publication
2026-03-14 06:00
A Bankier.pl reader describes a seemingly simple problem: when registering in the Trade Republic application, the system incorrectly read his name. The correction couldn't be made immediately, and then the digital ping-pong began. The e-mail referred to the Help Center, the Help Center did not anticipate such a case.
“What good is a bank where you can't talk to anyone or report an error in any way?” – asks our reader. As he reports, the e-mail contact sent him back to the application's help center, where he did not find a path that matched his problem. The only option available was to formally change your surname – after marriage, divorce or an official decision. The customer is stuck between an automatic response and a form that simply doesn't anticipate their situation.
The response the reader received illustrates well what the problem is. The bank replied to his e-mail – signed with the name “Anna” – that it could not process the request by e-mail and referred him to the application and the local Help Center. The message also included tips on logging in and inheritance matters. Not a word about how to correct a misspelled name.
This is not a trivial matter. In financial services, identification data is the foundation of customer relationships. If an error appears at the very beginning, the customer has the right to expect a simple and quick correction path. Otherwise, a simple mistake turns into a test of patience and trust.
Interestingly, Trade Republic already informed Bankier.pl in December that complaints can be submitted through three channels: via chat in the application, by e-mail to [email protected] and by letter to the Polish branch in Warsaw. These addresses are also included in the legal materials on the company's Polish website. The problem is that for many customers they remain invisible in practice – especially when the first contact takes place via automatic replies and closed paths in the application.
There is also confusion in the help center itself. Trade Republic informs that to change your name or surname you need a new identity document and a document confirming the change – a marriage certificate, adoption certificate or an official certificate. This procedure suits a formal change of data, but not a situation where the system simply misread the name during registration.
This also has a broader context. Trade Republic entered Poland on September 11, 2025 as a European bank with a national branch, supervised by BaFin and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. The application-based model is supposed to be modern and light – but the customer does not judge “modernity” by the advertisement, but by what happens when something goes wrong.
And Polish law is clear here: a financial institution should respond to a complaint without undue delay, no later than within 30 days of receiving it. However, for these deadlines to start running at all, the customer must have a real opportunity to submit a complaint – and not just a theoretical address hidden deep in the regulations.
Our reader's case shows something more important than a typo. A digital bank without a telephone and without easily accessible human service works efficiently only until everything goes according to plan. When a simple, real-life problem arises, the customer may be left alone with a bot and a form that does not anticipate his situation. This is not a problem of one mistake. This is a question about whether a financial institution is really available when the customer needs it.
