Migros Cumulus Visa Credit Card Review 2024

The fall of the Cumulus Mastercard

As you may know, Cembra was issuing the Cumulus Mastercard until recently. It was an excellent credit card, and I have used it for several years.

However, things changed in May 2022 when Migros announced the end of this 15-year partnership. Indeed, Migros decided that Migros Bank would issue a new Cumulus credit card directly. The old card is still valid for its users, but new cards will not be issued anymore.

Users cannot order more of this excellent Cumulus Mastercard. They need to know what cards they should use, so in this review, we look at the new option of the Cumulus Visa credit card by Migros Bank.

Cumulus Visa credit card

Migros Bank started issuing the new Cumulus Visa credit card in 2022. One difference with the previous card was that this is now on the Visa network instead of the Mastercard network. But this should make little to no difference for users.

This card is free of any monthly or annual charge. This is important because most users should look for a free credit card before looking at the cashback.

After the price, we look at the cashback. The Cumulus Visa credit has two cashback rewards:

• 1% at Migros shops
• 0.33% at all other shops

This cashback is not cash. The cashback is in the form of Cumulus points. Cumulus points are like cash, but you can only use them at Migros shops. Unless you never shop at Migros shops, these points should be a good system.

You will receive 2% cash back in the first year at Migros shops. Even though this is large, you should be careful about using this as a criterion.

Generally, I recommend not using temporary benefits as criteria for comparing two services since these benefits will eventually disappear. It is still great if you opt for this card, but do not choose it just because of that. Temporary benefits are only there to attract more customers.

So, except for the first year, the cashback of the Cumulus Visa credit card is the same as the cashback of the late Cumulus Mastercard.

The fees

It is also essential to talk about the fees of the card.

As mentioned before, the card has no monthly or yearly fees. However, some fees depend on how you use the card.

You can also get an additional card for free, for instance, for your spouse or partner. This is great to share one account with multiple cards.

If you do not pay the credit card balance in full, you will pay a 9.4% interest rate on the amount due. This fee is not too bad as far as credit card debt goes, but it is still a considerable interest rate.

If you are serious about personal finance, you should never carry credit card debt. If you do, you should focus on fixing that before optimizing your credit cards.

With this card, you have a few options for free withdrawals. You can withdraw money at Migros checkouts for free, up to 1000 CHF per day. You can also withdraw twice a year abroad.

After this, if you use this card to withdraw money in Switzerland or abroad, you will pay a 2.5% fee on the withdrawal amount. Credit cards are usually the worst way to get cash in Switzerland or abroad. So, you should avoid this fee as well. But it is great that you have some options to withdraw cash directly at Migros checkouts.

Here are some other fees:

• 2 CHF per paper statement.
• 30 CHF if you pay the balance in full but late.
• 20 CHF if you need a replacement card.

All these fees are relatively standard, neither cheap nor particularly expensive. However, you can avoid all these fees, which is excellent! But it is good to know about them before ordering this card.

This card is unique: it has no foreign currency transaction fee. Most credit cards have between 1.5% to 2.5% foreign currency exchange fee. You will pay a hefty fee when you use them abroad or in a currency other than CHF. So it is excellent that one card finally has no foreign exchange fee.

However, foreign currency transactions with this card are not free! Indeed, these transactions go through the Migros Bank currency exchange network. And conversions through this network have a surcharge between 1.5% and 2% compared to the interbank exchange rate. So, while this is much better than other credit cards, you should still not use this credit card abroad.

The problem is that Migros is actively advertising this card as having no currency exchange fees. I think this is a big issue because they are simply hiding the currency conversion in their own banks and claiming the card itself is free of extra fees.

Nevertheless, there are some cases where you have to pay this fee. The way to avoid it is to use a debit card (like Neon) with a better currency exchange rate. However, sometimes debit cards are refused, like reserving a hotel. In these cases, you will have to use a credit card. No credit card offers free foreign currency exchange. So about a 2% surcharge is not too bad!

Since you can avoid all the fees, we can still consider the Migros Cumulus Visa a free card! However, the marketing of Migros is highly debatable.

The insurance benefits

Many credit cards come with some insurance benefits. So, we can quickly review the insurance benefits of the Cumulus Visa credit card.

The Cumulus Visa credit card comes with several different insurance benefits:

1. Price protection for up to 2000 CHF
2. Travel insurance for rescue (up to 60’000 CHF)
3. Trip interruption insurance for up to 4’000 CHF
4. Online account protection for up to 10’000 CHF
5. Internet legal protection for up to 10’000 CHF
6. Purchase protection for up to 2000 CHF

All these insurance benefits come free of charge with the card.

Insurance benefits on credit cards are not essential. Most people will not use any of these benefits. And if you want to be covered for some of these items, you should probably take full insurance.

That said, it is still good to have insurance benefits if you use this card, but I would not use this as a criterion for choosing a credit card.

Alternatives

We compare the Migros Cumulus Visa credit card against some alternatives.

Migros Cumulus Visa vs Certo One

Best Swiss credit card

Certo! One Mastercard

No monthly fee

A great Swiss credit card with excellent cashback (up to 1%!), very flexible, and with a good mobile application.

Pros:

• No yearly fee
• 1% cashback in three shops

Order now My Review

Cembra was the issuer of the previous Cumulus Mastercard. In response to the loss of the partnership, they started two credit cards. The most interesting of both is the Certo One Mastercard World by Cembra. So, we must compare the Migros Cumulus Visa and the Cembra Certo One Mastercard.

The base fees of both cards are the same: they are both free. The avoidable fees are significantly lower than the Cumulus Visa.

Also, Certo One is very expensive to use with foreign currencies. The Migros Cumulus Visa is affordable, although not free, either.

Since you can avoid all the fees, we should compare these cards solely based on the cashback. And this is where Certo One is significantly better:

• Certo’s cashback is cash that gets credited to your bill, while you can only use Cumulus points at Migros.
• Certos’ cashback is 1% at three shops of your choice, while Cumulus Visa only has 1% cash back at Migros. Both cards have 0.33% cashback in other shops.

Insurance benefits are slightly better for the Migros Cumulus since you get extra online protection for your accounts. However, this is enough to turn the needle, and I would still choose extra cashback over insurance benefits I am unlikely to use.

Again, Migros offers e-bills, while Cembra is still very late. So, if you like using electronic bills, that is a slight advantage in favor of Migros Cumulus Visa.

So, for me, the new Cumulus Visa credit card is not as good as the new Certo One Mastercard World by Cembra.

For more information, I have written an extensive review of the Certo One Mastercard credit cards.

FAQ

Migros Cumulus Visa Summary

The Migros Cumulus Visa is a new credit card introduced by Migros Bank. They give a cashback in Cumulus points.

Product Brand: Migros Bank

Editor's Rating:
3

Migros Cumulus Visa Pros

Let's summarize the main advantages of Migros Cumulus Visa:

• 1% cashback in Migros
• 0.33% cashback in all other shops
• Free card
• Free additional card
• Extra insurance benefits
• Support for e-bills

Migros Cumulus Visa Cons

Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Migros Cumulus Visa:

• Hidden conversion fees while Migros claim there are none
• The cashback can only be used at Migros
• You get 1% cash back only at Migros

Conclusion

This new Cumulus Visa credit card is interesting. It has the same cashback as its successor, and the fees are significantly lower (but you can avoid them). The insurance benefits are also improved.

However, it is not much better than before. And Cembra is fighting back after losing the Cumulus credit card. The new Certo One Mastercard World credit card, by Cembra, is superior in many points to the new Cumulus Visa card.

For me, the simple fact that Migros claims this card has no foreign exchange fees, while it does under the hood, is a big red flag. They should be honest with their customers.

I plan to move from the Cumulus Mastercard to the new Certo One Mastercard World from Cembra. The Cembra card is superior in its cashback systems, with better and higher cashback.

If you want to learn more about credit cards, you can learn about my credit card strategy.

What about you? What do you think about this new credit card?

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