Despite recent rumors, Revolut is not moving out of Hungary. However, Revolut’s Hungarian HUF bank account is being cancelled as of 1 April 2022, which is most relevant for employers sending salaries to Revolut accounts and people spending HUF in Hungary. Get an overview from us, and see if you are affected.
Who is Revolut for?
Revolut is a financial service provider that takes advantage of IT solutions that are much like a traditional bank’s online tools. Their innovative tools take care of precise booking of transactions, which lets the company offer their services for significantly more favorable prices. Revolut’s most prominent feature is that you get better exchange rates when spending money abroad (whether personally or online) than from traditional banks. Accordingly, Revolut’s services benefit the most those who often
- travel abroad,
- make online purchases from abroad, or
- send money to family members living abroad.
Revolut offers financial services for better prices
The secret behind the low costs is that Revolut offers innovative IT solutions for banking while using bank accounts managed by traditional banks all over the world. Sending money through Revolut involves fewer actual transactions between bank accounts, eliminating transaction charges and taxes. This also makes it possible for Revolut to ignore banks’ own currency exchange rates that are usually pretty high, and use the daily average exchange rate, which is far more favorable. Revolut does not have branch offices or a large number of employees either, so their operational costs are also far lower than the costs of traditional banks. All this enables Revolut to offer users similar services to banks, for the fraction of the price.
What is happening to Revolut in Hungary?
Up till now, the HUF account of Revolut has been handled by a traditional bank in Hungary: Raiffeisen. However, Raiffeisen is going to cancel its service to Revolut as of 1 April 2022. All HUF accounts currently managed by Revolut will be transferred to another bank account Revolut uses at a Lithuanian bank.
The change will not affect HUF to HUF transfers between Revolut users, since the most important feature remains that Revolut is logging transfers while minimizing the number of actual money transfers, same as before.
Most users top up their Revolut accounts with their bank cards, which process also remains the same. If the user’s traditional bank considers these top-ups bank card purchases, no costs apply; if the top-ups are considered cash withdrawals, costs apply.
The change will have the most significant effect on those who use a bank transfer to top up their Revolut accounts, and who regularly send money to HUF bank accounts. Starting from April, these transactions will be international money transfers, which are usually more expensive, and may take more time.
Salaries sent to Revolut accounts affected
In line with the above, the change will be most inconvenient for those employed by a Hungarian company who get their salaries to their Revolut account instead of a regular bank account, and use Revolut as their primary financial provider in Hungary.
Such employees should alert their employers (or the employers’ accountant or payroll specialist) and tell them about the account number change. March salaries, to be transferred in April, should already be sent to the Lithuanian bank account. Salaries still sent to the then obsolete Hungarian bank account will be returned in 5 days, and have to be resent to Lithuania.
Moreover, those who use Revolut as their primary financial provider in Hungary should reconsider whether it is still their best option, and either accept the charges for the now international transfers or find another primary provider.
Revolut stays in Hungary
While Revolut’s Hungarian bank account is replaced by a Lithuanian one starting from 1 April 2022, Revolut remains an attractive option for everyone in Hungary who regularly spends money abroad. Employers and employees in Hungary should update banking data for receiving salaries to make sure transfers arrive to employees on time.
Revolut is an excellent example of how innovative solutions can make your life easier and save you money. It might not be the best option for everyone, but it is still beneficial enough to retain the trust of its several hundred thousand Hungarian users.
Just like Revolut, Helpers Finance offers financial services in Hungary, although instead of banking these include accountancy, bookkeeping, and payroll administration. Our services are tailored to a special set of clients: small and medium sized companies with a foreign owner who prefers to focus on business growth, and expects precise financial administration to support their business decisions. If you think this definition covers you, get in touch, and let us review how we can best support your business.
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