Essential information for opening first personal BANK account in Poland

LuisLovesPoland

Sep 6, 11, 15:56 #1

Essential information for opening first personal BANK account in Poland - Your opinions?

Hi

I will appreciate very much if you can recommend where I can read more about
banks in Poland.

I would like to open a bank account, I am EU citizen (Spain),
without polish citizenship.

What will be the requirements for opening a bank account in PL?

What are the most trusted banks, with the lowest fees,
and the least bureaucracy?

What are your experiences, from which banks I should stay away
(besides the obvious - greek banks like Eurobank)

Thank you very much

Waiting for your experiences and opinions

Luis

♂

Sep 6, 11, 16:09 #2

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.

bullfrogThreads: 4 Posts: 390 Joined: Apr 23, 09 ♂	Sep 6, 11, 16:10 #3
Eurobank, the Greek bank, is no longer in Poland. Eurobank in Poland is not owned by them but by Socgen (French bank) Greek Eurobank used to own Polbank but they sold it earlier this year to Raiffesen

Zman	Sep 6, 11, 16:11 #4
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.

teflcatThreads: 6 Posts: 1,071 Joined: May 29, 11 ♂	Sep 6, 11, 16:14 #5
A PKO Polska gold account saves a lot of queueing, and you get preferential rates on loans. They've always been ok for me. Cashpoints everywhere, too.

LuisLovesPoland

Sep 6, 11, 16:19 #6

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.

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?

Is there a top somewhere, or some resources?

Thank you very much

Zman	Sep 6, 11, 16:20 #7
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.

LuisLovesPoland	Sep 6, 11, 16:26 #8
1.it is requires for them to send bank statement each month, even if there is no activity? 2.where is a resource where I can see what interest rates they offer on deposits? Thanks

♂

Sep 6, 11, 16:30 #9

I went to Alior and had no problem. I went with my passports and Zameldowanie (the 3 month one) the guy spoke broken English but was very pleasant. I even opened it using my folks address in Australia, as he wanted a permanent address not the temporary Polish one. The only other thing i needed was a mobile number to get a code whenever doing online payment. They have an account that has no fees and can withdraw from any ATM for free if you have more than 10,000PLN in the account or if i think you deposit more than 2000PLN a month. Hope that helps.

LuisLovesPoland

Sep 6, 11, 18:15 #10

Thank you MIPK.

Any more experiences with polish banks please?

I found this list:

-Alior Bank
-BGŻ
-BOŚ Bank
-BPH
-BZ WBK
-Deutsche Bank
-Eurobank
-ING Bank Śląski
-Inteligo
-Lukas Bank
-mBank
-Meritum Bank
-Millennium
-Multibank
-Pekao SA
-PKO BP
-Polbank EFG
-Volkswagen Bank

Which ones have websites/onlinebanking in english and good interest rates on deposits,
and no fees when depositing money / withdrawing money?

Thank you

LuisLovesPoland

Sep 6, 11, 18:20 #11

Also, I forgot:

Bank Handlowy
BPH
Citi
Invest Bank
Kredit Bank
Nordea Bank
Noble Bank
Raiffeisen
WBK

I found this:

SPEED OF INTERNAL TRANSFERS:

In the case of transfers between accounts within one bank. In more than half of the surveyed banks' customers can count on immediate implementation of internal transfers ordered even on Saturday and Sunday. This applies to banks such as PKO BP, Pekao SA, ING Bank, BZ WBK, Alior Bank Inteligo MultiBank, Commercial Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, Eurobank, Polbank, mBank, Toyota Bank and Volksvagen Bank.

In other cases, the money transferred between accounts within one bank have to wait until Monday.
With this situation, we can meet the following banks: BPH, Millennium, Kredyt Bank, Invest Bank, Lukas Bank, Deutsche Bank BGZ, Getin Bank, Postal Bank, Nordea Bank and Fortis Bank.

♂

Sep 21, 11, 08:30 #12

If you are not a Polish citizen and do not have a PESEL (national identification number, which is an 11 digit number used to identify citizens, permanent residents and anyone with a residence permit over 2 months) then the only bank that will allow you to open an account in Poland (if your address is outside of Poland) is Raiffeisen. However, you cannot hold this account jointly with a resident.

Millennium bank will agree to open an account for you but you have to give them an address in Poland.

ING Bank will tell you that you can open an account with them, and then a few days after accepting your documents they will call you and ask you to come to the bank to sign a declaration form, and then another two days after that they will call you and tell you they are sorry but they cannot open an account for you and they cannot give you a reason why.

First hand experience!

StuThreads: 27 Posts: 1,109 Joined: Mar 31, 10 ♂	Sep 21, 11, 12:05 #13
Polsyr: ING Bank will tell you ... they are sorry but they cannot open an account for you and they cannot give you a reason why. First hand experience! I have a different experience. Came here 1st of June, and had 2 bank accounts with ING less then two weeks later. No PESEL-number required, only a passport (and a job contract).

pipThreads: 11 Posts: 1,293 Joined: Jul 4, 11 ♀	Sep 21, 11, 13:07 #14
i bank with millenium. I have had no problems opening an account. I am referenced with my last address in Quebec- but all my documents get sent to my house in Poland. You need to give all your documents to them and sign so many pages but I didn't need a nip.

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