Fixed or floating mortgage rate in Poland — how each one works
How a periodically fixed rate differs from a floating one, what exactly happens when the fixed period ends, and why the early-repayment fee works the opposite way to what most borrowers assume. Rates as of August 2026.
When you sign a mortgage agreement in Poland you pick one thing that drives your instalment more than the margin and the arrangement fee combined: the type of interest rate. The bank will show you two numbers, both in percent, both looking much alike — and that is the entire hint you get at the counter.
This text does not tell you what to choose. It explains how each option works, what happens at the moment nobody thinks about while signing — when the fixed period ends — and which clauses differ enough between the two that they are worth reading before, not after.
Two numbers, two different promises
A floating rate is the sum of two parts: a market benchmark (WIBOR 3M today, POLSTR from 2027) and the bank's margin. The margin is written into the contract and never changes over the life of the loan — that is the bank's earnings. The benchmark is reset every quarter, and the instalment moves with it. In August 2026 WIBOR 3M sits at roughly , with the NBP reference rate at .
A periodically fixed rate is a single number written into the contract for a set time — most often 5 years, sometimes 7 or 10. Over that period the instalment does not move, whatever the benchmark does. Afterwards the loan reverts to floating, or you negotiate a new fixed period on whatever terms the market offers then.
The key word is periodically. Poland has no equivalent of the American 30-year fixed, where the rate is locked for the whole term. What the bank advertises as "stałe" is fixed for the first fifth of the loan, and an open question after that.
What everyone else picks (and why that is not an argument)
In Q1 2026 periodically fixed accounted for about of credit decisions, down from close to a year earlier. The share keeps shrinking: after the NBP cutting cycle, some borrowers are pricing the floating option again. The average rate on new mortgages in the same quarter was .
Those numbers describe market sentiment, not what works in a specific case. For a loan taken at the peak of the cycle, fixing usually proved right; for a 2021 loan, the opposite. Share statistics describe the past, not the future path of the benchmark.
Actual rates, August 2026
Across the bank offers we compare, the spread looks like this:
| Option | Typical starting rate |
|---|---|
| Floating (WIBOR 3M + margin of ) | |
| Periodically fixed for 5 years |
Fixed starts higher, and that is normal rather than "the pricier offer". By writing a number five years ahead, the bank takes on the risk that the benchmark climbs. The gap at the start is the price of that risk. On a PLN 600,000 loan over 25 years it comes to roughly PLN 150-200 per month in the first period.
The flip side is just as simple: if the benchmark falls, a fixed instalment does not fall with it. You pay the agreed number until the fixed period ends.
The moment nobody plans for: the end of the fixed period
This is the most important part, and the one that gets lost in the conversation about the starting instalment.
A few weeks before the fixed period ends, the bank sends new terms. From that point you generally have three routes:
- Accept a new fixed period at the rate the bank offers — priced off the market of that moment, not of your signing day.
- Move to floating — the benchmark-plus-margin formula returns, with the same margin as in the original contract.
- Refinance with another bank, if the competition offers better terms.
The practical takeaway is mundane, which is exactly why it gets skipped: put the end of the fixed period in your calendar. A bank's proposal is often treated as accepted by silence, and the gap between what a bank offers unprompted and what it offers once you hold a competing quote can run into hundreds of złoty a month for the next five years.
The early-repayment fee works the other way round
The rules sit in article 40 of the Mortgage Credit Act, and this is where the two options differ most — and where intuition misleads most often:
- on a floating rate the bank may charge compensation only if you repay within 36 months of signing, and no more than of the amount repaid (nor more than a year's interest on it);
- on a periodically fixed rate the bank may charge compensation throughout the fixed period — including after 36 months, and without the statutory cap.
In other words, the option that gives you a predictable instalment also limits your freedom to repay early. If overpayments or selling the flat within a few years are on the table, that is a clause to check before the decision, not after.
WIBOR is being retired — what changes
From 2027 the benchmark in new contracts becomes POLSTR, replacing WIBOR. For a floating loan that changes the basis your instalment is calculated on; for a loan inside its fixed period it changes nothing while the fixation lasts. The difference only surfaces at the switch to floating.
If you ask an adviser for a simulation, ask for a version based on the new benchmark — a comparison built purely on historical WIBOR describes a world that will be gone within a year.
What to actually check in the contract
Whichever option is on the table, these points differ between offers and are either negotiable or at least verifiable:
- length of the fixed period — 5, 7 or 10 years, and the rate attached to each;
- the margin that applies after the fixed period — it must be in the contract, because it returns together with the floating rate;
- compensation rules — amount, period, method of calculation;
- cross-sell conditions (account, card, insurance) — whether the rate discount disappears once you stop using them;
- RRSO for both options — for a fixed rate, RRSO is computed on an assumption about what follows the fixed period, so comparing two RRSO figures is not comparing two certainties.
Run it on your own numbers
In the mortgage calculator you can switch the rate type and see both instalments against your own price, down payment and term — with current bank rates rather than a brochure example. The wider context — borrowing capacity, the RKM state scheme, negotiating the margin — is in the 2026 mortgage guide.
This text describes how credit products work and is not investment or financial advice. Rates are indicative, as of August 2026; actual terms depend on income, BIK history, LTV and the bank's current offer.