Post One: Opening a Polish Bank Account!

As I lie awake in bed recently with fear of how much the new bill-paying fees were going to affect our family budget, I really started to wonder – is there a better (read: cheaper) way to pay my Polish Zloty-based bills? Since I pay a hefty preschool bill, which theoretically would land me bill-payment fees of $60 per payment, I reasoned there had to be a cheaper way.

This is what I found: You (yes you) can open up a local bank account in Polish Zloty for as little as 19 PLN a month and use that bank account to make unlimited bank transfers and unlimited bill payments. So with a minimal amount of extra effort I can now pay all of my bills for a flat-rate fee of 19 PLN a month.

Here’s what I did: I took a native Polish speaking colleague along with me for a sanity check, but if you speak passable Polish, or are patient while the bank finds someone who speaks passable English, all you need is a passport and about a half an hour (or less) of your time to open an account; along with your spouse if you want them on the account as well. You’ll walk out with a bank account number and you’re on your way. Note: I used the bank closest to the Embassy, but I’m told if you make any effort in shopping around you can easily get a cheaper rate (especially if you’re willing to put a few zlotys in the account). I’m told Citibank has an excellent English website, but I think I’ll stick with the bank across the street.

Here’s what I’m doing now: I use this account to pay my phone bill and my bi-monthly preschool-bill. At present I’ve paid two bills by phone, which is so easy because the only Polish you need to know is when to press “7” to get an English-speaking bank representative. I also use this account as a way to dump my spare zloty change once a month (you know – all those grozy that pile up) and the bank seems happy to get it (at least to my face). Getting money into the account seems to be the only problem. To avoid the fees and hassles with transferring money from a USD bank account, I am changing my banking information with the VAT Helpdesk to have our quarterly VAT payments made here. I will use that money to pay subsequent bills – and of course, you can always make a PLN deposit whenever you need to. I’ve found it would actually be cheaper (and easier) to make a withdrawal from the ATM that’s sitting in their bank, and then deposit that into my Polish Bank Account – rather than try to transfer money across the Atlantic.

Just recently I received in the mail the documents necessary for paying bills over the internet. I made a phone call, spoke to a guy in English – and now I go to the English website to set up payees and make payments. It’s actually easier than the phone because you need no Polish at all for that part. It’s also worth noting that it appears easier to make a payment via the Polish website for me than using my USAA bank account to pay stateside bills.

Another advantage (this is my personal theory rather than hard facts) is that this can actually protect you from exchange rate losses as the dollar gets stronger against the zloty. Since my VAT deposit will be in Polish zloty and I pay my bills in Polish zloty – there is not an issue of having paid for something at 2.01 but being reimbursed for said item’s VAT at the new-found strength of 2.25 six months later. Now this would understandably have the opposite effect if the dollar really tanks - but then we’ve got bigger worries anyway.

So this is just my experience in getting and using a local bank account. For me, paying the phone bill takes far less time than going to the post office, which used to cost me 2.50 PLN and up to a half an hour of my time on my lunch-hour. Now I get the bill, make a five minute phone call and the deal is done. Next month I’ll try the internet.

Oh yeah – and included in that 19 PLN per month is a Polish Visa Check Card that I can use anywhere in town as a Visa debit card, or as an ATM card for that account. That will be great if I ever get to the point where I don’t have that massive preschool bill to pay anymore.

So will my experiences work for you? I’m not sure. It’s a cost vs. demand thing. When I was paying $6 a pop to make bank payments it wasn’t a big deal. Now that I find I can pay about $9 a month and make as many payments as I want – I’m much more motivated. Frankly – I don’t know why it took me so long to get a local bank account in the first place.