc.) can be done in English too. All i needed was my PESEL, employment contract and three months bank statement from my (at the time) current bank.

Overall, opening a bank account in Poland as a EU citizen is a piece of cake. The only issue you may sometimes face is some older bank clerk who has missed the fact that banking in Poland has become a competitive business and is making it as difficult as they possibly can. If you face that issue, walk straight out and into the next bank across the road.

By the way, Bank Millenium offers free banking and free withdrawels in Poland and abroad as long as you pay at least 1000 zloty into your account every month. Their staff speaks English, their online banking is in English and their online banking has won several awards.

It doesn't.

Well mBank want me to have a PESEL number to pull dollars across the cash counter. I haven't tried this for Złotychs because the ATM does just fine.


JollyRomek, be surprised then. Perhaps PESEL is only required to withdraw foreign currency. I can't pull dollars from the ATM. The reason I like to get dollars over the counter is that I can get a better exchange rates (@ 1%) at a "kontor" (currency exchange) outside the bank.

You're right, it's not part of Polish banking regulations to be able to open an account with a PESEL as I was able to open one. I can confirm with absolute certainty from my very recent experience that withdrawal of USDs is not possible over the counter without a PESEL number. I guess the reason for this is that banking regulations and currency regulations need not be one and the same.

Unless someone can confirm (not just speculate or merely cite logic as the source) that Millenium does not need a PESEL to hand their customers foreign currency over the counter, it is fair to assume that Polish currency regulations requires one to have a PESEL number to withdraw foreign currency physically in a bank.

Additional Info: I'm not a EU citizen or a temporary resident (at least for the next 2 days ;-) ).

forget M-bank, i tried to open an account there, but they said they required a Polish residency card!

ING is the best for foreigners.

@Superzul.........in your original post you forgot to mention that when you said "withdrawing cash over the counter without PESEL seems impossible", you meant US Dollars, not Polish Zloty. You were talking about cash which, given that we are talking about Polish banks in Poland, I assumed you meant zloty.

I have absolutely no idea how it works regarding any foreign currency, but withdrawing Polish zloty from the cash counter most certainly does not require a PESEL.

Need to be a bit more precise next time to avoid confusion :) :)[/quote]

Exactly


This is true.
For the record, I've never had any problem withdrawing GBP, USD or Euro in Poland.

I second forgetting mBank, who refused to open an account without a national identity card, or residency permit, even though I had:
-Canadian passport
-Polish Passport and PESEL number
- Apartment lease/contract (to prove address)
-Polish birth certificate

Went to ING had an account open in 5 minutes with just a passport.

Merged: in need of a bank recommendation

Hi there.
I am a Polish citizen and I have a Polish passport. I have never been to Poland and I don't know any Polish.
I want to go to Poland and make some Polish roots...
Can anyone recommend a local bank? Must have English internet banking, I guess bank personnel will know English.
Must be big enough and off course government regulated.

Also if anyone knows a local lawyer who is suitable for handling little matters for someone like myself.

Thank you
Ofer

Bank Millennium has very good internet banking available in Polish and English. I would recommend them.


You'd think so but this is not a given in Poland.

Try Nordea.


Very much so, especially outside cities.


They are all government regulated


Commercial or domestic?

Merged: How can a foreigner open a business account in Poland without having an Polish address?

Please how could a British open a business account in Poland without having an address in poland ??? I have a business which i want to extend to Poland so would require in opening an account . Thank you

In most banks you shouldn't have problem with that, just go there personally with your ID card. Some people suggest to avoid MBank, they are more strict in regard to residency, I can recommend BZWBK and ING.

Hi
i will come to Poland for work and i will need to open a bank account.What do you recommend me and I will also need to do international money transfer.

If you are coming to work in Poland, you will have to live somewhere. As long as you can prove that you live at an address (tenancy agreement) then the bank will use that address. Go to a bank and ask what they need before you open an account - each bank may have different rules.

is it possible to make international money transfer from Poland bank to an African bank

Hey Guys,
I need to make an bank account for my company in Nepal. I have residence permit of EU. Which bank is best as I am estimate kind of big transaction as I am using this account for internet shop.

Could you suggest me the cheaper bank with English internet banking facility and Master card or visa card.

Do you have a residence permit issued by the European Union which enables you to reside in any of the EU countries?

@Himal Sharma : there is not such thing as a UE residence permit. There are 28 countries and 28 residence permits in the UE.

Hello Guys,

Somebody please help me out,Which bank is good for(ATM.TRANSFER MONEY AND SERVICES) in lodz for the foreign students.I prefer from MILLENIUM,CITI,DEUTSCHE,PEKAO SA,ING etc.And also let me know if they have student account for free of charge(including monthly charge).

Bank Millennium was easy. Yes you need address because they will send you your bank card in the mail.

Friendly new staff member who spoke perfect English helped me open it. Mentioned how when he was in England the people there were very nice and helped him get settled... he hoped I would have the same experience here.

Merged: Account Open

I'm from India and I'm looking to open a bank account in poland however I never visit to poland. Can anyone help?

Hello guys,

I need a small advice.

I will open a bank account today in Poland.

What is the amount of money that i can transfer from my overseas account (i am not an EU citizen) to this new account without get trouble with Polish taxes?

In general, when i send money to Poland, what kind of tax trouble i should be concerned?

None. You have tax liability on your income in Poland, pay your taxes. You should also note that Poland strongly supports the EU anti money laundering directive, so you'd better to able to prove where your money came from and that all taxes have been paid on it.


If you pay your taxes in Poland, you won't have any trouble with taxes in Poland. If you don't pay your taxes in Poland, you deserve all the trouble you will get

edited

Yes, this i can do.

More advice about taxes would be welcome :)

There's no limit. In order to avoid troubles when transferring large sums (> 10,000 EUR), go to your bank, let them know that you're going to transfer money and show them a bank statement from your overseas bank. That should be enough

Bank transfers are not subject to taxes, but to banking fees (fee for transferring the money from both banks, and possibly exchange fee).