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Hi,

The charges vary depending on many things. For example you can get an account with low charges or basicaly free if you know that a each month a certain amount of money (the minimum is determined by the bank) will be transfered to your bank account. If so, try Citibank. Otherwise I would recommend you the AXA.

I hope it helps,

Thanks for the reply. I don't think I can guarantee a certain amount each month to be honest. Is AXA just online?

no, here's the address:

1138 Budapest 
Váci út 135-139. 

but before you go there it's better to call them first, I think
AXA: 06 40 30 30 30

For the time between now and this summer any banking fees will be dwarfed by the exchange rate fluctuations. If I were you, I'd waltz in to a few of the closest bank offices, and open an account where the atmosphere and English language service is most pleasing. You can always switch later if they start charging too much.

I have a current account with OTP which is one of the biggest banks here. They do charge for pretty much everything except purchases by debit card in shops but that is partly offset by them paying me interest (kamatjóváirás).

I would recommend to open up a bank account at Raiffeisen Bank thought. Their bank account maintenance fees are ok, and they offer good interest on deposits.

I visited many banks in budapest few months ago. If you are looking for low fee try OTP bank, Unicredit or Raiffeissen. If you are looking for excellent services, try Volksbank, Citibank. Just walk around the streets around vorosmarty square, kiraly usually in city centre, there are plenty of banks. Banks charge for everything and its not cheap in hungary. i own a corporate account and my bank charges HUF 250 for every domestic transaction.

OTP ATMs are everywhere and so many people bank with them. I think their fee also acceptable. You can open HUF and EUR account.  If you deposit 100,000 HUF, banks will be very happy i guess. Just your passport is required i guess. Good luck!!

I wouldn't recommend Volksbank, in my opinion their services are poor and customer service is not that great.

Hey,

it depends on your financial activity.if you are employed and earn more than 1.5 million forint, go for bonusz account in unicredit.no charge on ATM card transactions in unicredit ATM anywhere in Hungary and overseas affiliated banks of unicredit group in Austria,Italy and Germany. If you dont transfer or credit 1.5 million huf per month, bank deducts 630 huf per month as charges.

you can choose different plans based on ur financial activity and purpose. if you are just a traveller or tourist, i recommend to exchange euro/gbp. huf has really no value and it keeps nosediving swiftly.

donot exchange in banks as they offer less rate, you can exchange in exchange agencies. exchanging in airports.near railway stations is not recommended because they offer bad rate.

please note you can choose english option in unicredit bank. i researched magyar banking and finally i felt unicredit is better

hope ths helps

cheers

My partner opened up an account really easily with Raiffeisen Bank because they had the shortest queue on the day and the lady spoke pretty good English! The common thing with most accounts here that we have noticed is that you do get charged (even a small amount) for almost everything.
All they asked for was his passport and I think our lease agreement as proof of address.
It was set up easily.

There are so many banks around, I would go into as many as you can in a day and ask around. That's a good way of judging their service as well, I think.

I've noticed the last couple of times I've withdrawn money from a UK bank using an OTP machine they give me the option of doing the transaction in Stirling rather than Forints. This would mean the exchange takes place at the OTP end rather than at the UK bank. I don't know which option to choose as it depends on respective exchange rates etc.

Yes, you get nickel-and-dimed everywhere. The real ripoff is the sub-inflation interest rate though.