Expat friendly banks

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Kenyo00 Active member

Member since 15 March 2015

Kenyo00Active member20 July 2015 10:41:07

Hi everyone,

聽聽 I'm to start working in BP soon, so I guess I'll be needing a local bank account for direct deposits and such. What is your experience on local banks? Any you'd recommend or avoid? Or do you keep your money overseas?

Thanks!

gazamataz Active member

Member since 23 November 2014

gazamatazActive member20 July 2015 12:26:26

I got my bank account with OTP, the branch on Nador utca (corner of Nador and M茅rleg) - though they were refitting it and the entrance may be on M茅rleg). They have English speaking staff and you can open an account before you have a Hungarian address. In fact it took me under a couple of hours, and I walked out with my account numbers and less than a week later I popped in and picked up my bank card. They allow you to open Euro and GBP accounts too.

OTP have a great iphone/ipad app called SmartBank which means you can transfer money from anywhere.
Also you can configure Dijnet on your SmartBank app, so I pay my gas, internet and water bills through the OTP app really easily.

An aside really... I think the Forint exchange rate has been lowering over the past few years. So if you're saving money then you may want to look into this, and possibly hold your savings in a different currency if you think the trend is going to continue.

GuestPoster279 Guest

GuestPoster279Guest20 July 2015 12:38:59

214245

Your flag path shows USA and Puerto Rico. If you are an American Citizen do be aware that any bank in Hungary now complies with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. So to open an account remember to bring your Social Security card as they will need to see your US taxpayer ID number.

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