Cash payments have all but disappeared from Hungary’s debt-collection practice: 85.97 percent of payments are now made by bank transfer, the highest share in the past five years. Cash accounts for only 0.2 percent of payments and does not reach 0.3 percent even in the county with the highest cash use. Postal cheques decline more slowly and still represent 13.61 percent of payments.
The shift is visible among older debtors as well. Dr. Mikolay Éva, head of secured debt collection at the EOS Group, said the high share of transfers indicates that older age groups increasingly use electronic payment channels, although cheques remain popular among them.
Composition of claims has shifted significantly
In the reviewed portfolio, 47.6 percent of claims are now linked to telecommunications services, while bank-related claims account for 37.2 percent and utility claims for 14.8 percent. The telecommunications category covers more than unpaid phone bills: it includes internet and subscription services and arrears from mobile phone and other device financing bought in instalments.
By age group, most cases affect 40–59 year-olds: 60 percent of bank claims and 52 percent of telecom claims relate to this cohort. Average sizes differ, however: bank claims are largest for those over 60, with averages exceeding HUF 925,000, while telecom arrears are highest among 20–39 year-olds, with an average above HUF 181,000.
Payment patterns show a bifurcation: from 2024 to 2025 payments on bank debts fell by 14.1 percent, especially among 40–59 year-olds, whereas telecom payments increased by 20 percent and 20–39 year-olds paid in 44 percent more than a year earlier.
Delayed repayment quickly becomes costly: concrete figures
One of the conference’s clearest messages was that postponing debt settlement can substantially increase costs. A HUF 100,000 bank debt can grow to as much as HUF 207,000 in legal proceedings, while a telecommunications claim can amount to roughly HUF 193,000.
Dr. Mikolay stressed that legal action is not the primary objective for debt collectors: enforcement is a last resort and collectors try first to reach agreements that the debtor can sustain long term. She advised debtors not to ignore contacts from collectors, to open and read correspondence and answer phone calls, because timely agreements can avoid costly legal procedures and ease psychological burden.
NPL market: no dramatic deterioration yet, but regulation causes uncertainty
Non-performing loan (NPL) stocks have not shown dramatic deterioration so far. Fazekas Bence, Head of Monitoring & Collection at UniCredit Bank Hungary, said the volume entering his bank’s NPL portfolio has been stagnant for years. Dr. Hölczl Krisztina, Managing Director for debt collection at MBH Bank, cited MNB second-quarter data indicating around a 2.1 percent sector-wide NPL ratio and a 1.6 percent household NPL rate, and described the current situation as not dramatic. She expects stagnation or modest increases ahead, mainly in certain corporate segments.
Panelists also saw little movement in pricing and no significant influx of new market players. Vaczkó-Kovács Orsolya, CEO of MKK, said the market remains supply-driven: more claims would be put up for sale than buyers would purchase. Fazekas noted that claim purchasing relies on long-term trust relationships, making entry difficult for newcomers.
Biggest short-term risks: enforcement reform and foreign-currency mortgage cases
Both the audience and experts identified regulatory uncertainty as the main risk. In a vote, 59 percent of the audience expected the reformed enforcement system to be worse and less efficient, while 23 percent anticipated improvement. Panelists agreed that the system can only work well if it is clear, transparent and predictable.
A particularly severe source of uncertainty is the suspension of enforcement in foreign-currency mortgage cases and the lack of final regulation. Fazekas warned against retroactive legislation and said any new rules would unlikely close the foreign-currency mortgage issues definitively. Dr. Hölczl cautioned that overly strong intervention could shift costs to consumers, as banks might reflect higher risk in wider spreads, stricter underwriting and tougher monitoring.
Vaczkó-Kovács emphasized the difficulty of finding solutions that are legally, socially and politically acceptable simultaneously, and stressed the need to settle how potential losses are shared between original lenders and debt buyers. The panel repeatedly underlined that final rules should be comprehensive and that lasting solutions are hard to achieve without involving industry participants.
Early intervention, better data and AI as future levers
There was broad agreement that problem accounts must be identified and handled as early as possible. Reisch Mónika highlighted early contact with customers, Dr. Hölczl pointed to segmentation and personalised treatment, and Vaczkó-Kovács said all such efforts rely on access to relevant data.
Fazekas suggested opportunities not only in better data flows between banks and collectors, but also in information sharing between state agencies and banks, enabling earlier identification and outreach to clients at risk. Artificial intelligence is increasingly present: UniCredit runs several AI developments and uses AI solutions in other areas, while MBH Bank applies AI for large-scale data analysis, decision support, customer communication and assistant tasks.
Dr. Hölczl noted that one of the main barriers is no longer purely technological but human: some staff find it hard to accept that algorithms may perform certain tasks faster or better than people, so AI deployment requires a mindset change. She said the next step will be quantifying the actual economic benefits of these technologies.
Conclusion: need for predictable rules and a digital ecosystem
The panel concluded that establishing a predictable regulatory environment—ideally with meaningful industry involvement—will be the most important goal for the coming year. Participants also called for faster, simpler procedures, improved data flows and a more modern, digital debt-collection ecosystem.
