Tourists in Poland lose money accepting payments in Euro

Since my last post about "unfair" exchange rates offered by the Euronet ATMs,  most of the payment terminals in Poland introduced the possibility of payments in Euro as an alternative to payments in local currency Polish Zloty. The Polcard terminals are labeled with encouraging slogans such as;

“Card payment in your currency ! OK ?"

"Kartenzahlung in Euro ! OK ?"

I have also seen DCC logo standing for Dynamic Currency Conversion,  informing tourists about the possibility of payments in their own currency. It’ s all about the convenience of payments in the currency you are used to in your own country. Unfortunately this convenience, based on my analysis, can be very expensive. 

In general accepting offered exchange rates by the payment terminals or ATMs means losing money. I decided to do a little analysis and collected all my payment transactions from the 26th of December using different payment cards and ATM’s. My analysis still shows that the worst exchange rate is offered by Euronet.

On 26th of December the official bank exchange rate reported by the European Central Bank was;

1 EUR = 4,3078 PLN or 1 PLN = 0,2321 EURO

On that day I was offered by Euronet 3,9123 Polish Zloty for one Euro, exactly 9,5% less than the official exchange rate.

On the same day Bank PKO offered 4,168803 Polish Zloty for one Euro which was 3,24% less than the official exchange rate and 6,5% more than the Euro exchange rate offered by Euronet.

I made two transactions using the payment terminals. While paying 108 Zloty for delicious hot chocolate and deserts at Wedel I was offered 4,1698 Zloty for one Euro (0,2397902 Euro for one zloty)

This was not bad as it was very close to the exchange rate offered by the PKO BP. The other terminal did not offer any Euro payment options and  my own bank (ABN-AMRO)  applied the following Euro exchange rate: 4,2895 Zloty for one Euro ( 0,2331 Euro for 1 Zloty). This was 3% more than the Euro exchange rate offered by the payment terminal.

As a tourist in Poland you should absolutely avoid the Euronet ATM.  The question is how much you can actually lose withdrawing 2000 Polish Zloty at Euronet ATM in comparison with PKO BP ATM?

See below!

For 2000 Polish Zloty you would pay 31,49 EURO more using the Euronet exchange rate when compared to the PKO BP ATM and 40 Euro more than at the exchange office "kantor" at Hotel Metropol in Warsaw. 

The best option is to pay using your own bank card, as my ABN-AMRO Bank offered by far the best Euro exchange rates. Reject Euro payment options offered by payment terminals and trust your own bank exchange rates.

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....