Send money from Canada to Hungary
Read this part first. Grey does not convert to forint. What reaches Hungary is a euro credit, delivered into your recipient's Hungarian IBAN through SEPA, at OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Hungary or another Hungarian bank. If they hold a euro account, or are content to convert at their own bank, this works well. If they need forint in hand and nothing else, this is not the right route. The rate and the fee are shown before you confirm.
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Who sends to Hungary from Canada, and what they should expect
The Hungarian community in Canada is long established and heavily concentrated, with Toronto's west end around Bloor Street the traditional centre, alongside Hamilton, Windsor, Calgary and Montreal. Much of it descends from the arrivals of 1956 and 1957, which means the people sending today are often second or third generation, supporting an aunt in Debrecen or dealing with a flat in Budapest rather than remitting wages home.
There is a newer layer too. Hungarians who came for work in the last fifteen years, students moving in both directions, and families with property on both sides of the Atlantic that has to be maintained, taxed and eventually divided.
What all of them need to understand before sending is the payout. Hungary keeps the forint, and Grey does not convert into it. Your money is converted into euro once and delivered to a Hungarian IBAN as a euro credit. The account receives it in euro, and what happens next is a decision for the person holding that account.
Three steps, and one thing to check first
Sign up
The account is free, opens in roughly five minutes, and needs one valid identity document. There is nothing to attend and nothing to post.
Fund
Grey carries no balance in Canadian dollars. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, fed by money arriving from a client, an employer or a transfer you make.
Send
Confirm first that your recipient can receive euro into their Hungarian account. Then enter the IBAN, read the euro amount, the rate and the fee, and confirm.
What a euro credit to Hungary costs
If your recipient converts the euro to forint at their own bank, there is a second cost there that belongs to them and their bank, and Grey has no visibility of it. Saying otherwise would be pretending to know something we do not.
So compare honestly. If the person receiving holds a euro account in Hungary, which a great many people and most businesses do, this route is straightforward and the euro arrive intact. If they hold only a forint account, ask them what their bank does with an incoming euro payment before you build a habit around it.
How the rate works on a euro credit
One conversion happens inside Grey: your balance into euro. That rate is displayed before you confirm and fixed at confirmation, so the euro figure you approved is the euro figure credited to the Hungarian IBAN.
Anything that happens to those euro afterwards, including a conversion into forint by the receiving bank, sits outside the transfer and outside Grey's pricing. Knowing exactly where Grey's part ends is the most useful thing on this page.
Grey against a Canadian bank wire to Hungary
A Canadian bank will wire to Hungary and will usually convert into forint on the way, which sounds simpler and is priced accordingly, inside a rate you never see itemized. Grey does something narrower and states it plainly: one conversion into euro, at a rate you approve, then a SEPA credit into the Hungarian IBAN. You know the euro figure in advance, you can track the payment to settlement, and you are never guessing which part of the cost was the exchange and which was the fee. Whether that trade is right for you depends entirely on what the account at the Hungarian end can accept.
What your recipient in Hungary receives
A euro credit in their Hungarian bank account, arriving through SEPA. They do not open a Grey account, and they receive euro rather than forint.
Euro into a Hungarian IBAN
OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Hungary and other Hungarian banks are reachable. The IBAN routes the payment, and the credit arrives denominated in euro.
SEPA and SEPA Instant
Hungary is in the SEPA area even though it is outside the euro. SEPA Instant settles eligible payments in under ten seconds, and transfers from a funded balance typically arrive within minutes.
GreyTag
Where the person you are paying also holds a Grey account, GreyTag transfers between the two of you are free and instant, in whichever currency you both choose.
Funding the balance you send from
The balance you send from is funded from outside Canada. The three routes below cover most senders on this corridor.
From a client
Professional and contract income billed in euro, dollars or pounds can be received into the matching balance, and euro in particular save a conversion later.
From an employer
Pay from a company outside Canada arrives in its own currency and sits in the balance until a Hungarian payment is due.
From your own transfer
Moving money in yourself is the usual approach for property charges and legal costs, where the date is known well in advance.
The balance holds its currency until you send, then becomes euro once, at the rate displayed to you, and the euro are what travel to Hungary.
What Canadians send to Hungary for
Elderly relatives
An aunt in Debrecen, a grandmother in Szeged, pharmacy and heating costs topped up from Toronto or Hamilton. Worth checking whether their bank account can take euro before you start.
Flats and property
Common charges on a flat in the Budapest districts, a renovation paid in stages, local taxes and a caretaker. Often handled through a manager who can accept a euro credit without difficulty.
Estates and legal costs
A lawyer settling an inheritance between siblings in Canada and Hungary, notarial fees, land registry costs. Professional firms almost always hold a euro account.
Family occasions and visits
A wedding contribution, a funeral, money left with family ahead of a trip back. Fixed amounts on fixed dates, sent to somebody who knows it is coming.
Four patterns dominate, and for three of them a euro credit is unproblematic because the recipient is an institution or already holds euro.
Why senders still choose this route
Ask your recipient what their Hungarian bank does with an incoming euro payment. If the answer is workable, open the account, fund a balance and send to the IBAN.
Opening the account asks for one valid identity document. Sending asks for the Hungarian IBAN and nothing else. The euro are converted once on Grey's side, fixed at confirmation, and delivered by SEPA into the account you named.
FAQs
Does Grey convert my money into forint?
No. Grey converts once into euro and delivers a euro credit into the Hungarian IBAN by SEPA. Any forint conversion is done by the receiving bank.
What currency actually lands in a Hungarian bank account?
Euro. The credit arrives denominated in euro, so your recipient either holds it as euro or converts it at their own Hungarian bank.
Can my sister receive euro into a forint-only account in Budapest?
Ask her bank first. Some Hungarian accounts accept an incoming euro credit and convert it; others do not, and the answer decides whether this route suits you.
Which Hungarian banks can Grey reach?
OTP Bank, K&H Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Hungary and other Hungarian banks. The Hungarian IBAN routes the euro credit on its own.
Is Hungary in the SEPA area even though it uses the forint?
Yes. Hungary is in SEPA but outside the euro, which is why a euro credit can be delivered to a Hungarian IBAN by SEPA.
Will Grey show me a forint amount before I send?
No. Grey shows the euro amount that will reach the account, because Grey does not perform the forint conversion and cannot price somebody else's.
Can I pay a Hungarian lawyer handling an estate?
Yes. Professional firms in Hungary generally hold euro accounts, so a euro credit to their IBAN settles fees and notarial costs without difficulty.
Can I top up Grey in Canadian dollars for a Hungarian payment?
No. Grey holds no Canadian dollar balance. You hold US dollars, provided by Lead Bank, pounds or euro, and send euro to Hungary.
Can I avoid the conversion entirely by holding euro?
Yes. If your Grey balance is already in euro, no conversion happens on Grey's side and only the fee shown beforehand applies.
How quickly does the euro credit reach a Hungarian account?
From a funded Grey balance, transfers typically arrive within minutes, and SEPA Instant settles eligible payments in under ten seconds.
Can I pay common charges on a Budapest flat this way?
Yes, provided the building manager or account can accept euro. The euro amount is fixed at confirmation before the transfer leaves.
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