Visa/MasterCard bank cards in Romanian lei (RON)
General information
Romanian leu (RON) is the national currency and the only means of payment in Romania. Almost all shops and online services accept it. Leu means "lion" in Romanian.
Visa/Mastercard cards are accepted wherever payment in Romanian lei is available through a terminal or website. It is worth noting that some payment systems, such as American Express, are not available in Romania.
As of March 2024, there are more than 30 banks in Romania that support Visa/Mastercard RON, with 9 of them being systemically important. Here is their list:
- Banca Transilvania (BT or TLV);
- OTP Bank;
- Alpha Bank;
- Raiffeisen Bank;
- UniCredit Bank;
- Groupe Société Générale, also known as BRD;
- Banca Comercială Română;
- CEC Bank (Casa de Economii și Consemnațiuni);
- Exim Banca Românească.
According to Statista's data for 2020, the number of plastic cards issued in Romania exceeded 18.7 million, about 96% of the country's population, which at that time was about 19.6 million. At the same time, statistics show that Romanian residents prefer to make transactions in cash. According to a survey by the same Statista service, the majority of respondents said that they make between 76% and 100% of payments in cash lei.
How do you get a Visa/Mastercard from a Romanian bank?
To obtain a card, you must open an account in any Romanian bank. In most cases, residents will only need a passport and personal presence at one of the bank offices. However, banks may also ask for additional identity documents such as a residence permit or residence permit card.
Non-residents can also open an account in a Romanian bank, but in this case, banks may require a tax certificate and other documents. The full list of documents for opening an account and obtaining a card may vary, so it is necessary to check with the specific bank — it can be done on the website, in the mobile application, or in the office during a personal visit.
Romanian lei (RON) deposit/withdrawal
You can deposit and withdraw funds from Visa/Mastercard cards in several ways:
- Cash via ATMs;
- By transfer to a bank account or cards of another bank;
- Using money transfer systems, such as Western Union and Ria;
- By currency conversion through online exchangers;
- By using payment systems.
RON currency deposit and withdrawal operations are available in such payment systems as:
- Stripe;
- Wise;
- Adyen;
- PaySera;
- Skrill;
- Neteller.
The payment systems do not set any restrictions on withdrawals to Romanian banks' cards. Therefore, users can withdraw funds from payment systems to cards of any banks supporting the Romanian lei, except for those for which regional restrictions are set.
However, not all payment services support transactions with the Romanian leu. For example, the popular international service PayPal does not support payments with RON currency.
What should you pay attention to when withdrawing and topping up cards?
It should be noted that when withdrawing funds to cards from other banks and e-wallets, banks may charge commissions. The same applies to top-up operations. The commission for deposit and withdrawal operations differs for each company and the limits — this information should be clarified when using a particular payment system or bank account.
The optimal option for withdrawal and replenishment of RON is online exchangers, which support a variety of conversion options:
- electronic payment systems (EPS);
- bank transfers by card or account number;
- money transfers;
- cash;
- cryptocurrencies.
When choosing an exchanger, you must pay attention to the exchange rate and the presence of hidden commissions. For example, due to hidden commissions, exchangers can attract users with a favorable exchange rate, so you need to be careful when choosing an exchange office for currency conversion.
In addition, some exchangers may not fix the exchange rate during the transaction, which is also essential to consider.
