The Best 2026 Credit Card Strategy: No Fees and Maximum Returns
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Credit cards are an important part of your personal finances. They are tools that you need to use to your advantage.
The problem is that it is easy to misuse credit cards. You need to have a good credit card strategy to take full advantage of credit cards.
Since I have started improving my personal finances, I optimized my usage of credit cards. I have reduced the annual fee of my credit cards to zero, and I have now reduced all my credit card fees to zero! That’s right. I do not pay any fee using credit cards, even for foreign currencies. My credit card strategy is much better than before since I did not realize I was paying too much at that time!
In addition, I have also improved the cashback I get for each of my purchases. Now, I get up to 1% cashback on my purchases! On the other hand, I had to go from one single card to three credit cards to optimize my fees and cashback. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch.
In this article, I share my entire credit card strategy. If you want to save on fees and improve your cashback, this will help you! Indeed, if you are willing to go the extra mile, you can save money and generate some small income with credit cards.
Credit card strategy
When I choose a credit card, I want two things:
- minimizing the fees
- maximizing the returns (the cashback or bonus).
Contrary to what most people think, there are plenty of free credit cards in Switzerland. Unfortunately, most people still pay for their credit cards. And there should be free credit cards in most countries. And some of these credit cards have nice cashback. Sometimes, they even have higher cashback than paid cards.
It is essential to choose a free credit card. For instance, if your card costs you 100 CHF per year and has 0.5% cashback, you would need to spend 20,000 CHF per year to get even. Most people do not spend that much on their credit cards! A free card with 0.25% cashback would have given you back 50 CHF instead of 0 CHF! Unless you spend a lot on your credit cards, and you probably should not, you should always opt for a free credit card.
The annual fee is not the only thing that needs to be minimized. Most cards charge a very high fee on currency exchange, for instance! This foreign fee needs to be taken care of as well! And withdrawals from a credit card are also almost always expensive.
The second thing you want with your credit cards is the highest cashback possible.
In Switzerland, the cashback is pretty bad. But in some countries, you can find cashback of several percentage points. First, you want some real cash as a bonus. If the cash is only usable in some shop you never go to, you do not want it. Ideally, it is real cashback going toward your credit card bills. Or it could be cashback in a shop that you often go to.
Some people also choose based on the credit card insurance they can get. I generally do not use credit card insurance, but this may be something you want to consider as a criteria.
Many people will say you should avoid credit cards for good finances. However, this is a personal finance myth. If you use them properly, they can be a good tool.
Foreign currency fees
If you make purchases in other countries or in foreign currencies, you need to be careful about currency exchange fees. In our household, About 20% of our card payments are paid in foreign currencies. For this, weI need to use another card with minimum currency exchange fees, and this extra card is an essential part of any credit card strategy.
All credit cards available in Switzerland charge a substantial fee for purchases in foreign currencies. Sometimes, they are also charging based on the country, not only the currency. For instance, my credit card charges a fee for everything abroad, even if it is in Swiss francs.
Eliminating foreign currency exchange fees is definitely what will save you the most in your credit strategy. Compared to my base card, I save 2.5% on each international purchase! It is much more than the cashback I get on my domestic purchases.
The best credit card strategy
Now that we know the goals, we can move on to what I consider to be the best credit card strategy.
1. Domestic Purchases- Certo One Credit Card
A great Swiss credit card with excellent cashback (up to 1%!), very flexible, and with a good mobile application.
- No yearly fee
- 1% cashback in three shops
The Certo One credit card is a great credit card. This card has 1% cash back, but only in three shops. Other shops have 0.25% cash back. It is real cashback, removed from your bill.
I have configured three shops based on my shopping history. I currently use Lidl, Galaxus and Landi. I am sometimes changing the last one because we do not have a third shop that we use very often. However, most of our groceries are bought at Lidl, and most of our online shopping is done at Galaxus. So, a significant portion of our expenses has 1% cashback.
If you want more details, I have an entire article about the Certo credit card.
2. International Purchases – Alpian debit card
Alpian is a premium digital bank, aiming to help affluent people with their money without paying the outrageous costs of traditional private banks.
Use the code POORCH to receive up to a 120 CHF reward.
If you are often paying with your card in another country, you could consider using Alpian for this. Alpian is a Swiss digital bank. And they only have a low surcharge when paying abroad or in foreign currencies.
Using Alpian over your other cards could save you a lot of money! Most people do not realize they pay a large fee when they purchase in another currency. You will only pay a 0.2% surcharge with Alpian. Most credit cards are above 2%.
The downside of Alpian here is that it is a debit card. In most cases, it will work just fine. But there are a few cases where it will be refused. Renting a car and reserving hotels often require a credit card. It is because they make a reservation for the money instead of taking the money out. And this is not possible with debit cards. One way around it is to require payment in advance, in which case debit cards should be fine. But this is not always possible.
When this is not possible, you will have to use your credit card. It will not be free, but this will work.
For more information, I have made an entire review of the Alpian bank account.
There are also some other alternatives if you prefer:
- Neon (our review)
- WIR Bank Top (our review)
Strategy with more cashback
I am happy with my current credit card strategy, and it is getting better and better. But there are always things that I could improve.
If you want to optimize cashback, you can introduce an extra credit card to your strategy: the Swisscard American Express. This card gives 1% cashback on every shop. The issue with this card is that American Express cards are not well accepted in Switzerland. This means that if you use this card, you still need a secondary card for when Amex is not accepted.
So, for this strategy, the ideal is to get:
- The Swisscard American Express
- The Certo One from the previous strategy
- The Alpian card from the previous strategy
In the past, I was using this strategy. But to simplify my strategy, I decided to only keep the Certo and the Alpian card. However, you could improve it by using both. It is up to you to choose between cashback and simplicity.
Do you have any idea how to improve my credit card strategy?
The simplest credit card strategy
Now, some of you may wonder whether we could make things simple. Many people do not want to carry two or three cards with them. And I completely understand that.
The simplest credit card strategy would be with fewer cards. In this case, you have to sacrifice some cashback. However, unless you spend a lot with your credit cards, this is probably not a huge deal for your finances.
If you want the simplest credit card strategy, you have a few choices.
- If you ever buy something in foreign currency, you need a card with free foreign exchange. In this case, go with Alpian. You will be able to use it in Switzerland, abroad, and online. If you do not need a real credit card (for hotels, cards, …), you can simply use Alpian.
- If you need a credit card and never buy anything in foreign currency, you can simply use the Certo Mastercard. It is free, and you can earn cash back. This card is well accepted in Switzerland.
- If you need a credit card and pay in foreign currency, you will have to go with both Alpian and the Certo Mastercard. But you would generally only need to carry one: Alpian for foreign currencies and Certo for rentals and domestic purchases.
The simplest credit card strategy is qgood The important part is to save money on the fees. The cashback is a little bonus, but it is only a tiny optimization.
7 Tips for credit cards
Credit cards are powerful tools for managing personal finances. However, they may be dangerous if not used correctly.
It is the reason why some people think that we should not use credit cards. If you feel you cannot control your use of credit cards, you may be better off without them. But if we use them well, they can help you a little towards Ffinancial independence
1. Do not carry credit card debt
First and foremost, you should never carry a balance on your credit card.
Just after borrowing money from a loan shark, this is the worst kind of debt you can have! This kind of debt has at least 10% interest and can go as high as 20% interest. This fee is a lot of money you will lose if you start having credit card debt!
2. Do not withdraw money with your credit card
Also, you should never withdraw cash with your credit card.
Most Swiss credit cards have high fees for cash withdrawals. However, withdrawing money is not what credit cards are about. For instance, the Amex from Swisscard has a 3.95% fee on withdrawal with a minimum of 5 CHF. Of course, if you are in an emergency and this is the only thing you can do, it is not so bad to pay this interest. However, you should be careful to use it only in case of an actual emergency!
3. Always use the correct card
You also need to make sure you are using the correct card for the correct thing.
In my current credit card strategy, I am using three credit cards. For each of my purchases, be it in a store or online, I have to think about which card I should use. Choosing the correct card is important because a 2.5% fee on foreign currency purchases will entirely remove all the bonuses with your credit card.
4. Be careful of hidden fees
A complete ebook giving you the cheapest resources to manage your money in Switzerland!
All the cards I am using are free. However, that does not mean that everything is free with those cards. I already mentioned interest on credit card debt and withdrawal fees. But a lot of credit cards have other services that are paid.
For instance, all free credit cards allow you to pay if you want a paper statement. Some credit cards, however, require you to pay if you need to call them. Thus, you have to be extra careful about what you do with the card.
5. Do not let cashback blind you
There is also one subtle thing about cashback that you need to be aware of. Sometimes, people use the excuse of cashback to buy more expensive things.
For instance, between my Amex and my Certo MasterCard reward program, I get 2% cash back when I shop at Migros. However, many things are more expensive there. Overall, it is estimated that grocery shopping at Migros is at least 40% more expensive than at Lidl. Compared to that, the extra 1% cashback bonus is negligible. Cashback should only be considered a bonus for shopping for cheap things.
You should never buy something because it will give you some extra income. If you lose 100 CHF and make 1 CHF back, you will still have lost 99 CHF! You are much better off with your 100 CHF!
6. Keep your credit cards safe
You should consider your credit cards as sensitive material.
Always be careful when you type your PIN. If you suspect something is not safe, do not use your credit card! And if you think someone got your PIN, change it immediately or block the card! If you lose the card, you should immediately report it as stolen to make it blocked!
7. Credit card companies are not your friends
Overall, you need to understand that these credit card companies are in it for the money!
They are not offering free cards just because they are nice! Most people make many mistakes with their credit cards, and credit card companies exploit these people! Do not make mistakes with your credit cards, and you will have a powerful tool in your wallet!
Conclusion
An optimized credit card strategy consists of reducing the fees to zero and maximizing the cashback from purchases. To achieve these goals, you need two different cards:
With this credit card strategy, you never pay any fee and have a 1% cashback with the Certo in three shops and 0.20% in other shops. If you want to make it simpler, you can switch to one card. And if you would like to optimize it further, you can switch to three cards.
If you are used to United States credit cards, you may wonder why I did not talk about travel hacking. In fact, in Switzerland, travel hacking with credit cards is bad. There are a few options from Swiss and Miles, for instance. However, their bonus is not very interesting, and their credit cards are not even free! These cards may be good if you spend a lot of money. However, that is not the point of this blog spending a lot of money.
Finally, please remember that credit cards are powerful tools if used correctly. If you are not using them correctly, they can be very dangerous to your personal finances. You need to never carry a balance on your credit card. If you carry a balance, you are much better off with no credit card.
And if you want to keep it simple, it is also possible. Remember only to use free cards, which will minimize foreign exchange fees.
Finally, all this is about optimization. Just having the best credit cards will not make a huge difference in your way to financial independence, for instance. It is good to do it. But there are things you can do to save money that will matter more.
What is your credit card strategy? Do you have any tips to share?
More reading
TCS Travel Mastercard Gold Credit Card Review – 1% cashback!
Is the TCS Gold card worth it? Read our review of the TCS Travel Mastercard Gold, its 1% cashback offer, and whether it beats other Swiss credit cards.
Credit Card Insurance in Switzerland 2026 – Is it worth it?
Are you covered? We analyze common Swiss credit card insurances (travel, purchase protection) to see if they are actually useful or just marketing.
Certo! One Mastercard World Review 2026
Best Cashback card? Read our review of the Certo! One Mastercard World. We analyze its unique option to choose your favorite cashback shops.
Learn easy ways to optimize your finances and save thousands in Switzerland with our exclusive e-book. Learn about the most cost-effective financial services tailored for savvy residents and expats!
Get Your FREE Swiss Money-Saving Guide
Again thank you for a detailed and informative information Blog:
I noticed you mention using your card abroad and to watch out for fees, I have Revolut and find that when hiring a car in the UK they will not accept Revolut when taking the £200 deposit.
What option would be best swiss Visa card to use and to avoid charges?
many thanks
Hi Joe
That’s a good question, and there is unfortunately no good answer :)
Unfortunately, there are cases when a credit card is required. The least bad card is likely the Migros Bank Cumulus Visa credit card (our review here).
The simplest strategy section is really helpful for people who don’t want to juggle multiple cards. I’m curious about the practical implementation of the three-card strategy. You mention always having to think about which card to use for each purchase. Do you have a system for remembering, like a label on each card, or do you mostly use one for online/rentals and another for everyday foreign spending?
That’s a very good question. I did not have a system no. The only thing I did is that when in Switzerland, I put my credit cards in order of cashback in my wallet (Amex then Mastercard) and when I was abroad, I put my debit card at the front of my wallet. But I did multiple times the mistake online of using the wrong card. That’s why I simplified it because I want to keep my life as simple as possible.
What about WIR for international payments? Aren’t they zero fees, zero currency conversion charge and a fair exchange rate? I switched from neon to them when neon introduced their fee on international transactions.
WIR Bank Top was introduced much after Neon, but they can be cheaper indeed. The only issue is that there are some conditions to using the account. I will mention them in this article, as well as Alpian.
The only problem with Swisscard is the whole process if your application gets rejected is a bit opaque.
After having applied and reapplied several times, sent salary statements, etc…then I finally started my guess work for manager emails.
After such an email I got a call back, then was finally told the reason (missing bank account statements with salary coming in each month).
I sent that one and now all is good and I am happy.
I did not have an easy road to get here though.
Congratulations on making it to the end!
I agree that both parties would have saved a lot of time if they had simply told you the reason from the start.
I am wondering if other credit card companies are more transparent. I am not sure if this is a very transparent industry, unfortunately.
Hello! Great article as usual!
On my own experience I prefer the Swisscard Cashback cards. For free, I get 2 cards linked to the same account (mastercard/visa and amex). 1% cashback on amex and 0.25% on Mastercard/Visa. I found that the are several shops that take Amex and when it dosn’t work, I can go with the other card. Plus, Swisscard has e-bills, which make everything easier for later payment.
I believe that with Swisscard, it is possible to save even more compared to having only 3 shops at 1% like Certo.
Let me know what you think!
Best, Ale
Hi Allessandro
Yes, I agree that on paper having the AMEX + VISA/MC is the best combination. You could even have AMEX first > Certo second (3 shops that do not take AMEX) and any card after card.
But the advantage of the Certo is that you get a single card, which is easier. So, in the end, it’s an optimization between cashback and simplicity. In this case, I chose simplicity even though I know I could make more cashback with the AMEX.
Have you heard of churning? Would it work here?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/business/credit-cards-churners.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
In Switzerland, there are very low incentives to open many new cards. The offer is too limited, and the market is too much in favor of the providers. But there are a few bonuses that people could get.
Hi,
First of all, congratulations and thank you for such a great blog. I can tell this is my reference source of information with everything related with expenses, finance and investments.
I wanted to share my experience with the Certo and Cumulus credit cards, and give a qualitative aspect to the numbers and fees above.
I have used both of them.
Usually I use eBill to automatically pay my bills. I find the LSV process cumbersome, and sometimes expensive, as they may require an authentification from the Post Office (or maybe I am missing this with something else)
Cumulus Visa card allows to do payments via eBill.
Certo Mastercard does not allow to pay via eBill, asking you to do a monthly transfer to settle the debts, or do LSV.
If it happens to you that you are on holidays, ill, stressed or you simply forget to make the payment to Cembra, they send you a reminder for the fee of 30 CHF, as I have just did a couple of weeks ago. With a balance of recieved cash-back just above 30 CHF in the yeart to date, this fee basically deletes all my rewards of the year.
For this reason, from now on I am switching back to the Cumulus Visa card, which allows to pay automatically via eBill, thus avoiding the risk of not paying and receiving a fee. It is a bit less profitable, but securer.
Best regards
Hi Observer
Thanks for your kind words, I am glad this is useful!
It’s a very fair point. e-bill can be a major advantage for many people. I would prefer to be able to get e-bill with Cembra, it’s really sad they don’t adapt.
Thanks for sharing your experience, your logic makes a lot of sense.
Neon started recently to charge 0.35% foreign exchange fee surcharge on the free plan.
This to encourage the 2 chf / month plan which brings back the 0 fee part.
You are right, I updated most of the articles about Neon, but missed that one. I will add a mention of this fee.
I found your article in fact while starting from this one:
https://www.mustachianpost.com/best-credit-card-switzerland/
and saw then wow Migros Bank has no foreign exchange rate fee…I should have known that banks don’t really drop but rather hide these practices under other “taxes” :)
cheap and dirty trick to use a different exchange rate.
Yes, what Migros did with this card is really sad indeed.