How tourists in Poland can enjoy cheaper holidays

In my previous post I described growing popularity in Poland of mobile payments and various initiatives, as IKO, challenging credit cards companies. The highest  credit card transaction costs in Europe made mobile payments a very attractive option for both consumers and retailers.

In September Polish Parliament passed the amendment to the Act on Payment Services and as result from 2014 the maximum interchange fee of 0.5% will be introduced on all Polish payment cards

While Poles are going to take advantage from much lower , closer to the EU standards, interchange fees the tourists need to be aware of quite common practices of offering Euro payments, instead of Zloty, while using credit/bank cards. The offered Euro payment option comes across as something you at least understand and can trust. However it can be very expensive. How expensive I tried to figure out myself while using Euronet ATM machine in Krakow on 19th October 2013.
While withdrawing  500 Polish Zloty I was offered Euro exchange rate option.  I neglected that option as I found the offered exchange rate too low.
A few minutes later, however, I did decide to use the offered  exchange rate, as you can see in the attached receipt,  1 Euro = 3.775 Zloty (PLN), to find out how bad the offered exchange rate was.
Not choosing the Euro option was very beneficial for me: my bank ABN AMRO applied an exchange rate 4.1397 zl for 1 Euro and I only paid  120,78 Euro (including 2.75 Euro transaction costs) for 500 Zloty instead  of the 132,4 Euro charged by Euronet.
According to ECB the official exchange rate that day was 1 Euro = 4.1808 Zloty. Using Euronet exchange rate you pay 10% more for Zloty than you should using the official exchange rate.

What at first glance came across as an advantage appeared to be a very expensive option.

I found the following  statement on the Euronet receipt very interesting:

"I have chosen not to use the Mastercard currency conversion process and agree that I will have no recourse agains Mastercard concerning the currency conversion or its disclosure" 

All in all you can enjoy your holidays in Poland for even 10% cheaper if you  do not accept payments in Euro and rely on your own bank currency exchange rate, use the country's biggest ATM network of PKO Bank Polski or find a trusted specialised currency exchange office (kantor)

Convenience of mobile payments in Poland

When you visit Poland you might be surprised with the number of mobile payments opportunities!
In my last post I wrote about the success of the IKO mobile payment app of the Polish Bank PKO BP.
There are however many more mobile payment opportunities...

While in Warsaw, I pay for the public transport using SkyCash. As a matter of fact you have a choice of three different mobile payments services: SkyCash, mPay, MoBILET. So far I haven't seen this many mobile payment services being advertised to pay for public transportion ticket as here in Warsaw.

This month Master Card Mobile has launched a special promotion offering public transportion tickets for 50% of the regular price! MasterCard Mobile is teaming up with several mobile payments services as SkyCash allowing you to also pay for parkings and cinema tickets. Unfortunately the current version of the MasterCard Mobile app only allows you to register with a Polish mobile number.

For over a year you can also buy Intercity  train tickets simply using your smartphone giving you the option to pay with your credit card but also using a variety of mobile payment services. The ticket you can download on your smartphone as the conductors can read it using similar scanners as we are used to at the airports.It saved me a lot of time during my frequent train travels from Warsaw to Krakow.

At the moment most of the mobile services requires you to have a  Polish mobile number, but as the volume of mobile payments  in Poland is growing dramatically I expect that mobile services will soon be available for international visitors.

App replaces bank debit cards in Poland

The Polish Bank PKO Bank Polski is the first one to introduce (in March, 2013) an app allowing mobile transactions, including ATM withdrawal, without a debit card. Two months after the app introduction over thirty thousands bank customers activated the app.

Last weekend, I for the first time withdrew Polish Zloty using the IKO app and issued my first IKO check to pay my friend for Katie Melua 'Cancer? It's curable' concert.
I cant wait trying more mobile transactions with IKO :)

On iTunes IKO got very high 4+ rating. This is how IKO app is advertised in Google store

“Make payments and withdraw money from ATMs with innovative PKO Bank Polski mobile application. Download IKO application now and see how easy is life without a wallet!

PKO Bank Polski application gives you access to fast and secure mobile payments. IKO allows you to pay with your phone in thousands of retail stores and make withdrawals in the Poland's largest ATM network. With IKO application you can also pay in online stores and send money to your friends giving only their cell phone number.”

Those concerned with security of such transactions I recommend a very good article in the Banking Technology Magazine “Wincor-Nixdorf predicts mobile cash withdrawal explosion” .

"There is an opportunity to make mobile banking even safer than internet banking is today" as stated in the article.

The mobile banking explosion is on the way....