Feketleves: the price increase is brutal in some places

Last year, the consumer price increase was 17.6 percent on average, according to data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH). Banks have the right to raise fees equal to this amount in the case of retail account packages. However, strict rules apply to the increase, prices cannot be raised freely, all fee increases must be thoroughly justified and the change must be announced at least 60 days before the introduction.

In previous years, we could see that they usually enforced the price increase, but this year, the majority of them restrained themselves – and customers can be happy about that.

Already in the second month of the year, OTP Bank announced that it would raise the fee for digital services by 9.9 percent from March, the annual fee for bank cards, cash withdrawals and branch transactions increased by 17.6 percent. Several services remained free at the financial institution, including the operation and use of the bank account offered to students.

They started from April

THE at CIB Bank less than half of the customers are affected by the increase in bank account management fees, and the fees related to daily transactions increased by less than 10 percent.

THE K&Haccount management fees increased by around 5 percent, and the costs of debit and credit cards increased by 9 percent this year. Fees for cash withdrawals and other transactions mostly rose by 17.6 percent in the bank.

THE at Raiffeisen were also raised from April, however, those customers who primarily bank digitally will continue to be able to use the majority of services free of charge, in other cases the fee increase was proportional to inflation.

The at UniCredit Bank many free services remained, but at the same time, as of April 1st, for other services, the rates included in the announcement increased by 17.6 percent in line with inflation.

Erste and MBH will increase from May

The at MBH Bank from the first of May, the price increase will be in line with inflation for both residential and corporate account packages. Exceptions are the monthly package and account management fees for the residential account introduced in April 2022, as well as the currently sold corporate account packages.

The Erste no inflationary increase was applied among users of the George application for digital customers, but other residential customers may experience an average price increase of 13 percent from next month.

There are some places where inflation is not monitored: the price of Gránit Bank’s most sought-after account packages has not changed for more than 10 years, and no increase is expected this year either, according to the financial institution’s information.

How much do you bank for?

Pursuant to an EU rule, banks are required to inform their customers with bank accounts of the amounts deducted from them in the previous year under which title. The document can be found under the name statement of fees in the internet bank or in the letter sent by the financial institution, the deadline is January 31 each year.

The statement can be very useful, so it is not worth considering this document as an unnecessary letter. After summarizing the costs, we should review our current account package, so we can easily recognize if we are banking too expensively. Even the average monthly bank charges determined by the central bank can help in this decision, but each case is unique.

If you haven’t already, take a look at how much you spent last year.

Bank costs do not seem like a large sum, since the financial institution separately deducts the account management, closing, or card fees, as well as the extra costs of all other services. However, on an annual level, we can spend up to tens of thousands of forints on the operation of our bank account.

According to the central bank’s previous summary, an average retail customer spends 34,800 forints at the bank, which represents an annual income of 330 billion forints for the financial institutions operating in Hungary with a customer base of more than 9 million.

It consists of the following cost elements, in the following order and amount (in parentheses are the ratios in relation to the total cost):

1. Account management fee: HUF 8,600 (24.7 percent)
2. Cash withdrawal and deposit: HUF 8,300 (23.9 percent)
3. Transfers: HUF 5,900 (16.9 percent)
4. SMS: HUF 5,000 (14.4 percent)
5. Bank card: HUF 4,600 (13.2 percent)
6. Other: HUF 2,400 (6.9 percent)

Considering the annual inflation of 17.6 percent, the average bank cost may now increase to HUF 40,925, but it should also be taken into account that some banks have raised their fees to a lesser extent – or even not at all.

How can I save?

The banking habits of Hungarians are not very good, we do not pay attention to why and how much we pay for the management of our finances. We pay a good part of these costs completely unnecessarily, because we do not use the specific banking services.

Many people still request SMS notifications about transactions, for which we pay an average of HUF 5,900 per month this year. This could be as little as HUF zero if we choose the much simpler and completely free solution, push notifications.

It is also a huge misconception that SMS is more secure than the mobile application, because in the case of the latter, double identification takes place: on the one hand, when the application is opened (login), and on the other hand, when the transaction is accepted. In addition, with some account packages, you have to pay not only for the notification SMS after transactions, but also for the signature messages to the internet bank, the fee for these has also increased at some financial institutions.

The paper-based bank account statement can also be an unnecessary extra cost, which even for cheaper accounts costs HUF 1,000 on average. It is better to request the completely free online statement, for which you can even get extra discounts, for example in the name of environmental awareness.

Among the transactions, it is worth checking cash withdrawals, bank transfers and direct debit orders.

• If possible, cash withdrawals should be kept under the HUF 150,000 free limit, which is available at any ATM in Hungary (and from next year, also at post offices). It is worth checking whether we have declared our use of this, because if we have not done so, the bank will charge the fees.
• We also review other transactions, because instead of occasional transfer costs, it may be worth switching to group direct debit or automatic bank card payment – the latter two are much cheaper.

The bank account selection program of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) can also help a lot, by entering some data it helps you choose the right account package, you can access the calculator here.