Hi there- I'm off on holiday to the Far East shortly and wondering about access to money- previously (in the UK), you can just use your debit card take money out of foreign ATMs.

So;

-Can you use swiss Maestro cards abroad ok??
-Are there any cost implications?? ie. cost per transaction / withdrawal

-How about swiss credit cards?? I presume you can use them to take out money as per UK cards.....but is there any charges?

Cant find any info on my bank websites......

thanks

of course you can withdraw cash from an ATM even in the far east with your maestro or cirrus ( you will be charged by your bank here, i think its 5 francs per transaction). withdrawing cash from your credit card also has charges.

Actually, just found this on Credit Suisse, Maestro terms:

https://entry.credit-suisse.ch/csfs/...tionen_pop.jsp

Looks like if you're withdrawing, it's 4.75chf per withdrawal, plus 0.25% of the amount.......not the best.......

i know but its convenient not to carry a lot of cash on you especially if you have to travel to "not very secure places"....

At UBS:

Payments are charged at 1% of the total

Withdrawals you pay 5 chf per withdrawal

Indeed, I agree. Never have bulk-changed cash before, or relied on travellers cheques.

But just wanted to ensure that Swiss banks dont screw you over if you dont prepare in advance- wouldnt put it past em ;-)

or simply pay with your credit card....

I know that just because this is called "Englishforum" not everyone here is English. However, if anyone is UK English and like me still has a base back in the UK, the building society / bank "Nationwide" doesn't charge commission on the overseas use of its cashcards, debit cards and credit cards, and is quite proud of being the only UK bank that doesn't.

It also doesn't charge to receive money sent from Switzerland into your UK account and receives it live and spendable in about 5 minutes instead of sitting on it for 2-3 days like my previous banks.

I'm not a salesman for Nationwide, just a new customer, but my sister has been with them for years and has always been happy with them and so far (admittedly only six weeks) so have I.

I'm off on holiday next week (outside both UK and Switzerland) and I'd been looking to see whether using my UBS Maestro card or my Nationwide cash card would be cheaper and the "no commission on overseas use" aspect of the Nationwide card won hands down. I've not yet investigated the Nationwide compared to either a UK or Swiss-issued credit card: that's tomorrow night's research

We're both with Nationwide too (accounts and credit cards)
By far, the best deal for UK expats...

Not sure where you'll be in the 'Far East'. But, if you're in Japan, make sure you use a Western ATM (like CitiBank) or the Post Office machines to withdraw cash. Local banks won't be in your network (God bless Japan).

Swiss credit card is cheaper to use, but as other posters have noted the withdrawls on the bank card are relatively inexpensive. But, finding the place to do it can be the rub. Don't want to get stuck out of cash trying to find a place that will accept your card...because of course that is the prime time to not find one.

Note of caution: A swiss maestro card will not work at payment points in all shops. No-one has been able to explain this to me (apparently something to do with the 8 digit code vs 16 digits for the rest of the world).

They do work fine at ATMs though.

I've had this trouble too. I have a maestro card through UBS and its really hit and miss in the UK. The last time I was there I used it in WHSmiths with no problem. I then went next door to Clinton Cards and their till wouldn't accept it. Its really annoying! I have learned to always have another card handy in case of such problems, except that my UBS credit card doesn't have chip & pin, which then confuses the poor shop assistant even more as the till automatically spits out a slip for me to sign which they're not used to seeing anymore!

As you say, it works fine in atms though.

the page maestro card doesn't really show where you can use

mastercard page has the atm locator but it says that not all atms listed accept the bank debit cards (and suggests to contact local banks).

myself, i have never used maestro card in asia.

I was just going to post about this. I didn't think to try my Maestro card in the shops when I was last there, and I didn't know the PIN for my credit card, so I was just using cash. Bu on my way back I tried the UBS Maestro card at the Duty free shop, and happened to see the check out girl was struggling to get it to work, but managed in the end. Didn't see too closely, but she kept swiping it and selecting different options, debit/credit card and who knows what else, after four or five goes, she got it to prompt for my PIN.

I'm at home in Ireland right now and have also discovered Maestro isn't taken everywhere, it does seem to be because I have a 6 digit PIN and most ATMs here only accept 4 digits, have not been succesful in any major store using it at the till, it's quite annoying as have to know which ATM in Dublin city centre will take the Maestro card.

The 'English' in English Forum was meant to refer to the language, not nationality ...