How do foreigners working in Poland send money home?

I'm interested in hearing of anyone who exchanges zlotys into dollars, pounds, etc. and/or wires money home (or some other means). Western Union (or any other such outfit) operates in Poland , so sow much do you pay for the transaction fees? More specifically, if any one converts zlotys into Canadian dollars to wire the money home, how do you go about the whole process? Or would you wire zlotys and have someone in your home country do the conversion into dollars there? Or, finally, do you let Western Union take care of the whole conversion process? Does anyone feel cheated by the whole process?

I ask because I'll still be paying bills in Canada with the zlotys I'll earn in Poland, but I don't want to lose rivers of cash to unscrupulous money transfer services.

Sign up for XE Trade: xe.com/fx/login

You can transfer from one bank account to another. They don't support zloty over their web platform but they can do it over the phone for 1%, banks are 5-7. There are wire transfer fees ($20) though from/to European banks so it doesn't really pay off for small pidly amounts.

Thanks, zoogle--that's VERY helpful!

I've used XE for conversion rate quotes, but I had no idea they offered money transfer services. It's too bad that Poland is not a partner country for online transactions, but like you suggest, 1% is still much less than what the banks charge.

I transfer money back and forth from my polish bank to American. It takes anywhere from 5-7 days and the fees vary. There is a minimum fee and a maximum depending on how much you transfer. There are many world banks here as well. ie Citibank so that could make things easier as well. I hold both a zloty account and a dollar account at my bank which makes things a little easier as well. Check around your town and see what banks are available.

My bank works online in english. BONUS!

Cool, I'll do that. I looked online and haven't seen any world banks in Łomża, but I hope that at least one of the banks in a town of 60,000 should handle foreign transfers. If not, maybe I could have an account in Warsaw at Citibank.

I should say of course that I still haven't moved to Poland (still negotiating a contract).