So t'other day I was checking my bank accounts and saw something odd. Various cash withdrawals were 62 CHF, 102 CHF, 82 CHF...

Now, I know that you can't take out 2 CHF from a cash point, so I write to my account manager.

"Oh," says he, "this is a new charge for withdrawals at non-CreditSuisse cash points. We told you about them in November when we sent the statements out."

WTF!?!

First off, who really reads all the crap they send?

Secondly, I already struggle with the whole paying for an EC card - isn't the "luxury" of owning one of these that I can make cash withdrawals throughout the world what you shaft me 40 CHF for every year? Per card, I might add.

Thirdly, add to that the fact that you can't find a CreditSuisse cash point for love nor money in most of the places I frequent (and I work near the SBB!)... and that this is something that was scrapped something like 20+ years ago in the UK.

And finally bank charges are just a big no no, so I'm changing banks.

It's the frikin' principle, you see.

Anyway, enough ranting. Where to go?

I'm looking for a recommendation for a bank that doesn't have hidden charges. I'm not going to go with UBS as they are just rip off merchants and I've never heard anyone say anything positive about them. Bank COOP is out as I have a mortgage with them, and I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

That leaves:
Post
Migros
Raifaisen (or however you spell it...)
BKB

Criteria (in no particular order):
- no hidden bank charges
- good English interface
- no rip off bank charges
- has good e-options (internet and apps)

Always had good experiences with BKB .. also have a CS account and prefer BKB. Cashpoints pretty much everywhere. They speak English (write to us in English - even rang me in English when I had left my card in a cashpoint at a branch near SBB ..) Insofar as a bank can be ok, this seems to be.

Rip off bank charges...
if you have a "credit card" they often take 2.5%, and some additional fees...


Any transfer of currency, they apply their own rate, usually like 0.3% more than the currency rate on the market...

Not talking about some fees they might apply for such and such operation...


Having said that, Postfinance have machines in several places and it's free to withdraw on them.... also if you are super loaded it seems you can have for free an account with free card and free withdrawal on all Swiss bank machines (but you need above 25000CHF)... If I am not mistaken, above 7500chf, your mastercard or similar is free (no fees).

Edit: I googled it:
https://www.postfinance.ch/en/priv/p...lus/offer.html

Finally note that any transactions on the "post office desk" has opposed to online banking, is paying some fee... so if you have a bill, do it online.

Doesn't everybody know, that there are additional fees for withdrawing money from a different bank?

Raiffeisen has an ATM at every trainstation.

What about the Kantonal Bank???



cheers
SC

No. This is new for CS. That's what you pay for the EC card for (with CS anyway).

You mean BKB

I would suggest LIB bank. You can deposit the money directly to my account and I will meet you with the desired amount at your preferred location.

Post has the best online banking IMHO, have used UBS & CS.
They do charge 2 chf if you withdraw elsewhere.
Money takes about a day longer to get in to your account & pay bills, unless you do express in the morning when it's same day.

The Kantonal banks seem to be the most amicable and user friendly, with good rates and charges.

I assume the recommendation above of BKB is this for Basel.

I only know it as ZKB.........


Voted.

cheers
SC

And you still can keep your account with them when you leave the country. You need a minimum of course.

That's a myth.

Re the OP's question:
UBS gives you free withdrawals with the Maestro card from all cash machines in Switzerland if you have one of their "bundled" accounts ("Basisangebote Zahlen und Sparen") which include credit and maestro cards. For a "family" account, that means CHF 30/month (CHF 25 if you switch to electronic statements, or CHF 15 if the total assets at UBS ie savings accounts and current accouts are higher than CHF 10'000 for all family members combined). In the good old UBS tradition of getting you hooked first and fleecing you later, the first year is free.

Postfinance is cheaper obviously, but for the cheaper accounts (ie not the "Plus" account set which is CHF 12/month or free for assets in excess of CHF 25'000) you have to withdraw from their machines, or a Post Office counter, or bizarrely, from a Migros, Spar or Manor info counter or a railway ticket counter.

If you have a banking "set" with PF, cash withdrawals are free at any ATM.

We switched to PF from UBS when we bought our flat and have been very happy with them. The e-banking interface is easy to use and they have a neat iPhone app to boot.

Hmm, let's see:
Zurich HB - Check
Basel HB - Check
Olten Metropolitan Airport and Trainstation - Check

Where else do you need to catch a train?

I use Raiffeisen and don't otherwise have complaints, but the English requirement you have is an issue. Their internet bank is DE/FR/IT only and nobody in my particular branch speaks English either.

Why do you need an ATM anyway? To buy a ticket?

We noticed the same too with our CS withdrawals and like you we didn't recall any information about the charges. Do UBS charge also for using other cash machines? Tempted to change banks also

Yep. I read the letter when it arrived (I know I know ) and have been avoiding non-CS machines for over a month now. It's not even the amount, it's the principle.

Thinking of switching to another bank (since we moved last year there is no CS near us anyway, if I didn't still commute to Zürich I'd be sunk) but for US nationals that's not getting any easier to do. Realistically I'll probably wind up staying with CS till they throw us out or split us off. Don't much like it though.

I'm off to check my statement now. We're with CS too and I don't remember any notification of these charges being introduced either.

ETA: Just checked and we are not paying any extra. When were the charges introduced?

UBS charge if you don't have one of their Basisangebote and less than CHF 10'000 on you (combined) accounts.