Since July 1, 2023, Hungarian law has allowed customers to withdraw cash at retail store
checkouts when paying by bank card — up to HUF 40,000 per month, in no more than two
transactions, free of charge.
However, this option is not automatic: stores must enter a specific agreement with their
payment service provider and have the technical capability (POS terminal) to support the
service.
Cash withdrawals are only permitted in connection with a purchase — it’s not possible to
withdraw cash without buying something, even of minimal value.
PENNY Market was the first major retail chain in Hungary to introduce in-store cash
withdrawals, starting back in 2017, and it remains the only large chain to offer the service
nationwide.
The conditions at PENNY are as follows:
Currently, it is available for OTP Maestro and HUF-based Mastercard cards, while PENNY is working to extend support to Visa cards as well.
In practice, PENNY is currently the only chain in Hungary offering in-store cash-back on a
broad scale.
Both Lidl and Spar have officially stated that they do not plan to introduce the service.
Auchan and Tesco have not yet implemented it but have indicated they are assessing the
possibility.
A few small local stores, mainly those partnered with OTP Bank, have begun testing the
feature. However, these are limited cases rather than a nationwide service. Smaller shops
often apply stricter rules — for example, cash withdrawals must be in round thousands of
forints or linked to higher minimum purchase amounts.
While Hungarian regulations allow any merchant to provide in-store cash withdrawals, in
reality, PENNY is currently the only nationwide retailer offering this service under
unified, free-of-charge conditions.
Other retail chains have not yet adopted the practice, mainly due to technical, contractual, or
logistical limitations with payment systems and banking partners.
Sources:
Bankmonitor.hu, Biztosdöntés.hu, Penny.hu, Beszerzes.hu, Startlap.hu, TradeMagazin.hu,
Index.hu, Hírklikk.hu