Restrictions from bank on ATM use in Poland

I had no issue with my Capital One ATM card in Poland. Perhaps the problem is because you have a debit card.
Try an ATM-only card, which cannot be used for sales, and requires a PIN.

Well, I've called both of my banks this week to put a travel notice on my account and reported to both that I would be in Poland. Neither advised me of any issue. I'll be able to test it out in about 2 weeks. I've already used my credit card (from Chase) to make purchases in Poland (hotel deposit, Polrail ticket). I did get a call from the fraud department to verify that I made the first purchase, but they allowed the charge to go through and also made a notation on my account so that I could use it to make additional purchases. My second purchase was a Polrail ticket and that went through with no issue. It sounds like it might be an issue with your specific bank.

It is more an issue with specific banks. I have heard of issues not only with East European countries, but Spain and other countries as well. Probably need to check around, maybe open an account elsewhere if there is time.

We were in Poland last September and used our ATM card (not debit card) the entire time without any problem. Agree that maybe the problem is your bank. Our bank is JPMorgan Chase.

Thanks everyone for your input.
My bank said that this was a Visa rule (not theirs) but I will check with them again because it makes much more sense that it would be bank specific.

That is not a VISA rule. We have used VISA in Europe for thirteen years. I would seriously consider changing banks. What some of us do is have a checking account in a credit union. Then have a debit card attached to it and use that for getting cash from ATMs overseas. Use your credit union credit card for hotels if you don't want to use cash. You will need to tell the credit union when and where you go overseas, and when you will get back. Otherwise your transactions will be blocked. Some of us take a second credit card in case the primary card soesn't work for some reason. My wife and I set up a Travel Money account at AAA and put about five hundred dollars in it. That is a debit card only account and has worked where, for some reason, the credit union debit card won't work.

It is strictly card issuer policy. Now, your card issuer could be your bank, or a group of banks, or anything, so when the bank says it is visa policy it is really the policy of the card issuer. There have been reports of specific bans of certain countries but nothing uniform. May need a new card.