Swissquote Debit Mastercard Review 2024: Pros & Cons

Swissquote Debit Mastercard

In 2023, Swissquote introduced a new product, their Swissquote Debit Mastercard. Despite its name, it is a complete banking package.

This banking package comes in two flavors:

• Light, which only comes with a virtual card.
• Bright, which comes with a physical and a virtual card.

These two flavors have different conditions, as seen in the following sections.

If you want to know more about Swissquote itself, you can read my review of Swissquote as a broker.

Features

This new account by Swissquote has many features.

As with any bank account, you get all the essential features:

• Send payments in Switzerland through IBAN
• Transfer money in Europe
• Pay your QR bills
• Withdraw money

So, you should have all the features you need for your day-to-day banking.

An exciting feature of this account is that you get a multi-currency account with 13 different currencies. Getting these kinds of accounts in Switzerland is rare, so this feature is interesting. All these currencies are under the same IBAN.

Many users require electronic bills to pay their bills easily. Swissquote provides this feature out of the box, which is good because many new accounts offer this feature only after several years.

This account has many features for mobile payments. You can use this card with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay. You can also use TWINT with a custom Swissquote TWINT app.

You can use cryptocurrencies directly from the card if you have cryptocurrencies in your Swissquote account. So, you can pay with the card using your cryptocurrencies. This is a very interesting feature for people who are enthusiastic about crypto-currencies.

Overall, the Swissquote Debit Mastercard has all the needed features and more. The fact that it is a multi-currency account is an excellent advantage.

Cashback

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Interestingly, you also get some cash back on every transaction. This is interesting because normally, only credit cards give you some cash back.

Cashback differs for card payments and regular payments for each account type.

With the Light account type, you get:

• 0.25% cashback on card payments
• 0.50% cashback on crypto payments

With the Bright account type, you get:

• 0.50% with card payments
• 1.00% with crypto payments

The cashback rate is quite good.

However, this cashback is only given as Swissquote trading credits. So, this cashback is only attractive if you use Swissquote as a broker. With this card, you could recover some of the Swissquote broker account fees.

So, this cashback feature is quite good if you use Swissquote as a broker but entirely useless otherwise.

Fees

We must also examine the fees to see if this account is worth it.

The Light account has no monthly fee. The Bright account costs 6.90 CHF monthly (free for the first six months).

With the Bright account, you can withdraw cash in Switzerland 5 times a month for free. If you do more, it will cost you 1.90 CHF per withdrawal. With the Light account, each withdrawal in Switzerland will cost 1.90 CHF.

Transfers and payments in Europe, in EUR, are free with the Bright account but cost 2 EUR with the Light account.

You will pay 4.90 CHF per withdrawal with both accounts if you withdraw abroad.

If you pay abroad or in foreign currencies, you will not pay any transaction fees with either account. However, you will pay a 0.95% currency exchange fee if you do not have the necessary currency. If you use currency that is not included in the card, you will pay an extra 1.50% transaction fee.

So, unless you do withdrawals or transfers in EUR, the Light account can be entirely free. In this case, the Bright account is not interesting at 6.90 CHF per month.

Here are a few examples of how to choose.

• You would need to spend 2760 CHF with the card monthly to make the Bright account worth it.
• If you make one withdrawal monthly, you would need to spend at least 2000 CHF per month with the card to make the Bright account worth it.
• If you make one withdrawal and one EUR transfer per month, you would need to spend at least 1200 CHF per month with the card to make the Bright account worth it.

So, unless you spend a ton with the card or make many withdrawals or EUR transfers per month, you should stick with the Light account. If you need a physical card, you will need the Bright account.

Overall, the Bright account is slightly too expensive to make it interesting. The currency exchange fees are reasonable for Swiss banks, but some better alternatives exist.

Is Swissquote Debit Mastercard safe?

Swissquote has a banking license and is part of Esisuisse. As such, all your cash will be insured up to 100’000 CHF.

I have not heard of any technical issues with Swissquote, and it has a good reputation. It is also well-regulated and has been established since 1996. Swissquote is a stable financial institution.

So, having your money with Swissquote Debit Mastercard is as safe as any other Swiss bank.

Alternatives

We should also look at some alternatives to see how these features and fees compare.

Neon vs Swissquote Debit Mastercard

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Neon is my favorite digital bank account. It makes sense to compare Neon vs Swissquote Debit Mastercard.

On the features side, these two banks are very similar. One slight advantage of Neon is that you can instantly transfer money to other Neon members.

An advantage of Swissquote Debit Mastercard is that you get a multi-currency account. With Neeon, you can only hold CHF in your account. But Swissquote lets you hold 13 currencies in your account. This can be very practical if you receive money in different currencies.

If you have a Swissquote account, the cashback from the Swissquote Debit Mastercard is an advantage since Neon has no cashback. However, you can get similar cashback with a good credit card.

On the fee side, Neon is significantly better. Neon is free, while only the Light account (with only a virtual card) is free at Swissquote. The Bright account would be 6.90 CHF per month.

Also, using your card abroad or in foreign currencies is cheaper at Neon (around 0.40% fee) than using a Swissquote Debit Mastercard (0.95%). If you already have the currency in your account, it could become cheaper to use Swissquote.

Overall, I think the Neon card is a better deal for its price. However, if you already have a Swissquote brokerage account, the Swissquote Debit Mastercard becomes interesting.

Swissquote Debit Mastercard FAQ

Swissquote Debit Mastercard Summary

Swissquote Debit Mastercard is a new fully-featured banking package by Swissquote: Should you use it? This article reviews the service in depth.

Product Brand: Swissquote

Editor's Rating:
3.5

Swissquote Debit Mastercard Pros

Let's summarize the main advantages of Swissquote Debit Mastercard:

• Multi-currency account
• Reasonable fees
• e-bills
• Mobile payments
• Can choose between a virtual and physical card
• Cashback on a Debit card
• Can use your crypto for card payments

Swissquote Debit Mastercard Cons

Let's summarize the main disadvantages of Swissquote Debit Mastercard:

• Only interesting for Swissquote users
• The Bright account is not so interesting
• Not the cheapest bank account
• Currency exchange fees are not cheap

Conclusion

Overall, the Swissquote Debit Mastercard is attractive for heavy users of Swissquote (my review). Indeed, the price is reasonable (especially for the Light account), and using it can reduce your trading fees.

This account provides many mobile payment features and a multi-currency account, which is still rare in Switzerland.

However, it is far from perfect. First, it is only interesting if you use the Swissquote broker. If you do not, the cashback is not interesting at all. Second, while a 0.95% fee for using abroad and in foreign currencies is good, it is far from the cheapest available in Switzerland. This can be avoided if you already have some foreign currencies (dividends from stocks, for instance).

Overall, I do not think this offer has a real edge. This is another case where avoiding having all your services with the same company is probably better. There is nothing special enough about this offer that would make it interesting for non-Swissquote users. It is a good companion for Swissquote users, but nothing more.

If you are interested in bank accounts, you should read about the best bank accounts in Switzerland.

What about you? What do you think about this account?

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