MNB Relaunches Financial Education Campaign

The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) has re-launched its financial awareness campaign "Small things go a long way,” which encourages retail customers to achieve greater financial security by rethinking their everyday financial habits and training their savings, MNB told MTI on Monday.

According to the statement, "money-sucking" items can be hidden in people's everyday spending, which can eat up significant amounts of money in the long run. The " Small things go a long way" savings campaign aims to highlight these costs and give advice on how to reduce them.

They suggest planning a year ahead, paying attention to fixed major expenses (e.g. school starts, holidays) and preparing for possible unexpected situations.

Developing conscious financial habits and making small, regular savings can also generate significant returns in the long term. Even by switching to a cheaper internet or mobile phone package from an unused expensive one, or by checking annually whether there are wallet-friendly bank account, home or compulsory/voluntary motor vehicle insurance offers on the market that provide the same service instead of the existing ones, families can build up financial reserves, they wrote.

They also stressed the need to be informed in advance when taking out a loan and suggested using the MNB's free loan and lease selection tool to help find the most suitable options. When making a choice, it is worth looking for qualified consumer-friendly products that offer favorable terms, as well as transparency, predictability and a customer-friendly approach, they added. They also pointed out that when investing savings, it is important to avoid overly tempting offers. They stressed that personal income tax refunds of up to EUR hundreds of thousands a year are available if one has a voluntary fund membership, a pension insurance contract or a pension savings account (PSA), and that you do not have to pay social contribution tax on some types of investment like real estate funds, long-term investment accounts (PIAs), interest on savings deposits or interest tax on PIAs under certain conditions. Retail government bonds have been made attractive for being available free of interest tax and social security contributions.