It is wise to consider how you will finance this trip, as paying with a HUF bank card in another country can sometimes be costly. One solution for lowering banking fees can be owning a bank card in a foreign currency, like the euro.
For this, bank customers will need a foreign currency account, available without an account maintenance fee at Gránit Bank until May 31, 2025. Customers can choose from four currencies: The euro, the United States dollar, the Great British pound, and the Swiss franc. New customers can open such an account alongside a Hungarian forint account with a selfie or through the video bank solution. Existing customers, meanwhile, can open a foreign currency account with just a few taps in the Gránit eBank application.
Currencies can be exchanged cost-free at a mid-market rate, and the foreign exchange can be done easily and conveniently in the bank’s app, which provides an option better than many popular FinTechs, as they often offer this service for a fee and don’t have an option for true mid-market rates.
Gránit Bank allows customers to exchange currencies free of charge up to HUF 550,000 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on banking days. Outside of this time or beyond the limit, the bank exchanges currency at a favorable current account conversion rate, still free of charge.
Customers can request a foreign currency debit card from the bank to spend EUR or USD. If the bank card is asked for between Feb. 15 and May 7 this year, it will be free of charge for the first two years. If the customer already has a related account, it is easy to request a card in the app with just a few taps, and the card will be instantly available for mobile payment.
Unlike paying with a HUF card abroad, these currencies provide the opportunity for low-cost foreign exchange before the trip, when customers can follow the current rates on a graph in the app and choose the best moment for conversion. If you pay with a forint card, the best exchange rate cannot be selected.
It is a financially responsible decision to prepare for a trip abroad, and not just with a foreign currency account or bank card, but with a term deposit as well. The money you exchange to prepare for the trip can be tied down this way from one to 12 months, and it also provides one of the highest interest rates on the market at Gránit Bank.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of March 22, 2024.
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