What is The Best Credit card in Switzerland for 2024?
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A credit card is a powerful personal finance tool. But it is only good if used correctly. Unfortunately, many people do not use credit cards correctly.
The first important thing is to choose a card with no annual fee. Contrary to what credit card companies want you to believe, getting a free credit card and smaller cashback is often better than an expensive card with a lot of cashback. It is essential to research and compare with your actual credit card spending.
But many options make finding the best credit card in Switzerland challenging. So, this article explores the different credit card options available in Switzerland.
I assume you carry no credit card debt and always pay your balance in full. Otherwise, it is an entirely different issue!
What do I use my credit card for?
To choose the best credit card for your situation, you need to know how you use it. I will use my case as an example. So, what do I purchase with my credit card?
I use my credit cards for all my shopping in Switzerland. As long as the shop accepts credit cards, I use one. Except for tiny amounts when I have the cash on me. Why? The reason is simple. I try to maximize my cashback bonus.
I also use them for all my online shopping, mainly for online shops and travel. If there is no fee for using a credit card, I use it. Again, this is to get some money back. The only case I am more careful about is when I cannot pay in CHF. In these cases, you pay a penalty fee for foreign currency transactions. We will discuss this in detail later in the article.
Never use your credit card to withdraw money! They all have terrible fees for withdrawal. Your debit card is here to withdraw money. And there is no bonus on the money you withdraw. Therefore, there are only disadvantages.
I have checked my credit card statements for the last 12 months and summed up my expenses. I have spent around 15,000 CHF on my credit card, of which about 5,000 CHF were spent in foreign currencies. I will use this as the basis to compare different credit cards.
Keep in mind that I am not a big spender. We do not spend that much overall, and only a few expenses can be paid with credit cards.
And since we are talking about credit cards, it is necessary to mention that you should never carry a credit card debt! You will pay substantial interest rates on any credit card debt. Always pay your balance in full at the end of the month. There is no such thing as a credit score in Switzerland. Do not try to optimize your credit.
PostFinance MasterCard as an example
We should have analyzed my credit card before I realized it was terrible. We will take this card as an example (not a great one!).
I had a MasterCard Standard card from PostFinance. I paid 50 CHF per year for it. The cashback bonus was 0.3%. That means that for every 1000 CHF I spent, I got 3 CHF back. I also had to pay 1.2% for transactions in foreign currencies (USD and EUR for me).
I was with PostFinance for a long time. And I used the credit card they offered me without really comparing. Not comparing offers is a mistake that many people make.
Here is how much it cost me for one year:
- Bonus: 15’000 x 0.3% = +45 CHF
- Annual fees: 50 CHF = -50 CHF
- Foreign fees: 5’000 x 1.2% = -60 CHF
- Total: 45 – 50 – 60 = -65 CHF
I know I should compute the bonus before the transaction fees. But it makes a 50-cent difference. So it is better to keep it simple ;)
So, each year, my previous credit card cost me 65 CHF. All my cashback money was paying my fees. I would have been better off using a free card with no cashback. We should see if we can do better with other credit cards.
To break even with this card, you must spend 16’666 CHF per year and not use it for foreign fees.
Other PostFinance credit cards
PostFinance offers other cards as well. All their Visa offers are the same as their MasterCard offers, so we focus on the MasterCard offers:
- MasterCard Gold: For 90 CHF a year and with 0.5% cashback. This card would cost me 75 CHF a year.
- MasterCard Platinum: For 250 CHF a year and with 0.5% cashback. This card would cost 235 CHF a year.
Unfortunately, I cannot have better fees by changing to another offer from PostFinance. So, we must look at other banks and their credit card offers.
Other bank credit cards
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Since I already had the best fit at PostFinance, we should see how it compares with other banks. I only consider real cashback. Real cashback is cash you are sure you can spend. Most of the other bonus systems are too dependent on your shopping style.
Here are the cheapest cards we can find:
- UBS Basic MasterCard: No fees (for 24 transactions per year), no bonus, and 2% foreign fees: cost 100 CHF per year
- UBS MasterCard Standard: 100 CHF per year, no bonus, and 1.75% foreign fees: cost 187.50 CHF per year
- Credit Suisse MasterCard Standard: No fees (for more than 10000 CHF per year), no bonus, and 2.5% foreign fees: cost 125 CHF per year
- Viseca MasterCard Silver: 100 CHF per year, no bonus, 1.75% foreign fees: cost 187.50 CHF per year
- Valiant MasterCard Silver: 100 CHF per year, no bonus, 1.75% foreign fees: cost 187.50 CHF per year
All these cards are more expensive than the PostFinance card! And these are only the cheapest ones. There are some much more expensive cards out there. For instance, the UBS MasterCard Platinum would cost me 587.50 CHF annually.
Again, there is no better choice for me here.
Now that we have considered banks, we can look at alternatives. And we will see that the best credit cards are not with banks.
Best credit card – 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
In the past, the Cembra Cumulus Mastercard was the best card in Switzerland. However, Migros stopped its partnership with Cembra and started its card.
But now, Cembra provides its card: The Cembra Certo One. This great card offers 1% cashback in three shops (the user can choose) and 0.3% cashback in all other shops.
I do most of my shopping at three shops. I estimate I will get an average of 0.8% cashback from this card.
Here is how much this card will cost me for one year:
- Bonus: 15’000 x 0.8% = 120 CHF
- Annual fees: 0 CHF = -0 CHF
- Foreign fees: 5’000 x 1.5% = -75 CHF
- Total: 50 – 0 – 75 = 45 CHF
My card would earn me 45 CHF a year. Compared to the 65 CHF I pay now, this is 110 CHF saved each year! This saving is not a lot, but I’d rather keep the money myself!
I have a review of the Certo One card on my blog.
Highest cashback – Swisscard American Express
If you want more cash back, another option is the Swisscard American Express Mastercard. This card is also free and offers you a 1% cashback. And they even have a 5% cashback for the first three months.
1% is the highest cashback for a free card in Switzerland. Even some non-free cards do not have higher cashback. And this cashback will be counted towards your bills at the end of the year.
But there is a catch! In Switzerland, American Express is not as well supported as MasterCard and Visa. However, I found out that you can still use it in some major places:
- All gas stations
- Aligro, Migros and Coop shops
- Most large shops, but not Aldi and Lidl
- You can use it on a few online shopping websites
If you want to optimize your credit card usage, the Swisscard Amex is the best cashback credit card! However, this would mean having two credit cards instead of one.
For more information, I have an entire article about Swisscard cards.
Neon for Foreign Currencies
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- Pay abroad for free
- Invest with great fees
When you travel, you must pay in foreign currencies with your credit card. With most credit cards, this is very expensive. Fortunately, there are some ways to do that for free.
Neon offers free purchases abroad with their Mastercard. You could use this credit card only for foreign currencies. It could be excellent to save on all the currency transaction fees. In my case, this saves me about 100 CHF per year.
Another idea is to use a prepaid card such as Revolut. They have about the same exchange rate surchage as Neon.
However, there are problems with Revolut. First, topping up the card is not instant. It is a regular bank transfer. It takes at least one working day. I do not want to worry about topping up the card whenever needed. I could consider moving significant money to cover small regular fees in foreign currencies.
Another problem with Revolut is that it is expensive during the weekend. You need to read the small prints because not everything is free with a Revolut card. Finally, there were many issues with Revolut, where accounts were closed. So, use Revolut at your own risk. For me, Neon is now the best payment card for foreign currencies.
To help you choose, I have an article about Neon vs Revolut.
In both cases, you may still have to get another card in some cases. Indeed, both Neon and Revolut are prepaid cards. Some services do not allow prepaid cards.
Travel hacking credit card?
Finally, the last option for a credit card is to use it for travel.
You can read many stories about people traveling for free using their credit card bonuses. These are mainly stories in the United States.
Switzerland’s best travel points credit card is the Swiss Miles & More MasterCard. This credit card will give you one award mile for every 2 CHF spent. You will also get 1000 award miles every year. All this is for 120 CHF per year. If we run the computation once again:
- Bonus: 15’000 x 50% = 750 + 1000 = 8500 miles
- Annual fees: 120 CHF = -120 CHF
- Foreign fees: 5’000 x 2.5% = -125 CHF
- Total: -120 – 125 = -245 CHF
The credit card would cost me 245 CHF per year and give me 8500 miles. My most expensive flight is to Hong Kong, which costs around 800 CHF. I need 70000 miles to get it for free, which I would get after 8.23 years.
At this point, I would have spent 2000 CHF in fees. Not a very good deal! Even including the 20’000 welcome miles, it would not be attractive. I do not spend enough on my credit card for this to be interesting. And the foreign fees are way too high.
Note: You can earn more points with the Swiss Miles & More American Express. But it is not well supported in Switzerland. And even with that, it is not worth it.
Do I need cashback?
No, not really. Getting cashback on your credit card is just a small optimization. If you are a reasonable spender, like me, it will not make a massive difference in the long term.
On the other hand, you need a free credit card and a way to cut foreign exchange fees! It is essential to cut your expenses!
With my level of spending, I make between 50CHF and 100CHF per year on cashback. So, cutting my credit card spending is more important than optimizing my cash back. Now, it would be interesting for you if you could spend more on your credit card (with cashback, so no foreign currencies).
So, if you want to keep it simple, use one free credit card! It is perfectly fine. I currently use three credit cards, but I am strongly considering getting rid of my Amex. The benefits are minimal overall. And it means one more card in my wallet and choosing between cards.
For me, the best single card would be either using Neon directly or the Certo One Mastercard. Neon has the advantage of allowing you a single card for every purchase (domestic and foreign), while the Certo One Mastercard has the advantage of being a credit card (emergency money and sometimes prepaid cards are refused).
So, it is up to you to decide how far you want to optimize!
Conclusion
The best credit card in Switzerland is the Cembra Certo One MasterCard. This card saves me 40 CHF yearly compared to my previous credit card from PostFinance. Of course, this is only the best credit card for me! If you spend more (or less), it may be different.
If you want higher cashback, you can use the Swisscard American Express. However, you will need two cards because many shops do not take American Express.
As this article shows, you cannot do much with Switzerland’s credit cards. The best you can do is minimize your fees. Take a credit card without an annual fee, and also minimize spending in foreign currencies.
If you can use a credit card in a shop, use it! If you can use a credit card online without extra fees, use it! Do not think of traveling for free using your credit card unless you spend enormous amounts of money on it. In this case, you are probably not on the correct blog.
One other thing you can do is to change your credit card often. A lot of services are waiving the fees for the first year. And a lot of services are also increasing cashback in the first year. Or giving you a welcome package. If you do the math and be careful, this can save a bit more money.
However, be very careful! And do not forget to cancel the card before the second year. And there could be some minimum time for the contract. I think it is not worth the trouble.
If you want to keep it simple, I recommend using a Neon Mastercard or a Certo One Mastercard (but not for foreign currencies). For more information, read my Review of Neon and my review of the Certo One Mastercard.
If you want to go all-in like me, you should read about my credit card strategy! This strategy will minimize your fees (the most important) and also maximize your cashback. But this will require you to have several cards!
What about you? What credit card do you use? Do you have any tips to maximize cashback?
Download this e-book and optimize your finances and save money by using the best financial services available in Switzerland!
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Dear Mister,
I had also done a study on the cost of credit cards, and I have come to the same conclusion as you, for my foreign transactions, since the beginning of the year, I have replaced Revolut by neon. The only problem is car rentals abroad, where you often need a credit card instead a debit card.
The 1.2% cost on foreign fee you mention is one thing, but the biggest difference is on the exchange rate. For example, neon versus Cornèrcard, Postfinance is about 3%.
I totally agree with you, don’t be blinded by the cash back, but look at the overall costs.
I take this opportunity to thank you for your site that I appreciate.
Congratulations for your new job and I wish you an excellent continuation.
Hi Wüthrich,
Yes, there are some issues with debit cards for things such as hotels and rentals. For now, I have not found a good way to deal with them.
Absolutely, the spread on the exchange rate can make a huge difference as well. The total fees on foreign exchange are much higher than any possible cashback.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your kind words!
Hi The Poor Swiss, Thank you for your articles. I am new to Zurich and please advise – what is the benefit of having a Swiss credit card if there is no such thing as a credit score? Is there any other benefit, if you are not interested in Cashback etc. ?
Thanks
Manisha
Hi Manisha,
If you do not care about cashback, then the only advantage would be to be able to pay on internet on some websites. Many websites take other means, but there are some websites that only take credit cards.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hello hello,
Once again, I’m very happy to read you further.
I was applying for the Cumulus credit card and got a question… not sure if you already explained it somewhere.
Is there a way to get an overview of your expenses? Like the cockpit dashboard from PostFinance where it splits Groceries, Dining out, etc? Or how do you keep track of the things you pay (either with Cumulus Mastercard or the Swisscard AMEX)? You document everything manually from all the cards/accounts? If yes, do you use a tool for that?
Cheers, and thanks :)
Rita
Hi Rita,
No, there is not. The web interface from the Cembra bank is really bad! It must be at least 10 years old. You can only access monthly statements.
I write down all my expenses on my budget every day. I do not use a tool to download my expenses from my credit card or accounts. Every time I spend the money, I write it down on the same day.
It may sound like much but honestly, it takes me a few minutes each day (if I spent something) and my budget is always up to date.
Thanks for stopping by!
Dear Mr The Poor Swiss,
A follow up question to Rita’s post if you do not mind me asking… I am interested in the Cumulus Mastercard but wonder how one can get monthly statements for card charges as I cannot find this information on their website – from your answer it sounds like one does not have to install an app but is given an online account on the Cembra bank webpage, is this correct? Do they give you those details when you receive the card? Is this done automatically or by default do they opt you in for paper statements which they charge you for, which you have to opt out of (how?)? Thank you for your help!
Hi Tara,
You can get a monthly statement from the cembra portal, from your browser. Everything is done from this portal.
It will be done by default once you create an account for Cumulus Mastercard.
I do not remember having to opt out, but you will have to check that out.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi –
amazing post & comparison. This is extremely helpful.
I understand your strategy when it comes to shopping in CH or on-line (in whatever currency), but what do you do if you are often in Europe (say France :) ) and need to withdraw EUR ? CH Credit/Debit Cards are a no go (heavy fees) and Revolut has 200 EUR/month limit …
I am keeping a French carte blue which is very convenient for in-store payments in Europe and withdraws in EUR, but the bank kills me with 25 EUR/quarter fees as I am no more resident in France, so I am thinking about an alternative strategy : )
thanks !
Lux
Hi Lux,
As you said, every payment is made with Revolut (or an equivalent: TW, N26, Neon now!).
But withdrawing with Revolut abroad is bad (only 200 EUR). If you are using N26, there have five free withdrawals in Euros per month. This is really good for Europe.
Generally, I am avoiding cash as much as possible. But I take some euros from Switzerland with me. The exchange rate for EUR in Swiss banks is generally decent.
If you need euros a lot, I would recommend you try N26 or load up on cash from Switzerland. But not too much either, it’s not safe ;)
I hope that helps :)
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi!
Just a small comment here. Revolut now offers a Swiss IBAN for CHF so you can top up your Revolut card for free.
Just watch out on the weekends. Revolut adds a mark-up to their exchange rates on the weekends so I recommend either exchanging money inside Revolut during the weekdays or the Transferwise borderless card for a constant experience.
Regards!
Hi Ed,
Thanks for pointing that out! I have written about the new CHF IBAN for Revolut. I forgot to update this post. I will do that soon. Thanks!
Yes, you are right. Weekends should be avoided or the money should be exchanged in the app during the weekends! Very good advice :)
Thanks for stopping by :)
It might worth to check TCS card. It is “free” if you have a membership. It worth to have membership in case you drive. So it is free :) if you drive. Now you have a task to compare tcs membership with generaly car insurance because generaly also includes some kind of assystance servises. All of these only in case you drive. So you will spend a lot on driving anyway. Not good :(
Hi baseldon,
The TCS Travel Mastercard Gold is not free at all. It is 100 CHF per year. I have talked about it earlier. It is a good card, but only if you spend a lot with your credit card.
The other credit card by TCS the Member card is free but has no cashback and therefore is strictly inferior to Migros Credit Card.
I do drive, but I do not have TCS insurance anymore. It was duplicate of my car insurance.
Thanks for stopping by :)
Hi there. Excellent articles. I just wrote you in Twitter as well. I do not know if you reply there as well.
I am a bit confused but your articles are very helpful. I realize that I am actually losing slowly my money and i need to put some thinking and do something about this. Revolut is clearly a very good solution for people who are travelling a lot. I understand that it makes sense to use it abroad and not for domestic purchases. Correct? The credit card for migros seems also a good solution. However, when I moneyland to compare credit cards (costs, benefits etc) the first result I get is the CASHBACK World Mastercard® or Visa. However, I haven’t seen any comment or any reference made by you about this alternative. Why? I am just trying to understand which is the best (relatively) solution. That is all. I am not promoting the other card or something like this :) Thanks!
Theo
Hi Theo,
I generally try to answer on Twitter as well, yes. But I am more reactive on the comments on the blog.
You are right, you should only use Revolut for everything that is not in CHF. You can use it in CHF but you will lose on the cashback.
As for Cashback card, the reason is simple. They have 0.5% of cashback until the end of 2019. So for 2019, it is better than Migros/Coop cards. Starting next year, the cashback will be of 0.25% and therefore Migros/Coop cards will be better. If you select 10 years for the comparison and Switzerland-only user, you should find Migros being the best card. If you want to optimize for the short-term, you can take cashback for one year but be prepared to change card at the end of the year.
I hope that helps :)
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi. Thanks for the reply. Here and also in Twitter :)
So, basically, what is your opinion or preference when you need to use a credit card (not pre-paid, but credit) abroad. Let’s not forget that we are all poor here and some times credit cards abroad are needed. I am not talking for urgent situations but in general, when someone is going on holidays and as usual at this periods the expenses are higher. Are you using Migros/Coop cards?
Thanks again for the help.
Theo
Have a look at CornerCard!
Hi Draconian,
Thanks for the suggestion. I just checked it. Isn’t this card 100 CHF per year and have zero cashback? It seems strictly worse than the MBudget one. Did I miss something? I checked the CornerCard Visa Classic.
Thanks for stopping by :)
First of all, congratulations on your recent marriage. All the best to you and your wife.
Regarding credit cards, there is one aspect you did not take into consideration: The poor exchange rate Swiss banks apply. This comes as a hidden fee on top of the “offical” markup of 1.2% – 1.75%.
I have both Revolut and TransferWise and I would recommend you to get the TransferWise borderless account that was launched recently.
Revolut looks good on paper but there are several issues, such as topping up from Switzerland, not transparent exchange rates and very slow customer service.
Do get a TransferWise account, however. It’s free, it’s great to transfer money abroad and to spend in foreign currencies. The exchange rates are very good.
Thank you very much The Poor Thurgovian (haha :) )
I did not take it into consideration indeed. It’s very hard to compare it.
Does TW offer a credit card ? For foreign currencies, I’m mostly using my credit online. Can I do that with TransferWise ? I read that I could not. They have a Swiss IBAN, right ?
Thanks for stopping by :)
TW offers a debit Mastercard. It’s fine to use both offline and online. And yes, they have a Swiss IBAN, so topping up is free. Try it, you have nothing to loose.
Thanks for the information :) I’ll check it out in June!
Hi The Poor Thurgovian.
I’ve taken a look at TW debit cards. It seems great, but it’s not free:
With this I will have no bonus and still have to pay for transactions. I don’t think it’s worth changing credit card for me.
Am I mistaken ?
No, you are rigth unfortunaltely. TFW was for many monthy the very best, everybody hyped Revolut, but TFW was (and is) much better. The Multi currency account and credit card is unique. Still.
Few people know.
I also was suprised doing my last transaction with TFW that the fees did rise so much. They announced it, but it is higher than I expected.
As they really live complete transparency, they show you with every transaction the exact amount of fee.
Hi Rasmuss,
As a company, TW is much better than Revolut indeed. But it’s true that they increased significantly some of their fees. In most cases, it’s still very affordable. But when we compare with the free fee of Revolut, or even with the Premium account of Revolut, it’s sometimes getting a bit high. Nevertheless, I would not trust much money with Revolut.
Thanks for stopping by!
A small additional input: Here’s what I do to keep my abroad spending fee-free:
1) Order Transferwise Debit Card
2) Oder Revolut Debit Card
3) Transfer Money from your bank account to the TW borderless account. This money will now be available on your TW card.
4) Top up Revolut with your TW card.
=> By proceeding with these two steps, there are no fees, because Revolut adds no charges for card issues in EEA. The TW card is, to my knowledge, the only (or one of the very few) cards that are issued in EEA and support CHF topping up.
5) For purchases abroad, always use revolut.
Thanks Pablo for this update :)
I’ve read about this strategy on the Revolut forum. It seems a like a great way to top up Revolut without fees. But, honestly for now it seems a bit overkill for me! I will wait for now until they have a CHF IBAN.
Thanks for the input :)
Hi. Revolut now have CH IBAN.
I just moved in 🇨🇭 and was reading many of your reviews and other websites on credit card/bank account use.
– Neon seemed to be perfect but actually if you still pay some taxes abroad, you can’t open a bank account with them.
– Zak seems nice but I can’t download their application as my Google play store seemed to be stuck at my previous country and Zak app is only available in Switzerland app store.
I used Revolut before but as they recently moved UE accounts to Lithuania, but not Switzerland account, I had to delete this account and create a new one in Switzerland.
And I see there is a CH IBAN :)
You just need to put a precise reference to do national free transfer.
So that’s great news. I can transfer money from Swiss account where I don’t have credit card (80Frs a year they were asking, I said no thx, used not to pay anything for my credit cards in France lol) to Revolut. Then use it with my revolut virtual card (or physical if you pay the delivery)
I’m hesitating to get the coop credit card too. Seems great option for national purchases. And only use my revolut one for foreign purpose..
I dropped the cashback Amex option. Too many cards and psychologically tells you to spend money ^^
Hi Poor Guy :)
Yes, Revolut has added a CH IBAN since the first version of this post, it makes it more interesting. But I would still not trust them with a lot of money.
As you are experiencing, having a Swiss bank for a foreigner is a big pain. The coop (and Migros) cards are good options for domestic purchases.
I completely understand not wanting to have too many credit cards. I am also considering getting rid of my Amex, I have too many cards in my wallet now. This kind of small optimization will not matter much in the long-term. It’s fun, but it’s a bit tiring to have many cards :)
Thanks for stopping by!
When I first moved to Switzerland, I compared all the Swiss credit cards and I realized that it was better to just continue using my Canadian credit card since it offered me a higher cash back rate, no foreign exchange fee, and no annual fee. This post confirms what I observed, Swiss credit cards are a rip off!!
Haha, I’m not very suprised by your experience!
Every time people talk about Swiss banks being the greatest. But the more and more I compare them with foreign banks, they really suck ass. We have almost no interest, almost no cash back and they only offer extremely expensive funds…
Thanks for stopping by :)
Hi I have also just same to Zürich from Canada, I considered to used my Canadian credit card but how do you pay the credit bill? Can you pay for it using CHF in Switzerland?
I did the same analysis and came to the conclusion that all Canadian credit cards are ripping you off with the forex rate used. Yes, you don’t pay any forex fee, but the rate is terrible.
Hi Tom,
That’s a good point. The spread is also very important. Some credit card companies do not charge you a fee, but they add a large spread to the exchange rate. In the end, it’s the same thing as a fee, but the client does not see it…
Thanks for stopping by!