This page explains how a bank or a transfer service gets into our tables, where every number comes from and what we do when something changes. If a page on this site does not follow these rules, please tell us at [email protected].
1. Sources we use
We take terms only from official sources: the provider’s fee and commission table, its account terms, its price list and the help pages it publishes about opening an account. In Poland this is usually called the tabela opłat i prowizji, in Germany the Preis- und Leistungsverzeichnis and in Czechia the sazebník. For questions about documents and residence status we use government websites. We do not use forums, reviews or other comparison sites as sources of facts.
2. What a row contains
- the type of provider (local bank, online bank, e-money institution or transfer service);
- the documents the provider says it needs, where alternatives are allowed shown as “or”;
- the monthly account fee, or “not published” when the provider does not state one;
- the kind of card available (debit or virtual) and the countries a transfer service sends money to;
- a link to the fee page, the date we read it and the list of sources.
A row appears only when all of this is filled in. If anything is missing, the provider is not shown at all. We never put dashes or estimates into a table to make it look complete.
3. Check dates and rechecks
Every row shows the date we last read its sources. Fees change, so a row older than 120 days is marked “due for a recheck” until we read the sources again. When we recheck, we update the date even if nothing changed, so the date always means “this is when we last looked”.
4. How the table is ordered
The order never depends on commissions. Rows are sorted by the number of documents required (fewest first), then by the published monthly fee (lowest first, unpublished last), then by name. Providers we have no partnership with are listed on exactly the same terms as partners.
5. The transfer calculator
The calculator shows how much of your amount goes on the fee and on the exchange-rate margin, using the terms the service published on the check date. It does not use live exchange rates and it does not predict the amount your family will receive in their currency; the service shows that exact amount before you send. If no transfer service in a country has published terms we could check, the calculator is not shown.
6. Same facts in every language
Facts depend on the country, not on the language. The Ukrainian, English and Russian versions of a page about one country contain the same facts; only the wording and examples are adapted. Pages about different countries are written separately, because the rules and the providers differ.
7. What we do not do
We do not list loans or credit cards. We do not accept payment for a place in a table or for a positive description. We do not claim to have opened an account with a provider unless a guide says so explicitly and describes how.
8. Corrections
If you find an outdated fee or a wrong requirement, send us the page and, if you can, a link to the provider’s official page. We check the report against the source, correct the row, update the check date and, for guides, note the correction at the end of the article.