hi - another question from a newbie!

what will i need to open a bank account - in terms of identification, work information, etc.

also, how exactly do i transfer the money between bank in the US and switzerland? and is there a minimum?

thank you!

Permit, Passport, Contract of Employment. You can transfer money using e-banking.

There is loads of info on this forum regarding obtaining a Credit card.

Hi,

I opened a new account last week, All i needed was my visa and passport, they didn't ask for Work ID at all, and a Credit card was included in the package. They offered 2 packages One for people under 23 and one for over 23, both include ...

Maestro Card
Credit Card (min 5k limit)
Personal Account
Savings Account

It costs CHF 6.- a month

You get online banking with that.

This was with UBS in Zurich.


Rich

I tried to open a basic account last week with Credit Suisse so that I could get my wages paid in. They wouldn't let me open it without a work permit or contract.

I don't have my proper residence permit yet, just the receipt saying I've applied so I don't know if that was also part of the problem.

CS want a residence permit, or 50k min (for a non resident account).

dave

While you are on the subject, can two people who are not married open a joint bank account? My fiance and I would like to open something joint, but don't know which bank to try

I don't see why not. Or if not you can have a power of attorney (complete with cash card) on the main account-holders account.

dave

My OH and I couldn't get a joint account because we're not yet married. By giving me power of attorney I was able to get a maestro card for his account - result!

The problem was I couldn't get money paid into the acount because it's in his name and not joint names. He already had the account open so I don't know about opening a joint account from scratch.

Rich,

Did you have to give a minimum deposit / annual minimum income to open this acct? Also does UK credit rating (mine isn't that great) have any bearing on this?

As an idea of my circumstance I recently sold my house in the UK so when I move over to CH I'll have a decent sum for an initial deposit, but prior to that I had little or no income for best part of 4 months hence my credit scoring took a real nose dive during the latter stages of 2006 - I just want a simple acct, no bells no whistles just a Maestro card and a savings acct would be all I need really, is this realistic or should I keep my UK account instead?

Cheers for any info

Hi,

UBS didn't ask me for anything accept my Visa and Passport, I asked about whether i need to pay a deposit, and the lady said only if i wanted to put some money in, i didn't have to to open the account. They didn't even ask me for proof of my salary / employment. They asked what my income would be, but as i said above they didn't want any proof.

I had a very bad rating in the UK but over here the slate is wiped clean, they do not contact credit reference agencies from the UK.

Hope this helps


Rich

Rich,

Thats exactly what I wanted to know, thanks very much!

Cheers

hehe no problems

Not sure if this helps, but I went into UBS to change some foreign currency into CHF, and the man behind the counter asked me if I had a bank account with UBS, to which I replied, no, I don't have a permit (haven't even started applying for one!), all I have is my passport, to which he said that all I need to open an account is my passport. He took me to another person, who opened the account for me (some all in one package for CHF7 a month) and that was that. To be fair, he did say they could not put through my credit card application without the permit, but could do everything else without it!
I suppose it depends who you see, might as well go for it..

I know UBS offers a personal account and a savings account which is free of cost for 1st year. I think it's called "Welcome Account". There is no annual fee for that for the 1st year. So if you are here for short term, that could be a good option. Good luck!

Thats great news, I don't really want the C/C anyway so it makes it even better if all I need is my passport. Cheers!

Hi gooner, have you gat an idea if there is any difference in using an European Passport versus an US Passport and do you have any suggestions of which bank to recommend? Some of them want horrendous amounts to just open an account. And finally which bank is best in E banking? I´m asking because I´m about to get a european passport at Diplomatic Second Passporrts I put some enquiries out in regards to that site and I haven´t come accross bad Infos as of today.

regards
Abby

Abby, wake up love ... Diplomatic Passport for Scotland ? We're part of the United Kingdom for gods sake ... sorry, you are either on a wind up or really reallly naive ....

I'll second that, keep away from that stuff unless you want to deal with the cops, in Swiss-German

Hi all,

Just one question. Will the same documents of opening a new account be applicable to student as well? e.g with only visa and passport?

thanks

i guess to get advantage of student benefits proof of your student status