Poinz Credit Cards Review 2025 – Pros & Cons

Poinz

Before we start with the review of the cards themselves, we can spend a little time talking about what is Poinz.

Poinz exists since 2012 as a digital loyalty program. The idea is to replace the old coupons and vouchers you would get in many stores and do that on your smartphone instead.

Originally, this program was all about digital stamp cards. But since then, Poinz also started offering many deals on its platform. And additionally, they also have a cashback system where if you use the offer on a specific platform, you will get some cashback. You either have to enable it manually or use their browser extension to enable deals automatically when you order something online from one of their partners.

I have never used this system, and I am not into coupon chasing, but you can take a look at their deals to see if any of them seems interesting to you. Depending on your shopping habits, you could save some money.

Poinz cards

Poinz is an offer where you get two cards in the same package. You cannot choose, you will always get two cards:

• An American Express (AMEX) card
• A Visa card

These two cards are connected to the same account, so you will pay only one bill. And you will get a single monthly limit for the two cards together. The cards are emitted by Swisscard and will be managed by the Swisscard app. You can also link your Poinz cards to your digital wallet such as Google Pay or Apple Pay and pay with your mobile.

The cashback of the two cards are different. With both cards, you get some cashback. However, you will get different percentage of cash back:

• You will get 1.00% cash back when using the AMEX card
• You will get 0.25% cash back when using the Visa

If you wonder why you do not only get the AMEX, it is because American Express cards are not supported everywhere in Switzerland. While Mastercard and Visa are supported by almost every shop and online shop, American Express cards are only supported by the biggest shops like Migros and Coop. So, you should make use of the two cards by using the AMEX first and then using the Visa second.

You will get the cashback directly on the account. You will see it accrued daily on your account and it will be available every month.

The fees

We also need to talk about the card fees.

A great advantage of the Poinz cards is that they have no monthly fee. You can get them for free and will not pay anything simply for having them.

However, they are not entirely free, depending on how you use them. If you use them abroad, you will pay a direct 2.5% fee. And additional, there is an extra exchange surcharge of about 1.5% (this can vary during the day). So, these cards are an awful option to use abroad. And this is also the case for any payment in foreign currency, even in Switzerland. And it is important to note that Swisscard is quite strict with that rule and sometimes foreign companies operating in Switzerland are considered as abroad. This means that you are not always sure in advance whether you will pay this fee.

If you withdraw money with this card, you will pay a 4% fee, with a minimum of 10 CHF. So, again, Poinz cards are terrible for withdrawing money. But, to be fair, this is the case of almost all credit cards.

If you carry a credit card debt, you will get an annual interest of 13%. Credit card debt is usually the worst kind of debt, to be avoided absolutely.

And there are also some other avoidable fees. For instance, if you need a card replacement, you will need to pay 25 CHF. Or if you want a paper monthly statement, they will charge you 1.95 CHF.

Overall, the fees are good. They are very similar to most free credit cards. If you remember to never carry a balance and that credit cards should only be used to pay in Switzerland in CHF, you should be good.

Other deals

As mentioned in the introduction about Poinz, you can also benefit from deals. This is not directly related to the cards, since these deals are open to all Poinz users. But as a Poinz card owner, you will become part of the system, and you will be able to get extra cashback, deals, and vouchers.

I will not list them all because there are many. At the time of this writing, there were:

• 363 online cashback offers
• 45 in-store cashback offers
• 37 deals
• 42 digital vouchers

Some deals are quite high. For instance, I could see a 7% cashback on Conforama gift cards or 5% on Decathlon. And there are also plenty of companies which I had never heard of before. Often, I think there is a better and cheaper place to shop than many of these deals. But deals on Apple, Airbnb or Google Pay are probably good for many people.

These deals can be an interesting feature if you use them. Many people see these kinds of features as massive benefits, but then they do not take advantage of this, which makes the feature pointless. So, take a look at the available Poinz offers to get an idea of whether they are useful to you.

Alternatives

Finally, we must compare the Poinz cards with some alternatives.

Poinz Credit Cards vs Certo! One Mastercard

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

The card I am currently using is the Certo! One Mastercard from Cembra. So, we should also compare the Poinz duo cards with the Certo! One.

The Certo! One is a single Mastercard card while Poinz while give you an AMEX and a Visa.

The cashback with Certo! One is a bit unique. You can get 1% cashback at three shops of your choice. You can choose between about 20 shops. And you will get 0.33% cash back on any other shops. With Poinz, you get 1% with the Amex and 0.25% with the Visa.

For fees, the two sets of cards are entirely similar. They are free, bad to use abroad or in foreign currencies, and horrible to carry a negative balance.

Again, you can get extra deals with Poinz, but not with Certo! One.

If you want a single card in your wallet, the Certo! One is superior because it can be used everywhere, and the cashback is superior. If you want to carry two cards, Poinz becomes interesting because you can then get 1% on any shop that accepts American Express cards. However, the secondary card is not great, with only 0.25% cashback.

Poinz Cards FAQ

Poinz Cards Summary

Poinz Credit Cards

A good sets of two cards (AMEX + Visa) with good cashback, low fees and some extra deals.

Editor's Rating:
4.5

Pros

• 1% cashback on the AMEX
• The cashback is real cash, not points
• The card is free
• Extra deals and cashback through the platform

Cons

• The AMEX cannot be used everywhere in Switzerland
• Very bad to use abroad
• The cashback on the Visa is a bit low

Conclusion

Overall, the Poinz cards are interesting free credit cards, but not life-changing. The cashback is good, but there are several offers with the same cashback available. There are also many deals available, but this is very specific to your shopping situation. If you can make use of some deals, this makes the cards more appealing. But if you do not use any of these deals, these cards are not that great.

It is a bit unfortunate to have to carry two credit cards. Using an American Express card as your main card remains the most optimized option if you want to maximize the cashback. But over time, I have grown weary of having to carry two cards, so I now prefer solutions with a single card. And for that, there are better options. Although, of course, if you do not mind having two cards to optimize cashback, getting an Amex is often a great way of maximizing it.

The other problem is that if you want to optimize cash back fully, you will need to get the Amex and a second card that is not from Poinz since the Visa does not have high cashback.

Personally, I still prefer using my Certo! card as a simple alternative. I also get 1% cashback on three different shops and only have to use one card.

What about you? What do you think about these cards?