Best Digital Banks in Poland (main account is in the UK)

Hi

What are the best digital banks to use in Poland where the main account is UK based. Seems to be a wide range to choose from. Revolut seems to be grown fast in Poland compared to others.

Anyone have a similar setup, main account is GBP but processing payment in Zloty when in Poland.

Yes. M Bank is ok, as is Multibank who I've found to be particularly efficient.

You can use UK banks here in Poland though; the debit/credit cards work, as do the bank machines.

Thanks

Yes using UK bank is option but generally more expensive with higher commission and fees to pay when withdrawing money from a standard UK bank

depends wether you want to set up a real bank account or the 'digital' ones. if the latter suggest you go with transferwise. gives you a virtual polish bank a/c and a debit card. prob sign up with your u.k details as they are based there. For a real bank account depends on your needs but nest bank is the best for fee free.

the beuty of transferwise is that it will give you the spot rate for foreign currency conversation and not the sometimes dodgy bank rate.

You mean deposits in Poland and withdrawals in the UK? I do the opposite; providing the debit card is MasterCards rather than Visa the cot is minimal.


Their business model, especially their 'affiliate marketing' bonuses (almost a pyramid scheme) means they add charges. I prefer WorldFirst (which belongs to a UK bank) who give better rates and don't charge commission. Transfers are instantaneous.

yes transferwise add a .05 percent fee to the spot rate true, ill take your word for it that worldfirst does not do this but if its the spot rate how do they make money? the innovative element with transferwise is one gets a virtual bank account in 5 or so countries, (including poland) meaning that other people can send you money around the world , instead of using ripoff paypal or Western Union. . ie you have someone in the germany that wants to send you euros they just transfer it to your euro account and then you chuck into your polish transferwise acount then onto a real polish bank account or use the debit card. its complicated but brilliant. the founder was one of the original developers of skype so i reckon theyre cool

They don't.


That's much how it works there. I used to be paid a salary from Dubai into WorldFirst and transfer the money to a bank account elsewhere; all without any international transfer fee and at a very good rate.

Thanks, will look up both of those.

So I am getting paid by UK company to a UK bank account
But will be living in Poland and continue to get paid by UK company in GBP (for few months anyway)
So looking for best option to transfer from UK account to Polish one without losing to much on fees

My bank charges £9.50 for a transfer. I do it monthly (to M bank). Important to use big banks rather than small ones that have to use an intermediary (which normally puts the cost up to £30 plus). M Bank convert to PLN at a good rate, however to get the best rate, (onky a few quid difference in fact) you can use a money transfer service.

I do recommend the one I sometimes use and mentioned above (plus, unlike transferwise, it's Branson-free).

Thanks @jon357

Defiantly look into that.

so you are saying jon your bank charges you 9.50 to put your money from worldfirst account, sounds like a scam? because transferwise gives you a PLN account unlike worldfirst its an intra country transfer with a very small fee . to the OP i don't know about the u.k but in australia many bank accounts here have a no currency conversion fee and a no international atm fee. If you are only here for a few months it could be just as easy having a u.k account/card with those features and just using the mastercard currency rate (better than visa) to do the pln-pound conversions when you pay for stuff.

No. WordFirst is free; it has no transfer fees.

I pay £9.50 if I transfer from my UK bank account directly to my Polish one. This is the normal fee for a direct bank to bank transfer.

As mentioned earlier, you can get a better rate though by using a transfer service, and if you use the one I recommended, there are no fees at all.