This must have been answered somewhere else, but I just can't find it.
My landlord gave me a payment slip to pay him the rent, and I told him I would pay online anyway. I just logged in (Credit Suisse), and the system gives me at least 3 options that are relevant:
- orange slip
- red slip
- domestic payment

Given that the slip he gave me is right between orange and red, and a bit faded on top of that, I am confused. It's printed, there is nothing handwritten on it. Is that what makes the difference??? How to tell?

when in doubt, pick the "orange" option on DirectNet

It's most likely orange.

No idea what the red ones are for, but I never got one.

red is if the money goes into a PostFinance account, I think
orange is for all other banks, I think

The orange ones have a reference number in the right half which allows the recipent to administrate payments better (banks can have them too for their post accounts). I don't think there's any difference at the payer's side.

ok, so i tried orange., because indeed i know my landlord is at Credit Suisse too. It then said "You have entered a postal account number that cannot be used for a payment with an orange payment slip. You can enter your payment using the page now displayed." and indeed switched me to the red payment slip section.... I am super confused.

Well then, turns out your slip was red

Either the post account was not set up for orange payment slips, or the smart CS banking software figured out that one customer wants to pay another CS customer, which is likely cheaper without the post account.

see ... red is postal.

isn't that CS Internet banking system friendly?

Well, the "smart CS banking software" was confusing me to no end. I think I managed to do it now. It was a red banking slip.

Thats weird (that red is postal) as I pay my credit card bill with the orange slip, but if I want to make an additional payment during the month, UBS told me to use thr red payment slip. It all goes to the same bank account etc, just there's no set reference number for the red (in this case she told me to use my CC number.

From my understanding, the red slips are more for 'casual' payments i.e. you can get these from your bank so other people can pay money into your account. Small companies/one man buisinesses as well, can have a pile of these then just send you a slip with the bill.

Bills from companies tend to be Orange slips with a reference number. This reference number is UNIQUE to that payment. Not sure how the number is generated part of it is a prefix for the company I think and includes an Error check. I also assume that these cost more to produce etc.. as they need pre-printed sheets which then have the details added when printing the bill.

Hi there.
I've also got a question about these payment slips.
In general, should I expect to get charged for doing it through my bank's e-banking service?
I just opened an account in BCGE - Banque Cantonale de Genève, and I don't know if I will be charged for paying my monthly rent, my Health Insurance bill (although I am going to order an automatic payment for this one), my cell phone bill, as well as my credit card bill in case I decide to get a credit card from some other issuer instead of BCGE.

The credit card bill is actually what I want to know at this moment, since I have to decide on whether I will get a credit card from BCGE or from somebody else (eg. SBB-CFF-FFS who offer the 1/2 train card with a free VISA credit card).
Do you think that if I get the SBB-CFF-FFS credit card, I will be charged for paying my bill through BCGE's e-banking system?

Thanks.

You will need to look at your banks T&Cs to see if you will be charged for paying bills via internet banking. I pay CHF 0.40 per bill with UBS, so isn't going to be much each month. I would take whatever credit card accepts you.

As for the differences between red and orange payment slips..it has nothing to do with postal accounts, but that made me smile

orange: has the ability to enter an account reference in the big machine readable line at the bottom. This is used for acounting systems to see what customer payed and what bill number they paid. Can also be read electronically by the banks machines, including payment amount.

red: no account keeping reference. Need to enter amount manually when paying a bill at a bank machine.

This is an orange pay-in slip:



As mentioned, this has a reference number (see fig 7) which enables the recipient of the money to allocate the payment correctly.

This is a red pay-in slip:



There is no reference number, but there is a field for comments or messages, so you can note what the payment was for (i.e invoice number).

Thank you both guys (especially MarieZug for the optimistic comment ). I cannot find how to let the system know that I want to thank you for your posts though - anyway, maybe new members don't have this right .

So, from what I understand, if I get a credit card from any card issuer other than my bank (such as CFF or cornercard) I will be receiving the bill with an orange payment slip from them, right?
And then it's gonna be up to me how to pay for it, right?

Unless you sign up for paying by direct debit (LSV), then you will get an orange payment slip with your bill that you will need to pay.

Even if you get a credit card from your bank, with no direct debit you will still get the orange payment slip to pay your bill.

Many thanks, everything is clear now.
I am so glad I found this forum - I think I'll become a regular.

I'm so old, I remember blue paying in slips...

The old blue is the new orange.
The old green is the new red.
Confused? Good.