Bluesview
12/11/2012 11:03 EST
Hi,
I'm trying to find out the best way to transfer money from U.S. to Poland. I'm currently in the U.S. (U.S. citizen), but moving to Poland with my new wife shortly and I will be transferring money in amounts ranging from a couple of thousand USD on a monthly basis and a large transfer from the proceeds of selling a home.
We have a 'dollar' account set up in Poland, so no currency conversion will be needed. I did a trial transfer of $50 USD directly from my U.S. bank to the Polish 'dollar' account and was charged a flat fee of $35 from my U.S.bank plus a 7% fee from my Polish bank.
So, as you can see my online bank to bank transfer doesn't seem do be the best way. What are my choices?
Thanks in advance,
Terry
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snup
12/11/2012 11:55 EST
Hi,
That 7% was harsh, what bank was it? I use raiffeisen and they have no such charge. I only pay the $45 chase fee for internstional wire. I would make sure that I pick a bank on the U.S. side with a low wire fee and that you can submit wire transfers online. Then once in Poland find a bank that has no incoming wire fees. Ohh, that account in Poland will have to be a dollar account, not zloty. Look into Capital One checking account. I was told they dont have intl ATM fees, meaning you can withdrawl money with a good exchange rate without the the fees.
Matt
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Swissharley
12/11/2012 15:42 EST
Hi Terry
I use ING Bank here in Poland, no acct. handling fees, no charges for ATM withdrawals etc. Homepage in English and transfers free within Europe. Never tried transfers from the US to PL. Check them out, I found them the best Bank so far. Maybe through their US Branch they make free of charge transfers. Good luck for you and if you are in the Bielsko-Biala Area let me know. rgds Uwe
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amcitpol
1/27/2013 19:11 EST
No transfers
just use ATM and card for purchases
the best way- have someone in us send it via us money express
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Fable
1/28/2013 16:29 EST
I use jp morgan, verry friendly, and I use a wire transfer it costs $8 per xfer, Id set an account with either JP Morgan chase or Citi Bank, (with citi you can use your atm as a pubilc transport pass) Id also set these accounts up before you move, as the banks can/will give more or better info. the banks can also give you an account with zl and a dollar account. They should and do offer exchanges, but the counters around usually have a better deal but you may not want to walk around with a few thousand dollars/zloty. good luck. btw im in warsaw 2.5 yrs now if youd like to talk more pm me and we can xchange emails
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ZZzzZZhanna
8/5/2015 22:21 EST
Hi!
I think this link may help:
http://blog.timedoctor.com/2015/05/12/how-to-send-money-to-poland-with-minimum-fees
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lkiljanek
8/14/2015 18:25 EST
The cheapest way I have found was to use ATM on card with no foreign transaction fee. Also make sure to select at the ATM option to not exchange currency in ATM (let your bank do the currency exchange)..
Best
Luke
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Fable
8/15/2015 03:15 EST
yes its true using an atm is cheap, but you get a crap exchange rate, so I think in the end you loose money, if you transfer more than 500 dollars its best to pay the 45 dollars at the bank to do an international wire, Riefheisen doesnt charge a fee or tax on wires but their excange is also about 10 grolcz cheaper than a kantor, atms are WAY worse, imo, pay the stateside bank the fee to send the wire, and set up a foreign currency account here in Poland, send your dollars there, change them at your bank, safer and youll not run the risk of overdraft fees, crap exchanges from atms or having to carry tons of cash around.
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lkiljanek
8/15/2015 03:44 EST
Absolutely not. I tried myself before using skrill, wires, to my polish dollar account, then moving it to online currency exchange etc and was still at the end same as I used atm. Just make sure you don't use atm exchange rates but ask it to use checking Visa card issuing bank exchange rates. It totals around 2% off the value.
If you transferred maybe couple thousands than yeah. The wire or skrill and online currency exchange can be worth it.
But for less then 3000-4000 $ at once it comes down to same or more expensive to use wires etc.
Make a good solid calculation. Do a about a hundred withdrawal and see how much is really pulled out from the account - you will know immediately how much does it cost.
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snup
8/15/2015 07:34 EST
Hello,
Just thought I could put in my 5 cents into this coversation. Every situation is different. What I do and if I need to I send a few thousand dollars from US account into my USD account in Poland. That way I dont have the bank convert the money but I can do it when I choose to. I dont go to any shop or any bank for the exchange. I use Alior Bank Kantor and they have very small margins and good rates. Plus it does not cost me a penny for the transaction. What I also do is use a US credit card yhat does not charge flat fees for use abroad. Capital One is one example. However you must choose to pay in PLN if asked at the register if you want to pay in USD or PLN. If you choose USD then the store merchant service will do the conversion and you will not get a good exchange rate. If you choose PLN then the CC company will conver the money and the rate will be mich better. I have been in PL for 3 years and believe me, i went through many options trying to beat the system. One thing I have not tried yet is transferwise.
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snup
8/15/2015 07:46 EST
Terry,
Sorry I failed to addeess your main question. The bank that charged you 7% is shady. I guarantee that you will find a bank that does not charge you an incoming wire fee assuming that all fees are paid by sender. In example Chase charges 45usd. I would shop around for a good bank in PL when you arrive? ING is good, Alior which I use is also good.
Good luck.
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Bluesview
9/24/2015 08:54 EST
Thanks for the replies. After being here in Poland for over 2 years I now know what to expect when transferring money. I was limited to $25000.00 USD per day. And now that I transfer lower amounts monthly I get charged $40 per transfer from Chase Bank in the US and I believe there is no incoming charge from my Polish back (PKO), I am transferring USD to a USD account here so there is no currency conversion involved.
I want to also add that in the very beginning I had a hard time getting PKO to allow me to have a joint account. They said I would have to be a citizen first. Well that simple was NOT true. You only have to be a resident and I finally got the joint account with ny Polish citizen wife. It took some months for it to happen. The local bank (Pulawy) didn't really know how to handle it or the rules. WE contacted the PKO office in Warsaw and within a month or so the bank (who now knew us) called us over while we were there on other business and said they could set up the joint account and all has been settled. This was after repeated refusals even with the manager of the local bank. It just didn't make sense that they wouldn't 'allow' me to keep my money in their bank with my Polish citizen wife and me being a resident.
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