Cinkciarz.pl multi-currency card, how does it work in practice?

Vacations – a time of travel, often abroad, and a recurring question: which payment card to take in order to lose as little as possible on currency conversion? On our recent overseas trip we had the opportunity to przetest the Cinkciarz.pl multi-currency card, and in this post we have prepared for you the most important information about the card and our observations and opinion.

Cinkciarz.pl’s multi-currency card went with us on a several-day trip to Slovakia. Although in truth, we like to use the multi-currency card in Poland as well. Surprised? ;) Why use such a card in Poland when you can just use regular credit/debit cards with a PLN payment account?

Well, this is a very convenient solution: we plug such a card into our Google Pay wallet and, in fact, we do not have to worry whether we are still paying in Poland or already abroad (after crossing the border or landing at the destination airport). The card will always select a good currency, choose the most favorable exchange rate for us, and we don’t have to worry about anything.

And that’s what multi-currency cards are all about – no matter what currency you pay in, you only use one card, you don’t have to rewire anything in the system, you don’t have to open currency accounts, you don’t have to worry about currency conversion. This is very convenient if you often travel abroad. For us, there have been a couple of times when we forgot to connect the card to the appropriate account before the trip, and unfortunately we were charged an additional commission…. We have been using multi-currency cards for some time now, and now it’s time to test a card from Cinkciarz.pl.

Types of cards Cinkciarz.pl

Let’s start with an overview of the types of cards offered by Cinkciarz. And here’s a surprise: in truth, the choice of cards is very limited and…. all in all a good thing!

First of all, we have the opportunity to set up a virtual card, which is 100% free of charge. However, if we prefer to have a physical card, then we can order one for only £15 (this is a one-time cost).

The multi-currency card is activated immediately. Just plug it into your Google Pay or Apple Pay wallet and you can already pay with it anywhere contactless or online payments are possible.

For us, 99% of the time, a virtual card would suffice, since we don’t go around with a wallet or use physical cards on a daily basis anyway. However, when we go abroad, we already take such cards. Why? We are not always sure if contactless payments will go through (after all, there is still that 1% uncertainty ;)), so just in case, however, it is better to have a physical card (and possibly some cash). In Slovakia, fortunately, there was no problem with this and we paid virtually everywhere by contactless.

It doesn’t matter whether the card is virtual or physical, each of them supports more than 160 currencies around the world, including the most popular ones like AUD, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, HKD, JPY, MXN, NOK, NZD, RUB, SEK, SGD, THB, TRY, or above all USD, EUR, GBP and of course PLN :-) And this is the most important advantage of multi-currency cards – you don’t have to worry about what currency is in a given country, set up an appropriate currency account for it (which is outright impossible in many banks when it comes to less popular currencies) – you simply pay with one card, and it takes care of the appropriate currency conversion.

How to order a multi-currency card from Cinkciarz.pl?

Making a card is very simple and is limited to a few steps:

1. You go to this web address.
2. You create an account on Cinkciarz.pl – trivially easy, just enter your e-mail address and set a password. A one-time code arrives at the email address, which must be entered on the website. Then fill in the rest of the data: first name, last name, phone number, citizenship, country of birth, residential address, and then PESEL and identity document data – this completes the registration (you can stop it in the middle, go to the customer panel to see what and how it works).
3. You order a virtual card or a physical card – in the multi-currency card tab, you need to select the appropriate type of card (ordering is possible only after the registration process is completed).
4. After a few days, the card arrives, you activate it, fund it and use it to your heart’s content (we write about how to fund the card below).

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How do I reload my Cinkciarz.pl multi-currency card?

If we already have a card selected and it is visible in the multi-currency cards tab, you need to fund it with the appropriate amount before you can use it. Below we describe step by step how to do it:

• To begin with, you need to top up your Cinkciarz.pl account and only then fund the multi-currency card separately – this caused a problem for us at first, because we assumed that just topping up the account was enough and wondered why the card didn’t work :) All in all, it can be considered as an additional security of our funds. So remember to power up your card. Once you have the funds in your account, transferring them to the card is no longer a problem.
• To fund your Cinkciarz.pl account, you need to make a wire transfer (free of charge) or use fast online payments (for an additional commission).
• If the funds are already in the account in an easy and express way you can transfer funds to the card in the app or via the web.
• In case of lack of funds in the account it informs us and the application and we get an SMS.

In fact, aside from the need to fund the card itself, the whole process is easy to figure out and should not cause any problems.

Looking also at the issue of reloading the card from the other side, it is an additional security measure, because in case of theft, only the funds that were assigned to the card are lost, not all the funds in the account.

Limits and fees in the multi-currency card of Cinkciarz.pl

Let’s move on to the part that probably interests you the most, i.e. fees and commissions.

The use of the card itself is as free as possible. However, as always in this type of service there are some limits and additional fees – not many, but we have listed the most important ones for you below.

First of all, we pay 0 zloty for:

• issuance of a virtual card,
• use of the card,
• For withdrawals from ATMs around the world,
• The maintenance of 20 foreign currency accounts,
• payment in all currencies, including 0% commission on card payments,
• Deposits and withdrawals from bank accounts.

The limits are:

• 2 payments per month in Europe and PLN 800 in other countries. Later, a commission of 2% is charged.
• Cinkciarz.pl also charges a fee for quick account recharges. Topping up by bank transfer is still free.
• On top of that, there is a possible one-time fee for the physical card – PLN 15.

And that’s it. There are no more limits or fees. We consider this a very big plus for this card. At the same time, it should also be added that there are no required regular or minimum payments or deposits to the account.

Card management application

Also worth mentioning is the Cinkciarz.pl application for cell phones. It allows us to quickly manage the card, including the physical one. With it, we can easily and effortlessly top up the account, recharge the card, but also:

• We activate contactless and foreign payments,
• We will change the limits of payments and withdrawals from the card,
• We will change the PIN number,
• we will approach the card data necessary for online payments.

We can also temporarily block or freeze the card when necessary (when we lose it or simply do not want to use it for a while).

Our review of the Cinkciarz.pl multi-currency card

If you have an account on Cinkciarz.pl and travel the world, this is the perfect option for you in our opinion. Of course, if you don’t already have an account there, there’s nothing to prevent you from opening one :) On the big plus side, there is a very simple price list, simple limits and no currency conversion costs (really only concerning ATM withdrawals).

The card itself is as practical as possible, and aside from remembering to top up the account and card, there are no major downsides. However, the slider for moving funds between the currency wallet and the card is just that extra security, and is a rather distinctive solution. Despite the fact that the mechanism may seem complicated at first, in the end it allows to further increase the security of our funds :)

The exchange rate is similar to other similar cards, so we don’t have to worry about taking advantage of an unfavorable exchange rate. We used the card dozens of times during the trip and only once failed to pay with it – at the very beginning, when we did not recharge the card itself. After taking this step, we had no more problems with payments.

Therefore, if you are considering choosing a multi-currency card from Cinkciarz.pl, we can confidently recommend it to you :)

The entry was created in cooperation with Cinkciarz.pl, which offers a multi-currency card, but we recommend it anyway as a good alternative to other cards of this type :)