Euro or forint? Which one should we choose when making card purchases abroad?

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 07. 04. 11:14

If you are going on holiday abroad, it is worth preparing for a pitfall when using your bank card, which could mean unnecessary expenses of up to tens of thousands of forints. A special currency exchange option, dynamic currency exchange, is a convenient service that can be found at store checkouts, online payments and cash withdrawals.

Whether you are planning a holiday abroad or shopping online from international websites, it is worth getting acquainted with the dynamic currency conversion (Dynamic Currency Conversion-DCC) option. DCC allows foreign cardholders, including Hungarian consumers, to make purchases in their own currency, i.e. forint, rather than in the currency of the given country. This feature is not only available in stores and in an increasing number of ATM networks, but can also appear on online payment platforms in certain cases.

The essence of DCC is that a customer abroad who uses a bank card issued in a different currency (e.g. a Hungarian tourist in a country using the euro) can decide whether to carry out the transaction in the local currency or in the currency of their own bank account (e.g. forint). The system offering DCC immediately converts the price into the currency used by the customer, thus displaying the total amount of the transaction in the customer’s own currency.

Consumers may be faced with a choice when they are abroad, but they often do not have the prior background knowledge to make an informed decision. That is why the GVH is now helping consumers to make a more informed decision in a better prepared manner.