Banks are eliminating ATMs on a massive scale, and this is hitting everyone’s pocket. Not only are they introducing withdrawal limits, but they are also charging operations an increasingly high cost for cash withdrawals. The need to pay a hefty commission is inevitable if you withdraw money from an ATM that does not belong to the card issuer’s bank – and it is not always easy to locate one in a foreign country. So you have to withdraw from an ATM that comes your way.
Poles do not want to give up cash. Cash is needed even as a reserve in case of war, flood or other unexpected events. For many, having cash is an attribute of a sense of freedom. Meanwhile, the authorities want a total ban on cash because they want to have all financial transactions under control – and cash circulation cannot be fully controlled.
The cash ban, which has not happened in Poland due to two amendments to the laws, will formally come into effect as a European Union directive. However, before that happens, withdrawing cash and paying with it becomes increasingly difficult from a practical point of view.
Opposition to national regulations was not enough
The inevitable end of cash was supposed to begin on January 1, 2024. Ultimately, because the deadline was postponed before the regulations adopted as part of the so-called Polish Deal had time to come into force. It did not happen because, after a wave of further pressure, the Law and Justice government annulled the regulations limiting cash transactions.
However, the issue of cash ban has returned due to EU legislation. On 24 April 2024, the European Parliament adopted a package of regulations, part of which is a total ban on cash payments for transactions exceeding EUR 10,000 and introducing supervision and control over transactions above EUR 3,000.
A novelty is the inclusion of private turnover limits. Until now, in Poland, cash transaction limits only applied to business transactions. People making private transactions – even buying a car for tens of thousands of zlotys or a flat for a million – if only the parties to the agreement wanted it, and until the regulations are formally changed, they still can, use a stack of paper banknotes. In private transactions, cash is still allowed without restrictions.
Once cash bans are in place, things will be different. Even buying a more expensive smartphonea television or a washing machine will be subject to control, especially if the consumer pays for the transaction with physical money and not, for example, by transfer, credit card, BLIK or using deferred payments.
ATM withdrawal limits: a prelude to a cash ban?
In principle, from a legal point of view, there is currently only one limit for cash payments in Poland – PLN 15,000 and it applies to entrepreneurs. The law on economic activity requires them to carry out transactions of higher value by transfer.
In practice, however, we will encounterother restrictions. The most common ones involve ATM withdrawals.
Until recently, the ATM withdrawal limit was set by the holder of the cash in the bank account and was done mainly for security reasons, so as not to give the possibility of withdrawing all the money from the account using it in the event of losing the payment card.
Typically, this is a daily limit, which in the era of digital banking can be freely modeled, changing remotely even within a few hours.
Now, however, they have introduced their own withdrawal limits. ATM owners. In most of such devices in Poland it is not possible to withdraw cash in amounts higher than 800 or 1,000 PLN.
If someone needs larger amounts of cash, they have to go to the bank, and there are increasingly frequent fees for withdrawing cash, even from one’s own account – sometimes reaching up to 5% of the amount withdrawn.
Cash transactions: although there is no formal ban, high fees do take their toll
Even some sellers they don’t want cash from the customer anymorewhich is contrary to the law, as the Office of Consumer Protection and Competition had to remind us recently when a certain fast food chain refused to pay a customer in cash, citing a problem with giving change.
The same applies to couriers delivering ordered food or a parcel with the option of payment on delivery – for safety reasons, they have a limited amount of cash to give change, so the recipient is expected to prepare the payment in the exact amount.
There are more and more difficulties in using cash on a daily basis. Although even entrepreneurs protest against the introduction of bans on paying with cash, in practice only those who want to hide at least part of their turnover from the tax office, e.g. food suppliers, want it. Theoretically, they should together with the delivery, issue the consumer with a receipt from the cash register, which was printed just before the shipment was released for delivery, but in many cases, if the recipient does not ask for it, the receipt can be used again without punching another sale at the cash register.
The End of Cash: What’s Replacing It
In transactions, especially small ones, successor or substitute for cash are transactions carried out using BLIK. These are formally non-cash transactions, but they are regulated as cash. Access to the money in the account needed for the transaction is obtained without the need to have a payment card – physical or virtual. All you need is a phone and an application in it. A specific amount can be transferred without entering a bank account number – the recipient’s phone number is enough.
BLIK is currently a much more popular and widespread way of paying for transactions than bank cards. Virtually everyone has a phone, and they use the BLIK application practically all, even micro-entrepreneursas well as in private transactions, the cash recipient who does not have the BLIK application can install it instantly.
All this means that, from a practical point of view, the cash ban does not have to complicate our lives much.
