Swisscard Cashback Credit Card Review 2023 – Free and 1% Cashback
| Updated: |(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links)
Recently Swisscard announced a new offer for credit cards: Swisscard Cashback. They offer an American Express (Amex) and a MasterCard or a Visa. They have already offered several cards in the past. But these new Cashback cards are really interesting.
First of all, these cards are free! This fact is essential because a small fee will render your cashback useless unless you spend a lot of money. But these are not the only free cards in Switzerland! Interestingly, they offer 5% cashback in the first three months (limited to 100 CHF). After that, the cashback bonus becomes 1% on the American Express card and 0.2% on the MasterCard and Visa cards.
In this article, we cover everything about these cards.
| Yearly fee | 0 CHF |
|---|---|
| Card | AMEX and VISA / Mastercard |
| Cashback | 1% with AMEX, 0.20% otherwise |
| Foreign exchange fee | 2.50% |
| Interest rate | 11.95% |
| Emitter | Swisscard |
Swisscard Cashback Credit Card
A cashback of 1% is more than other free cards in Switzerland are offering! Of course, you need to be able to use the card as much as possible to use that extra cashback. Doing so may be difficult since American Express cards are not as well accepted as Visa and MasterCard, especially in Switzerland.
Swisscard Cashback cards come in two different sets:
- An American Express and a Visa
- An American Express and a MasterCard
So, you will always have two cards if you opt for their offer. What is important is that only one card is interesting! The American Express card has a 1% cashback. This cashback is more than other free credit cards in Switzerland. On the other hand, the Visa and MasterCard cards only have 0.2% cashback. This cashback is lower than the best credit cards in Switzerland.
The idea is to use only American Express. You should not use the other credit card. If you can use the Amex, you should use it and use your secondary card when you cannot. That way, you will have 1% cashback on American Express purchases and 0.33% for other purchases.
The cards have a standard maximum limit of 10’000 CHF per month. We should never need that much. Depending on your income, you may not get the maximum.
1% cashback
As I already said, the most interesting point about this card is the 1% cashback. My current credit card only has 0.33% cashback.
I spend about 10’000 CHF on my credit card each year. This total is only on domestic purchases. I make international purchases with my revolut card or Neon card. A 1% bonus on that amount is 100 CHF. This bonus is about 67 CHF more than I would get with the Cumulus MasterCard. This difference is a nice increase but not a huge one.
There is also a bonus of 5% cashback in the first three months. However, this is limited to a maximum of 100 CHF.
For me, it will not be a huge difference. At most, I will spend 3000 CHF in one month on my credit card. In this case, this would be a bonus of 100 CHF. Such a bonus is not life-changing. But it would still be interesting. On the other hand, this is still limited to what I can use American Express for.
The fees
I said the cards were free. You do not have to pay an annual or monthly fee. On the other hand, many things are not free of charge with these cards. These extra fees are how these companies get money!
First of all, these cards are incredibly costly for withdrawing money. If you withdraw money in Switzerland, you will pay 3.75% of fees or at least 5 CHF. Abroad, you will also pay a 3.75% fee but at least 10 CHF. These fees are pretty bad! All credit cards are bad for withdrawing money. As a rule, you should never withdraw money using a credit card.
Another thing this card is pretty bad at is payments in foreign currency. You will pay 2.5% of your payment if it is not in Swiss Francs. So, you should never use this card for foreign payments. If you want to make foreign payments for free, you should use a Revolut card.
Finally, if you carry a balance on your credit card, you will pay a hefty interest of 11.95%. Credit card interest is how credit card companies make most of their income. Of course, if you are serious about personal finance, you should never have credit card debt. Credit card debt is the worst kind of debt you can have!
Moreover, there are also many smaller fees. For instance, you must pay 1.95 CHF per statement if you want a paper statement. If you call them, you will pay 1.90 CHF per call. If you pay at the counter, you will also pay a fee. You will have to pay for everything you want on paper. If you are careful, you can avoid all these fees! But you need to be aware of them!
American Express in Switzerland
The main problem with this offer is that the interesting card with 1% cashback is an American Express card. And American Express cards are much less supported in Switzerland than MasterCard and Visa. Even in the United States, having a MasterCard or a VISA is generally easier. It is a bit crazy, given the name of the card!
For shops, it highly depends on the size of the shop. Support for American Express cards is getting better and better. It used to be very poor. But now, large retailers such as Migros and Coop accept American Express cards.
For online stores, it is worse. Most websites do not accept American Express cards. On the other hand, many websites support Paypal. And Paypal supports American Express.
If you have experience with Amex cards in Switzerland, I would like to hear about it!
Solution: Two cards
Unfortunately, one card does not rule them all! Since the support for American Express in Switzerland and abroad is not great, the solution is to keep two cards. However, the strategy is not to use Visa or MasterCard from Swisscard. The cashback on these cards is too low.
The strategy is to use the American Express card as much as possible. And then, use your Visa/Mastercard from Migros or Coop to get 0.33% back. With that, you will have a maximum cashback in both situations.
Of course, this is not as practical as using a single credit card. I can understand that some people do not want this. And this is especially true since it will not make you a lot of income. In my case, I can generate, in the best case, 66 CHF more each year by using this card next to my current credit card.
There is also a second advantage of having a second credit card. With it, you have a second line of credit if you need it. Credit cards can complement your emergency fund well. But you need to be careful not to use this credit lightly and spend more because you have more credit cards. And be especially careful about always paying your balance in full.
I said the solution was to use two cards. The optimal solution is to use three cards. You still have to use another card for foreign currencies!
Ordering a Swisscard Cashback card
To order this card, I filled out the online form for ordering an American Express and a Visa. The procedure is straightforward, but you must set a lot of information. This is three times more complicated than my old Cumulus credit card. I do not know why they require so much information about this. They could simplify the procedure.
Moreover, they contacted me twice during the procedure for specific information. I can easily say this is the worst experience of all the credit card applications I have ever done. But I may have been unlucky.
Once everything was finally filled out and accepted, I received the cards quite quickly. And I could directly start using them.
Alternatives
We can quickly compare the Swisscard Cashback card against some alternatives.
Swisscard Cashback vs Cembra Certo One
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 by Cembra is a strong contender to Swisscard Cashback.
The Certo One offers 1% cashback in three shops of your choice. In other shops, you will get 0.3% cashback. The Cashback Amex will give you 1% everywhere.
However, the Amex is not accepted everywhere, while the Certo One is a Mastercard, accepted in 99% of places. This availability is a big advantage of Certo.
Other than that, both cards are very similar and free.
For me, the Certo One is a better card than the Swisscard Cashback simply because it is a Mastercard. However, the Swisscard Cashback is better if you want to optimize cash back to the maximum.
FAQ
How much cashback do you get with Swisscard Cashback?
With the Swisscard Cashback American Express, you will get 1% cash back. With the Swisscard Cashback Visa, you will get 0.2% cash back.
Swisscard Cashback Summary
The Swisscard Cashback American Express is a credit card by Swisscard. This credit card gives 1% cashback on each transactions.
Product Brand: Swisscard
4.5
Swisscard Cashback Pros
Let's summarize the main advantages of Swisscard Cashback:
- 1% cashback.
- Two different cards.
- No yearly fee.
Swisscard Cashback Cons
Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Swisscard Cashback:
- American Express is not widely accepted.
- Transactions in foreign currencies are expensive.
Conclusion
This credit card is a good offer! 1% of cashback is nice, considering Switzerland’s market. And this is especially true since this card has no annual fee. The other credit card with 1% cashback is the TCS Travel Mastercard Gold. However, this other card is not free!
However, this new offer is not enough by itself. First, American Express cards are not accepted everywhere. That means you must use a Visa or a MasterCard to use credit cards as much as possible. And the Visa and Mastercard Swisscard cards offer less cashback than the Migros and Coop credit cards. Therefore, you should keep your other credit card and use the Amex card for everything you can and use the other one when you cannot use the Amex.
Finally, you should, of course, not use these cards to withdraw money. And you should never use them to pay in foreign currencies. For this last one, you should use a Revolut card.
Now, for most people, having several cards will be too much. And I completely understand this. I do not mind the small effort since I like optimization. But if you only want one credit card for your domestic purchases, I still recommend the Certo One Mastercard.
If you want this card, you can check the Swisscard Cashback website.
What do you think about this new credit card on the market? Do you plan to order?
Download this e-book and optimize your finances and save money by using the best financial services available in Switzerland!
Download The FREE e-bookRecommended reading
- More articles about Credit Cards
- More articles about Earn
- TCS Travel Mastercard Gold Credit Card with 1% cashback!
- Certo! One Mastercard World Review 2023
- What is The Best Credit card in Switzerland for 2023?
Hi Baptiste,
I recently faced the same surprises with the 2.5% fee charged on top of all my Paypal transactions even if in CHF. From what I could gather this happens due to contract changes driven by Paypal. I don’t use this card for any other currencies other than CHF. I’m using it in CH and online where it’s at times difficult to know from which country the transaction is going to be generated. Some recent evidence, a monthly contribution to ShretheMeal where I changed the payment method from Paypal to CreditCard, using the very same card, has avoided that 2.5%. The issuing country changed from UK to Italy…so here the difference might also be that in EU is not applicable.
My question and concern is more related with the lack of online security this generates. To me, Paypal is great to ensure online protection when using credit cards. As I’m leaving Paypal to avoid those fees, would you recommend any other option to ensure online protection while still keep using these SwissCards?
Hi Paulo,
Is paypal really much more secure than using your card directly? The best online security would be virtual disposable cards but almost nobody offers these. And I don’t know any Swiss company that does them and gives you cashback on it.
I don’t have any option to strengthen security when using these cards.
Hello, first of all, thank you for sharing all of your knowledge, i’ve learned a lot from you!
I would like to know your take on the “Poinz” Amex+Visa credit cards. Personnally I went with them, as they offer the same cashback as the “Cashback” CC and have a loyality point system which gives them an advantage.
Thanks again for all!
Hi,
I have no major issue with the poinz, but they are too “trendy” for me. I don’t like these loyalty programs with all the bells and whistle. I would not use it so I prefer having only a simple system.
Hello,
Do you know if we use paypal to pay invoices with QR code associated with a credit card, it still generates cashback?
Hi Luis,
Since I had no idea that we could use Paypal to pay invoices, I also have no idea whether that will generate any cashback.
You seriously need to stop recommending this card! Swisscard charges 2.5% even if the charge is in CHF but from a legal entity outside of Switzerland. This is not only counterintuitive. You will quickly lose your cashback (which is capped at 100 CHF p.a. anyways) like this + it’s yet another account that you need to track, pay and archive the monthly invoice etc. And if you are not careful, something can go wrong with the eBill payment, resulting in additional fees and interest. I lost all my 100 CHF cashback this year due to these surprises and would have been much better off simply using my main neon card for everything – simpler, good CSV export, no weird fees and even better for the merchant sometimes since they pay less fees.
The Swisscard app is also so so and you can’t reach their customer service at all. IDK but if you ask me Swisscard has to go for the good of Swiss consumers. They are just like their parents at CS, greedy ****.
What you are describing is the way each credit card in Switzerland works. What matters is where the payment processor is. Even a CHF debit with a payment processor abroad will generate a charge. You cannot hold that against Swisscard, this is the system (confusing I agree) used in Switzerland.
OK, let me be more precise then: Stop recommending all Swiss credit cards exposing this behavior including Swisscard since you practically never need a credit card, especially when the main motive seems to save money through alleged net cashback. Or at least be more precise in that you are gonna spend more money that way and not save it. Even car rentals will accept a debit card. I think you can e.g. use the Yuh debit card for everything including car rental or the neon prepaid card for everything excluding car rental and neither will charge a fee for CHF transactions since their price list says they only charge for a currency conversion which is not happening in this case.
I do not agree with you. I use my Certo cards for all my purchases in Switzerland and many purchases online and I only got the foreign fee once by mistake online. It sure does not make a life-changing difference, but it’s still some nice cashback.