tweez78

Hi all, hoping someone can give me some pointers. I have checked via the search function but there's quite a lot of results going back a while so thought it might be worth getting some current opinions!

I'll be relocating from UK to Budapest soon but will be working remotely for my UK employers. So i'll still be paid into my UK (HSBC) bank account. I'll want to open an account in Budapest once I get an address card so can anyone give any suggestions for banks worth considering/avoiding?

And I guess my main concern is transferring money from my UK bank to my Hu account. This seems like a minefield to me! Is it?? Any advice on that? I'll probably be wanting to transfer £6-800 a month to cover my outgoings in Hu but will still have UK outgoings so can't transfer all of my monthly income.

I also saw some posts about opening a sterling account? Is this available with all Hu banks?

Any advice/pointers greatly appreciated! Cheers!

rammy100

Whilst I can't recommend a specific Bank (we have been with Unicredit for years with no problems and they have machines which you can pay money into (which is relevant below) 24/7) the issue you may have in transferring money from UK£ to HUF is that it can be expensive. Your UK and the Hungarian Banks are both likely to want some commission and will give you a lousy exchange rate to boot.

To top up our account, we withdraw money using a UK Halifax Clarity Card (Good exchange rate, no withdrawal fees and a low interest rate that you can avoid completely if you are canny and keep a credit balance on there) and pay it directly into our Hungarian account.

It means we have to stay on top of things but saves us a considerable amount in Bank charges.

Good luck,

Dave

tweez78

Hi Dave, thanks for the tip. That's quite a clever way of doing it! I have a Post Office MasterCard which is also fee free I believe. So I could withdrawn from an ATM, pay into my Hu account and then just transfer £ back onto the Post Office card. Win!

Still interested to see what others do too. I've looked at HiFX website. Good user reviews and seems it's 9 quid a pop to transfer under £3K. Anyone have experience in using them?

Rural Hungary

Hi, myself and several clients have used Hifx numerous time with no problems. For smaller amounts, there is this one, recommended by Polgardi - haven't tried it myself. From a quick look at their fees, it seems to be 0.5% so £2 for a £400 transfer.

We used to withdraw from the UK or just use our UK credit cards but both our banks and CC companies recently increased fees and with the exchange rate not being as good as the transfer companies, we rarely do this.

rammy100

That's exactly what I do. The Halifax Clarity card always tops the "good-buy" tables though and really is worth looking into.

Rural Hungary

Dave, can I ask what your fees are roughly on a £200 withdrawal and the difference in rate from that offered on the day by the booths or banks. Ours is currently charging just over £10 and the rate is about 7ft less!

rammy100

Hi Rural H

There aren't any fees at all attached to the card. I tend to get a little bit less than the commercial rate offered by the likes of moneycorp which i use as a guideline.

I haven't had to withdraw any money for a while but last time I took some out on 27 January I got a rate of £1 = HUF369 in cash. This was the same rate that I got in a shop on the same day as well and I have noticed that it always pays a higher rate than the booths but I'm afraid I can't tell you what the rate was on 27 January!

Hope this helps.

Rural Hungary

Thanks Dave, definitely worth looking into then

duztee

You don't need an address card to open an account.

Rural Hungary

I was going to add that but I told somebody the same thing a few months ago and their "agent" told them I didn't know what I was talking about - so I decided to say nothing

tweez78

I tried out Transferwise this week; super pleased with it. Transferred 140,000ft to my girlfriends account, took less than 24 hours (despite them quoting 3 days) at a rate of 373ft/£ costing me just £1.87. So cheers RH, deffo my go to FX company.

Pollypaprika

I think they are great too! They also have business accounts.

Rural Hungary

thanks for that and glad it went smoothly.

Cheers Polgardi for the original info, might give them a try instead of Hifx next time.

Shotgun

Just used TransferWise for the first time. Paid a bill equivalent to £570, My payee received 212,132ft. This equates to 372.16ft per pound sterling. Very pleased.

I instructed and paid them on Friday and the money was transferred today (one working day).

Be aware that the rate is that at the time when the money is transferred to the payee and not when the instruction is given. This made very little difference to my transaction, but if the pound is falling then you will get fewer forints. Conversely, if the forint is falling relative to the pound, more forints will be sent.

I will certainly be using them again.

fidobsa

How can you pay a bill with a variable amount of money? If a payment is not too urgent you might be able to select a target exchange rate and the transfer takes place when that rate is reached. I'm currently trying to find firms that will deal in Croatia Kuna but they are proving to be very thin on the ground. The only one I've found so far is Currency Solutions. I also just discovered that Clydesdale Bank have reduced my daily limit for internet banking from £5000 a day to £1000 a day, so I have less access to my money.