Index – Economy – Financial institutions’ services are becoming more expensive: we show which ones by how much

Banks and credit institutions are entitled to raise their fees in retail account packages to the same extent as the average consumer price increase. According to the Central Statistical Office (KSH), consumer prices rose by 17.6 percent on average last year, so this year the prices of individual financial institutions may increase by at most that much, reports Economx.

In previous years, financial institutions usually took advantage of the opportunity and increased their prices by the permitted amount. This year, however, we experienced slightly more modest fee increases.

• OTP Bank, for example, announced in February that it would raise the fee for digital services by 9.9 percent from March. Several services remained free at the financial institution, including the operation and use of the bank account offered to students. At the same time, the annual fee for bank cards, cash withdrawals and branch transactions increased as much as possible, by 17.6 percent.
• At CIB Bank, fees related to daily transactions increased by less than 10 percent in April.
• At K&H, account management fees increased by barely 5 percent, and the costs of debit and credit cards increased by 9 percent. Fees for cash withdrawals and other transactions rose by 17.6 percent in April.
• At Raiffeisen, also starting in April, customers who primarily bank digitally will continue to be able to use the majority of services free of charge. However, other customers did not fare so well; for them, the price increase was proportional to inflation.
• At UniCredit Bank, many services remained free, while others became more expensive by 17.6 percent from April 1.

MBH Bank and Erste delayed the fee increase for a long time

Starting May 1st, MBH Bank will raise the prices of its services by 17.6 percent 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.

Erste is implementing an average price increase of 13 percent starting in May, but customers using the financial institution’s digital application, George, can pay a more favorable tariff.

In the case of Gránit Bank, no increase is expected this year either, according to the financial institution.

You have to be careful when using your bank card and during transfers

In recent years, parallel to the increase in electronic payment traffic, the value of abuse related to electronic financial transactions has also increased continuously.

According to data from the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the value of damages caused in non-card-based electronic payment transactions – i.e. transfers and direct debits – was close to HUF 5.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, but damages of more than 2.3 billion were also registered in bank card operations.

The number of card abuses exceeded 44,200 in a single quarter, while the MNB registered more than 3,700 successful frauds in electronic money circulation, explained CIB Bank in its statement. In addition to all this, there were almost 14,000 attempted abuses worth HUF 4.8 billion.