Losing money unknowingly: what mistakes Ukrainians make in Poland

Millions of Ukrainians were forced to leave their native country and took only the most basic things with them, but if you do not know how to properly handle money outside of Ukraine, you can lose a lot.

The editorial staff of Segodnya offers to find out what common mistakes Ukrainians make with money and how to avoid them.

The most “disservice” that Ukrainians do for themselves is traveling abroad with cash hryvnia. In most countries, the hryvnia is not a freely convertible currency, although Poland introduced the possibility of exchanging hryvnia for zlotys. You can do this at some bank branches.

But more profitable use bank cards, even Ukrainian, if they belong to the international payment systems Visa or Mastercard. They can pay for purchases, accommodation and other things.

It is important to pay attention for daily and monthly limits bank cards abroad. Each institution sets its own limits. For example, in PrivatBank it is UAH 100,000 (or equivalent) per month from a hryvnia account and UAH 100,000 (or equivalent) per day from a foreign currency account.

Another problem that Ukrainians do not always consider is transaction fees with money. For the exchange and withdrawal of cash, even at ATMs, interest can be charged. The NBU has agreed on connivance at Euronet ATMs – for the duration of the war, you can withdraw money there without commissions. They are common in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.

If there is no time to look for the appropriate ATM, you can always use dynamic currency conversion. This option is supported by Visa or Mastercard, so you can withdraw money in PLN without additional charge.

Financial mistakes of Ukrainians

Earlier, the representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Ukraine, Anton Usov, told Segodnya about the main financial mistakes of Ukrainians during the war.

This expert includes ignoring the requirements of the National Bank for currency, attempts to export abroad more than 10 thousand euros. The mistake is the preference for cash in everyday life – now it is more profitable to use online payments and bank cards.

Often people fall for fraudulent schemes because they trust unverified information, so you should pay more attention to information hygiene.

Find out also what are the current professions in Ukraine, where they take them without a resume and what salaries are there. At the same time, after two months of the war, more than 3 billion euros were withdrawn from the country.