enter

Halifax charge £9.50/transaction whether £100 or £100000. I send sterling UK to sterling account in Hungary

Szeged

Santander (UK) charges £25 for "any amount". You just tell them what currency you prefer.

wolfi

Now I'm perplexed ...
I thought SEPA transfers are almost free - or does the pound not fall into that category like the €?

Transfers from my € account to the HUF account at OTP cost me 1 - 2 €.

scrubbedexpat0105

The big cost factor with transfers is the exchange rate spread when converting between currencies. Banks make a huge profit on this, especially compared to alternatives like xe.com.

fidobsa

I do still have a Hungarian bank account and it is what I have mostly used since the Brexit vote and consequent weakening of the pound. I have to draw money in Croatia as well as Hungary. At the cash machines in Croatia, some of them give me the strange option of deducting my account in Euros instead of Kuna! If I use my UK account it gives me the option of deducting my account in pounds. Perhaps the banks in Croatia are not aware that Hungary is not part of the Euro zone?

cdw057

I am from the Netherlands and do not speak a word of Hungarian, I am also with OTP for a few years (for me, my wife and my company and we are quite happy with their tools (and service at their offices in Heviz) including standing instructions. They are a bit (or even quite), expensive though (I lived in the Netherlands, UK and Luxembourg).

Christiaan

cdw057

Of course for non-HUF transactions I use accounts in other countries (conversion to HUF, EUR payments etc.).
But again online payments at OTP, standing orders etc are excellent for me.

GMC girl

It may sound like a silly question but is it possible to retain our HSBC accounts in the UK & operate strictly cash in Hungary ? I have spoken to our bank today & there is a 2% charge for cash withdrawals, but no more than £5 per transaction. Am thinking of minimal withdrawals& use cash but what about local taxes & internet providers?

How does this compare to Hungarian bank charges?

Szeged

With regards to internet providers (i.e. Digi), they send you an invoice (yellow cheque) in the post which you can pay at the post office, but they also allow you to pay cash over their own counter (office/showroom), as well as pay by direct debit and debit/credit card.

Many, if not all, utility companies send a yellow cheque in the post which is payable at the post office. However, companies like EDF (electricity) also allow payment online (once registered) and via debit/credit card payment in their office.

I did the Cash Only thing when I first moved to Hungary, even though I had (and still have) a HU bank account, because Cash Only was the "norm". However, with technogoly changes and expats for example wanting to pay from abroad, I am sure it is only a matter of time before HU becomes more online in terms of payments.

Food for thought: Years ago in the UK cash was number one and cheque number 2. However, when I visited a shop years back to bargain down a deal whereby I said "I will pay you in cash", that no longer worked. Why? Because as the shop worker explained, they got commission off the cheque payments; making cash now the weaker of the two. Fast forward to 2017 and many things in the UK are done either by direct debit or with a debit/credit card...over the phone! Digital activity can be traced, can be used to protect you (i.e. against credit card fraud/theft), etc......still doesn't stop Black Hat jobs happening though

wolfi

Of course it's easier for you if you pay your taxes and utility bills, subscriptions etc by direct debit - you just have to make sure that there's enough money in your account, because usually there's no overdraft possible.
I still remember that couple at the bank which had been away for some months - the money they had transferred to Hungary somehow went to the wrong account, there were not enough HUF to pay gas and electricity so when they came back, all services had been cut off - and it took some time and effort to connect again!

Many Hungarians now use their cards - the new ones allow NFC, that means you just pass the card in front of the reader.

On the other hand there still are "businesses" where cash is king, repairmen e g usually prefer cash and I still get the typical answer when asking for the price:
Do you need a bill?

fidobsa

found my UK banks were happy enough to keep me as a customer and send me statements to Hungary every month. The only problem I can see with not having a Hungarian bank account is when you apply for residency. In another thread it was stated that the proof of income requirement now stipulates that you show Hungarian bank statements rather than those from a foreign bank.

Peter_in_Hungary

Yes, strange that, as a non-resident (of the UK) you can keep your UK bank account but you can't open a new one

cathyg

I think NatWest are offering current accounts for non-residents in the EU. I have an account with Erste and use TransferWise for my transfers. They are very quick and cheap.

When we first came here I used to pay my bills by Check but over the years have gone over to DD. Just more convenient...

blackwaterman

I fully expect the near zero-cost mobile-phone services like M-pesa (sweeping E. Africa) and Paytm (sweeping India) and many others, to replace the dinosaur banks in Hungary with their high charges for usage. I can't get my head around exactly how dirt-poor peasants can trust their mobile phones not to rip them off, but it seems to work for them. These two companies alone have 100's of millions of low-net-worth customers (goodness knows how). My son is working to introduce a similar system in Phillipines, Vietnam and Cambodia. One day I'll get him to provide a full explanation!
Higher-level customers can also use it of course, and then the system is linked to their bank cards, accounts etc. The point is that somehow it's useful for small-value transactions and actually replaces cash transactions altogether. It's not just telephone banking as we know it, apparently.

wolfi

Interesting, but you have to see the background, especially in India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paytm
It has to be seen with the fight against the black economy which lead the Indian government to drastic measures:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_I...demonetisation
Demonetisation i e Invalidating notes without prior announcement btw did happen in Communist Eastern Europe - I still remember it from Germany. We were on a trip to Berlin when this happened - and suddenly the money that some of my West German comrades had brought with them to do shopping in East Berlln was worthless ...