If you're staying here for a more than just a couple of months, then you may want to open a bank account. I realised after a few weeks, when I checked my netbank in Denmark, that it costs a lot to use the ATMs - I was paying about 4 euros everytimee I withdrew cash!!! So I decided that I had to open a bank account, then I would be able to transfer the money once a month, and avoid all those extra fees.
There are lots of banks to choose from, but the biggest bank (with the most ATMs) is OTP (www.otpbank.hu) so, for convenience, I thought I'd go to them. I set out on a sunny Friday afternoon and wandered into my local OTP bank and was struck my the first obstacle: a ticket-queueing system with about 10 options entirely in Hungarian. Hmmm, this wasn't going to be my day. The thought of waiting for 10 minutes, then finding out that I'd taken the wrong ticket and having to wait again didn't really appeal to me, so I thought that this was something I could leave for another day.
Fortunately, when I told this story to one of my colleagues, she kindly offered to come with me and help me open an account. So, we went to another OTP bank and began what was to be the loonnggg process of opening an account. (NOTE! Remember that you'll need your passport and something with your address on it). After about 20 minutes of working out which account I needed and typing in all my details (btw, for some reason they need your mother's maiden name, which I found a little odd), finally we were getting somewhere. It was here that I discovered that Hungarian banks either have no love of the rain forest or they own a paper manufacturer, because I spent the next 10 minutes signing lots of forms and receiving lots of paper about rules and regulations, all in Hungarian, about my account and the rules of the bank - the only one I remember was that if my account goes below zero, then they can close my account, "fair enough" I thought. I also discovered that the bank card would take about two weeks to reach me in the post, which was quite a long time I thought, but I did at least have online banking, and that was available in English which is good. And that was that. Even though it took about 40 minutes, it was relatively straightforward, and at least now I can avoid all those extra fees.
FYI, the US Embassy website maintains a list of Hungarian banks here: http://hungary.usembassy.gov/banks.html
ReplyDeleteI'm already a Citibank member in the US, so hopefully it will not be too painful to open a Citibank-Hungary account. The website is in English and seems pretty good so far (helpful information about the various branch locations -- there are a dozen or so in Budapest).
Hi Dave, just wanted to say thanks so much for all this information. I'm moving to Budapest in September for 9 months and this is answering a lot of my questions. Something that bothers me though is that I'll need proof of address to set up a bank account, get a SIM card etc, but that means finding an apartment first, and getting something sent there, which could take 3-4 weeks? Also how do I manage to sign a contract with an agency on an apartment without a bank account? It seems like a catch 22...
ReplyDeleteHi Naomi - glad to hear that it's useful :-) It is a bit of a catch 22 ... As far as I recall I paid the deposit and first months rent using my home bank account, and then when I had the rental contract (with the new address) I just took it to the bank as proof of my address. I don't think the agencies are worried about you having a Hungarian bank account, as long as they receive the money.
DeleteWhen I moved from my apartment, I actually found out that the agency had been getting a bit less then the agreed amount each month (because of transfer fees), but we just sorted it out at the end.
Ok, thanks Dave! Hopefully it will all work smoothly!
DeleteHI THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE, am about to open an account as well and I don't know what's the best choice a lot of people i know have OTP but there is no reason behind that. I have a very bad history with banks this is why I want to know whats the best.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually going there now, and after I read your story am worried now about signing papers in a language I don't understand.
and BTW the mother name thing is very strange for me as well I still don't get it, but my I ve been told that they need the mother name because there is so many people who have the same name and family name and the mother's name is what can make the difference... not to convinced by this answer,
Hi,
DeleteGlad it helps :-) About the banks - OTP is the biggest, so there's probably more chance of finding English speaking staff there. As for signing the papers in another language, I doubt they've translated it to English, but as far as the content goes I understand that it's pretty much the same as all banks use.
As for the mother's maiden name, that's right - because so many people have the same last name in Hungary it's the only way of working out who is who.
Good luck - hope that helps!