PostFinance Bank Review 2024 – Pros & Cons
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PostFinance is the bank of the Swiss Post. It is one of the largest banks in Switzerland. But is it any good?
I answer this question in this article. I will look into PostFinance’s bank services in detail and see its advantages and disadvantages. They have changed many things recently with their banking packages and how they handle negative interest rates. I include all these changes in my review.
By the end of the article, you will know whether you should use PostFinance.
| Monthly fee | 5 CHF |
|---|---|
| Users | 4’000’000 |
| Card | Mastercard Debit |
| Currencies | CHF |
| Withdrawals in Switzerland | Free at PF ATMs, 2 CHF at other |
| Withdrawals abroad | 5 CHF |
| Languages | English, French, German, and Italian |
| Custody bank | PostFinance |
| Depositor protection | 100’000 CHF |
| Established | 1906 |
| Headquarters | Bern, Switzerland |
PostFinance
PostFinance is the financial entity of the Swiss Post. It was founded in 1906, making it a very mature bank. As of 2021, it is the fifth-largest retail bank in the country. In 2020, the bank managed 123 billion CHF in customer assets and had about 4.2 million customers. It is interesting to note that the bank has been losing customers for several years. It already had 4.2 million customers in 2011 and almost 5 million at its peak in 2016.
PostFinance offers many services:
- Savings and checking accounts
- Vested benefits and third pillar accounts
- Investment funds
- Trading on the stock market with PostFinance E-Trading
In this article, we will only focus on the banking services of PostFinance, not on their other features.
Currently, PostFinance is not allowed to grant mortgages and loans. Instead, it offers mortgages via third parties. However, in 2021, the Federal Council announced that it was looking at privatizing PostFinance to enter the credit market. So, this lack of mortgages may change in the future.
I used PostFinance myself for many years until they introduced new fees in 2018, and I moved to Migros Bank after that. Before that, my experience with them was mostly positive.
Banking features
We should look at the features PostFinance offers for bank accounts.
You can access your account from the e-banking web application or one of the mobile applications on Android or iPhone. Since PostFinance is a traditional bank, you can also conduct operations at their offices. From the application, you can do everything you expect from a bank account:
- See your balance and transactions
- Pay your bills
- Transfer money to other accounts
- Pay e-bills
As of July 2021, PostFinance will offer new banking packages and convert existing customers to these packages. So, we will focus on these banking packages in this article. There are two banking packages:
- Smart
- SmartPlus
The features of the two packages are the same, but the fees differ, as we will see in the next section.
You get a private account in CHF or EUR with your banking package. Historically, this card was unique (not a Mastercard, Visa, or Maestro). However, since 2022, PostFinance has delivered a Mastercard Debit card. A Mastercard is good because you can use it everywhere.
With the package, you also get a savings account.
You can also use PostFinance with Google Pay and Apple Pay to pay from your phone! And you can also use PostFinance with TWINT. That way, you will not even need a physical card to shop!
So, overall, PostFinance will have more than enough features for your banking needs.
Banking fees
We should now take a look at fees for the banking packages.
You can do the basic operations for free:
- Send money to and from your account
- Pay your bills
- Pay your e-bills
- Pay with your card in shops
If you want to withdraw money, you can do so for free at any PostFinance ATM (or in PostFinance offices). However, if you withdraw at any other ATM, you must pay 2 CHF per withdrawal and 5 CHF if you withdraw money abroad.
If you want paper documents, you will pay 5 CHF. Even though I have not been using paper documents in many years, I think this is excessively expensive.
On top of that, you will pay an account management fee for each of the packages:
- Smart will cost 5 CHF per month
- SmartPlus will cost 12 CHF per month
SmartPlus has only two real advantages over Smart:
- You get free withdrawals at any ATM in Switzerland
- You get free withdrawals abroad
Also, you get a 50 CHF discount on PostFinance credit cards. However, this is not an advantage since better and free credit cards are available.
Overall, the SmartPlus account does not make sense unless you withdraw a lot of money at other ATMs. I would even argue that the SmartPlus package does not make sense, period. Paying 7 CHF monthly more for free withdrawals is a colossal ripoff. I do not understand their banking packages. So, in any case, I would strongly advise against the SmartPlus package. It is just way too expensive for its value.
5 CHF per month is relatively reasonable for the Smart banking package. However, there are better and free bank accounts available in Switzerland that offer other advantages!
There is one way you can get lower fees: by investing your money with PostFinance. For example, if you have 25’000 invested with PostFinance (e-trading, funds, or third pillar), you will get 5 CHF per month out of your bill. So, the Smart account will be free, while the SmartPlus will cost 7 CHF per month.
The problem with that approach is that PostFinance products are expensive and sub-optimal. I would not recommend investing in any of their products. So, investing in PostFinance will cost you more than what you will save on the fees. So, I would prefer paying 5 CHF per month to PostFinance rather than having 25K of my assets invested. However, the PostFinance e-trading offering is not too bad. So investing in ETFs with PostFinance would be alright. But I would not recommend their funds.
On top of that, if you have more than 100’000 CHF in your account, you will pay a negative interest rate of 0.75% on the amount of money higher than the threshold. The threshold can be higher if you have a lot of money invested in PostFinance assets. Even if this is not great, most people should not have that much money in their PostFinance account. Having that much cash probably means that they should invest some of it or diversify across banks.
Overall, the fees are not catastrophic (some banks in Switzerland are more expensive), but they are not good. Indeed, some much cheaper banks have better advantages (no currency conversion fee, for instance!).
User Reviews
We should look at what other users think of PostFinance.
We start with Postfinance Reviews on Trustpilot. There are 230 reviews at the time of this writing, with a horrible average score of 1.2 (out of 5 stars). This score is the worst I have seen on Trustpilot for a bank. People complain about basically every aspect of PostFinance:
- Constantly introducing new fees without new features
- Very difficult to reach customer service
- The new app (introduced in 2020) is worse than the old one and without any advantages
- Slow transactions
If we look at the positive reviews, we see four 5-star reviews from the same person out of nine reviews. This is a bad sign.
It is not better if we look at the app reviews on Google Play. There are almost 20’000 ratings, with an average score of 1.7 (out of 5 stars). Many ratings complain that the new app is significantly worse than the previous one. There are still a few reviews that say they are happy with the new one, but overall, the reviews are awful.
And the reviews of the app on the App Store are barely better. Out of 6’660 ratings, the app scored 2.2 (out of 5 stars). The reviews are consistent with the reviews from the Android side, with slightly more positive reviews (or maybe more nuanced reviews).
Overall, we can easily say that PostFinance currently has a poor reputation among its customers. I can see the difference in reputation compared to 5-10 years ago, when everybody was satisfied with PostFinance. Then, everything went downhill, with more fees, poor communication, and fewer features.
Security
We also need to look at the security of using PostFinance as a bank account.
Before October 2017, PostFinance had a special state guarantee for its customers. This state guarantee protected assets without limits. This is the same protection that many cantonal banks have in Switzerland. However, this state guarantee has been revoked, and PostFinance is now protected by Esisuisse like most Swiss banks. So, if it bankrupts, customer assets are protected for up to 100’000 CHF.
However, since Esisuisse has a limit of 6 billion CHF and PostFinance has more than four million customers, the guarantee would only be, on average, 1’500 CHF per customer. This is a disadvantage of Esisuisse since larger banks are less protected than small ones.
Nevertheless, PostFinance has an excellent credit rating and is financially healthy.
As for technical security, PostFinance has high standards. They use multiple authentication methods and provide good security information on their website, which is a good sign.
So, overall, I would say that it is currently safe to have your assets with PostFinance.
Alternatives
We can quickly compare PostFinance against some alternatives.
PostFinance vs Neon
All the services you need to pay, save and invest, in a neat package, with extremely good prices!
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- Pay abroad for free
- Invest with great fees
Neon is a digital bank account with many great features.
Neon has the same features as PostFinance. However, they do not have traditional offices, so you must do everything on the phone.
Neon’s account is entirely free, making it significantly better than PostFinance. You can also pay abroad without currency conversion fees and make affordable international money transfers, so you can save a lot of money with Neon over PostFinance.
They have a great reputation, and their application is working nicely.
So, if you do not mind a digital bank account, Neon’s account is much better than PostFinance’s.
PostFinance vs Migros Bank
Migros Bank is from the Migros group, the biggest retailer in Switzerland.
They both have the same kind of features (all banks do). With Migros Bank, you can have many more places to withdraw money since you can withdraw in most Migros shops. With both banks, you can go to the bank’s office to do operations or get support.
At its cheapest, PostFinance costs 5 CHF per month, while a Migros Bank account is free. So, Migros Bank is significantly cheaper than PostFinance.
Also, Migros Bank has a much better reputation than PostFinance.
If you are looking for a traditional bank, Migros Bank is significantly better than PostFinance. If you need more information, read my Migros Bank review.
FAQ
What is the difference between PostFinance Smart and SmartPlus?
SmartPlus is 5 CHF per month more expensive but offers free withdrawals at any ATMs in Switzerland and abroad.
Who is PostFinance good for?
PostFinance is only good for people that really want to do business with PostFinance.
Who is PostFinance not good for?
PostFinance is not great as a bank account. It does not have the best features nor the best prices, so there are better alternatives for both traditional and digital banks.
PostFinance Bank Summary
PostFinance is the bank of the official Swiss Post, one of the largest banks in Switzerland.
Product Brand: Swiss Post
3
PostFinance Pros
Let's summarize the main advantages of PostFinance:
- Multiple applications to access your account (mobile and web)
- Good technical security
- Support for TWINT
- Support for e-bills
- Mastercard Debit cards are well supported
PostFinance Cons
Let's summarize the main disadvantages of PostFinance:
- Expensive bank accounts
- Trying to make you invest in sub-optimal products
- Very poor reputation from its customers
- Expensive currency conversions
- A negative interest rate for more than 100'000 CHF
- Limited bank protection in case of bankruptcy
- The PostFinance is not the most practical card
- The SmartPlus banking package does not make sense
Conclusion
Overall, I see no significant advantage to PostFinance. The Smart banking package is not particularly expensive, but cheaper alternatives exist. You could reduce your fees using their investment products, but there are much better alternatives, so you should not do that.
For instance, if you want a truly digital bank account, I would recommend Neon over PostFinance. With Neon, you will have a free bank account, currency conversions abroad, and cheap transfers in foreign currencies. Except for the 30K daily limit, I can only see advantages to Neon. If you want more information, I have a review of Neon.
If you are looking for a traditional bank, I would recommend Migros Bank over PostFinance. With Migros Bank, you will pay only 3 CHF per month, and if you have more than 7500 CHF in your account, you will not pay any account management fees. On top of that, you will have the same features as PostFinance. So, you get the same but cheaper. Again, I have a review of Migros Bank if you need more information.
What about you? What do you think about PostFinance?
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I still have pf and their managed assets offer is not so bad. 0.75% costs but I got 200 chf bonus for adding funds at the right times. So that covers costs at least for some time. performance is not bad and in parallel I have tw, neon and investart. I diversify a lot. What I don’t like of migros bank are the fees on incoming payments, that prevents me from switching to mb. Can you share your experience? Is this charge real?
Are you serious? You mean 0.20 CHF per incoming payment? If you have lots of small incoming payments, sure that’s a lot of money. If not it’s peanuts.
The biggest issue with migros bank is that they are still in the stone age of the banking. Even for Switzerland their service is crap. Maybe you don’t like postfinance, migros bank can prove that it can be much worse. It takes ages to open an account, to get ebanking, which is a joke. If you need support, good luck.
Yes I do have small incoming payments and PF will remain cost free for me anyway. i think MB is the only one with such a charge.
and about PF customer care, I honestly can’t complain at all, on the contrary! but I use the italian speaking service team, can’t say how german or french teams are
It’s not a bad idea to diversify, as long as you are aware of the costs in each place.
Yes, this fee is entirely real. You do not pay it on each payment but at the end of the year. I think I paid 8 CHF the first year and 12 CHF last year. I think it’s a dumb fee, but unless you receive payments very regularly, that’s not too bad.
“On top of that, if you have more than 100’000 CHF on your account, you will pay a negative interest rate of 0.75% on the amount of money that is higher than the threshold”
Are you sure it’s 100K not 250k CHF?
Hi Leon,
Yes, I am sure of that. However, if you have money invested with PostFinance (funds, mortgage, …), this is raised to 250K.
Source: https://www.postfinance.ch/en/private/products/interest-rates.html
I agree that PostFinance is crap, no issue here. Crappy and expensive is the standard for financial services in CH. However, I would be careful with Neon-like offers. I had a look at it once and it has two main drawbacks: there is a relatively small amount of money you can transfer per day. If you have money on their account and want to transfer them, you are locked. It’s why I decided to keep my Migros Bank account next to my Neon account.
The second con is that you cannot get larger amounts of cash from your account. Because Neon has no physical presence, you are limited to what you can get with your cards. So Neon could be a great service, but currently it’s a joke. The consequence is that most of us have to endure the shitty service from Postfinance, Migros Bank or similar.
Hi Thomas,
It’s a good point that digital services have much smaller limits. With Neon, you can transfer up to 30K CHF per day. In the vast majority of cases, this should be enough. But if you need to do a transfer for your downpayment for instance, this won’t be enough.
When do you need large amounts of cash? I have not needed more than a few hundred CHF in the last 10 years or so. It’s true that it’s a limitation of all digital banks, but I do not feel in this day it’s that bad.
I also closed my account with them last month!
Did you switch because of the new packages?
Thanks for another great review!
Unfortunately, I have quite a few assets with them (like funds bought waaaay back, for example) … I have looked into switching to Migros Bank, but it wouldn’t make much sense at this point, unless I sell everything.
It’s a bummer, really!
Hi Cris,
You can also consider selling the funds and investing in ETFs through a Swiss broker, no?
That’s what I did in the beginning. Keep in mind that their funds are expensive compared to a Vanguard ETF you can buy in a Swiss broker or compared to a U.S. ETF you can buy at IB.
But again, investing is much better than not investing!
Because I don’t understand anything about ETF (that’s why I use Selma, again thanks to your review).
I was thinking of opening a Swissquote account, but then I saw the huge ETF choices and got scared!
Anyway, just got informed that I will now have to pay negative interests at Postfinance, which means I am going to:
– Open a Neon (or Migros) account
– Have a better look at that Swissquote ETF list trying to make sense of what I should buy :)
But, looking at Batiste’s comment, Swissquote is also used by Postfinance (and now there’s Yuh as well).
Choices, choices …
Hi Cris,
Regardless of the broker, the list of ETFs will be huge. There is no way around it. But you do not have to look at the entire list., I have a guide on how to get started investing by yourself.
Yuh has a very limited list of investments and is very young, at this point I would not recommend it for investing. It’s better to start with Swissquote directly if you want a Swiss broker.
You can buy any products with e-trading no only “Postfinance” products. Basically any product available through a Swiss broker count in the 25k AFAIK. The documentation says:
> Custody account assets in e-trading (excluding cash).
https://www.postfinance.ch/en/private/products/accounts/personal-account-chf.html
Tell me if I am wrong, I would like to know.
I think you are correct. At first sight, I did not understand it like that. But now that I read it again, I believe you are correct. I will check this again tomorrow and update the article accordingly!
Thanks for pointing that out!
In this case this new package changes absolutely nothing for someone like me. It stays “free”. Free accounts, free payments in CH, free withdrawals in CH and abroad (if you find a compatible ATM), free inter bank transfers…
I personally never had a big issue with PostFinance. Yes their card is a weird Swiss specific relic that might well disappear at one point but for now I am doing fine with it I can simply complement it with Revolut Visa.
The only thing I would not recommend is their e-trading platform (Swissquote) because it is a Swiss Broker. It is sad to say but once you are informed a Swiss broker is the worst kind of broker a Swiss person can have in term of choice and taxes…
Me too, just closed the account this month.
Any specific reason for last month?
Where did you move?
Thanks for your review. What about a review or comparison of banks for Small Enterprises? I’m stuck with Post Finance and don’t think Neon could help me with that. Thanks
That’s a good idea indeed. I will put this on my list of things to look after and I will do an article if I find something interesting.
And that’s why last month I closed my account with them. :)
Same, also closed it last month.
It’s funny that so many people closed it last month!
Where did you move?
Thanks for sharing :) And confirming my thoughts :)
From my understanding their smartplus package included a standard credit card
I think you only get a 50 CHF discount on their credit cards. So some of them are free while others are just discounted. Do you understand their conditions differently?