Free banking in Budapest -where?

C

collis

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I have an account with Volksbank in Budapest through which I handle bill payments , rent receival,taxes, etc on a property there. I noticed I am being charged Eur 10 - 15 per month for the pleasure of using their services. Account is always in credit - does anyone know of a bank there offering a free curent account ? Must have internet banking too(in English preferably!).

C
 
I have an a/c with Citibank, in Vorosmarty Ter. Website is great & in English. Helpline also very helpful & Freephone number even from Ireland.

Charges are about €2 per month. This is for a HUF a/c though. I'm not sure if having one in Euro may be more expensive. You don't say which currency yours is in.

I also think that if you have set up a company that banking for co a/c's is more expensive. Vaguely remember someone saying this in the past.

Hope this helps.
 
Unfortunately Hungary is a long way behind Ireland in terms of banking services. Free banking doesn't really exist and as Perplexed suggests, Citibank is the best of a bad lot, particularly for English-speaking customers.
 
With all due respects Budapest & Clubman. I really don't think €24 pa is an awful lot. I pay €20 tax in Ireland for my laser card so it's just about equal.
I would like to see any foreigner try to open an a/c in Ireland & have online banking all in their own language ! So fair is fair.
I'm very happy with Citibank. Their helpdesk is great & if the person answering hasn't great English they will pass you to someone who has.

I have an a/c in Berlin with Deutsche bank & the charges there are about €44 pa & their sevice is excellent. As far as I know Ireland & the UK are the only countries with free banking.
 
Perplexed said:
With all due respects Budapest & Clubman. I really don't think €24 pa is an awful lot. I pay €20 tax in Ireland for my laser card so it's just about equal.
I would like to see any foreigner try to open an a/c in Ireland & have online banking all in their own language ! So fair is fair.
I'm very happy with Citibank. Their helpdesk is great & if the person answering hasn't great English they will pass you to someone who has.

I have an a/c in Berlin with Deutsche bank & the charges there are about €44 pa & their sevice is excellent. As far as I know Ireland & the UK are the only countries with free banking.
Click to expand...

"free banking"
 
Citibank fees really do escalate though if you use your account a lot. Every transaction is quite expensive - for example, the cost of a withdrawal is a percentage of the amount, so the yearly cost can be quite significant. The online banking system is very good though.
 
Thanks for that, as stated above the charges in Volksbank are also per transaction so the cost of the account varies a little.
Perplexed, I take it that your transactions work out at about Eur 2 per month , as opposed to a regular flat fee regardless of transactions?
Mine is also a HUF account. Mind you , a helpline thats actually helpful would be good!
Thanks
C
 
I would need to check the a/c opening forms to see if it's a flat fee.
All I know is that going back to Jan every month my charges have been HUF50 + HUF300. Don't know why it's two different charges but at the present exchange rate that's less than €2.
Next time you're in Budapest call into them & they have all the info, forms etc.
What really impressed me is that I can phone at 11pm & talk to an agent if I have a problem & the call doesn't cost me a cent.
Good luck
 
These are the figures currently available on their Hungarian website for the two main types of personal account at Citibank, assuming a balance of less that 1.5M HUF (€6,000):

The monthly fee for the Citibank 'Control account' is 300 HUF/month. Withdrawals generally cost 350 HUF each and withdrawing larger amounts in a branch costs 0.35% of the value. Withdrawals from abroad cost 1% of the value.

The monthly fee for the Citibank 'Comfort account' is 600 HUF/month. Withdrawals generally cost 250 HUF each and withdrawing larger amounts in a branch costs 0.30% of the value. Withdrawals from abroad cost 1% of the value.

If you only use the extensive online/phone banking facility and make a small amount of transactions, then the monthly cost should be very low. You would need to open an account in person.
 
Budapest. Thanks for clarifying...saved me looking it up !
I guess I don't have too many transactions. I did notice that using the card is expensive so I tend to let funds accumulate & then do 1 big transfer every so often.
You do also earn interest on the balance, small but normally covers the HUF50 charge.
Also it's very easy to open a Time Deposit online so at least you can get some return on your funds. Interest rates on these are quite respectable.
 
Yes, the time deposits are a good way of covering the charges. The online banking facility is great in this respect.
 
Hello all, I need to open an account in Budapest to lodge rent receipts, bill payments etc. From your discussions Citibank seem the best option. I assume in order to open an account it's the same as UK/Irl? Do you just need the usual ID etc. Is there anything else required if you are not resident in Hungary? Appreciate any advice. Adam.
 
You need the usual ID but also bring a recent utility bill for proof of address, as sometimes it is asked for.
 
Though I brought utility bills with me - as well as my passport of course- they opted to take a copy of my Cr Card instead. I found this most strange.
Better to cover all angles though. Also be aware that you will probably need an appointment, in my case for the next day, so don't expect them to be able to open an a/c on the spot.
 
Can you open the account from Ireland?

If not, when you mention utility bills: are these from Ireland ?
 
I went in person. Like in Ireland they will need to see your actual passport, not sure if a certified copy would do them.
I use my Irish address so that's where my utility bills were for. It's wise to use your normal address as presumably, like me, your property is for letting & you wouldn't want your statements to go to your tenants.
It's not a problem being a non-resident as long as you can prove who you are & where you live.
 
CitiBank all the way.

HUF a/c is about €2 per month, but the real kicker is the English website and also the ATM card (which you can use here in IRL, although I never have, and have NO idea of the charges).

I have called the Branch in Vorosmarty a number of times a few years ago (getting IBAN numbers etc), and they always have someone with at least a little english answering the phone, and they usually find someone with much better english to answer the query.
All-in-all a good service.

I get monthly a/c print-outs in the post, which would be nice to stop actually, as I get all the balance/activity info I need on-line, and also they arrive about 3 weeks late, so the a/c info is already unreliable :)

My EUR a/c is dormant and is not charged at all
 
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Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows about the citibank monthly charges for company bank accounts ?

Looking at the citibank website it would appear the minimum charge per month is Huf4800

Regards
 
Hi Rodger,
Sorry I've no idea what the charge for Co a/c's is.
I know with my personal a/c that even though they charge me HUF50 pm, I also get interest on the a/c which amounts to almost the same amount. So effectively it's not really costing me at all !
I'm sure a business a/c would be different though. It also varies depending on whether your a/c is in Euro or HUF.
 
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