Budgeting App for Expats in Hungary

Hungary has been in the EU since 1 May 2004, but it uses the Hungarian forint (HUF), not the euro. The country is preparing to adopt the euro¹.

Borderless Budget connects to major Hungarian banks including OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Erste Bank, and MBH Bank through secure bank connections, and your accounts in the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein connect too.

Major banks for expats

• OTP Bank
• K&H Bank
• Erste Bank
• MBH Bank

Cash vs. card culture

Since 2 March 2020, payments between Hungarian payment accounts go through in a few seconds, at any hour, every day of the year². That makes a bank transfer as quick as cash for paying rent or settling up with friends.

Household energy is where Hungary stands out: Eurostat found it the least expensive EU country for energy in 2025, at 39% of the EU average⁹. If you earn in euros or dollars, the forint rate decides how far that goes each month.

Because the forint isn't the euro, everything you pay in Hungary changes in dollar or euro terms whenever the rate moves, even when your spending doesn't. Tracking both currencies in one place shows you the real trend instead of a guess.

Transferring money to Hungary

• Compare the forint rate your bank offers with Wise or Revolut before each transfer.
• Keep a month of rent and bills in forints at the start of each month, so paying your landlord never depends on that day's exchange rate.
• If you're paid in forints but still have bills at home, a fixed monthly transfer is easier to budget than converting whenever a bill arrives.

Borderless Budget tracks all of your accounts, your home-country bank, your Hungarian bank, and services like Wise or Revolut, in a single dashboard. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects where things actually stand.

• Hungary's personal income tax rate is 15% for nearly all types of income¹⁰.
• The tax year is the calendar year, and returns are due by 20 May of the following year. The tax authority prepares a draft return from the data it holds¹¹.
• The 18.5% social security contribution comes on top of income tax, so budget from your net pay, not your gross⁷.
• The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income from all sources, wherever they live¹².

1. Budget your Hungarian life in forints. Rent, groceries and transport are all in HUF, and converting each one in your head adds noise, not clarity.
2. Ask whether a flat's rent includes the building's common charges (közös költség) and utilities, and put them on their own budget line.
3. If you travel outside Budapest often, compare the monthly Budapest pass with the 18,900 Ft countrywide pass⁵⁶.
4. Keep your home-country bills, like subscriptions, loans and phone plans, in their own currency so you can see what Hungary actually costs you.

Connect your Hungarian and home-country banks

Link your OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Erste Bank, or other Hungarian bank alongside your home-country bank. Transactions from all accounts sync automatically into one dashboard.

Budget in HUF and your home currency

Your budget is set in your home currency, and Borderless Budget automatically converts every transaction, whether it's in Hungarian forint or your home currency. You can toggle any transaction to see the original currency amount. Exchange rates update daily, so your budget always reflects reality.

Automatic categorization

Transactions from Hungarian merchants are automatically categorized. Categorization improves as you use the app, learning your patterns across both currencies, so you spend less time sorting transactions and more time living your life in Hungary.

See the impact of exchange rates

When exchange rates shift, your combined budget view updates automatically. You'll see exactly how currency movements affect your overall spending, no surprises, no guesswork.