Nor with mine. I even had a friendly chat over a coffee with the manager in Spanish when I opened my account. At that point my German was not good enough yet but was fed up with UBS stupid charges and decided to switch banks - the convenience of getting everything in English was paid too dearly.

I am happy with them, their costs are low and their service superb. Not to mention the amount of free visits to museums that I made in the last couple of years by flashing my debit card in the entrance.

Seems that something else is the issue.

I think you should ask again (re opening an account). It may be a mistake - lost in translation. My experience is that in Switzerland there is a rule for everything, and there is also an exception. You accepted the no too quickly. ask the question in a new way.

It's not just Switzerland.
In the USA I had an insane conversation with a call center, the essential message being I could not get the electricity connected in my apartment because my newly acquired social security number (newly immigrated) appeared to be for a baby - clearly it was not mine. I was speechless. And without heating.

In desperation I asked for the manager and was told that he would give me the same response, so just to be sure I asked "which is?" and got the answer " not unless you pay a $50 deposit". Not exactly a "no" - well, not from my perspective.

It's all in the question ... and the answer. And the assumptions we all have.

Try again. it's a game, a sport, trying to guess what the real rule is and how to be the exception.

In your own country (I have no idea where you are from and it's irrelevant) if you were told something that didn't make sense you would be more assertive in your response. Here, as fish out of water, we all tend to quickly assume it is our error and spend time trying to understand the rules. It might not be a rule. It might be their error.

Did you say it was an account for your wife? (I can't go back now and read it - don't get cross mods! I'm not computer literate). That's the answer. a good wife doesn't need her own account (for the housekeeping money). The running costs for the bank, and therefore you, are too high. Did you mention the job? The forthcoming salary? That it's an account to receive HER salary? The amount? They may just require each account to have a minimum balance or something. I think this is just one of those communication errors. Or not . Be assertive - ask them again.

Lisa
Lisa

I know what you mean Linda, but if a bank didn't want or value my business, I'd just walk out the door and go elsewhere. I certainly would waste any energy on them unless they were the only game in town.

Off topic I know, but I was in the supermarket the other week. I put everything on the conveyor belt whilst the woman in front of me got served. When it I came to my turn I held out some prawns and asked the guy on the till for one of those wafer thin plastic bags to put them in. Usually there's a roll of them at the bottom of the checkout but I noticed they were sitting by his till. They prawns were pre-wrapped already on one of those polystyrene trays with cling film over them. Problem was they weren't wrapped carefully and the juice was leaking a bit at the bottom of the tray where the cling film overlapped so the packing smelled of fish. Well, the guy threw a hissy fit. "We don't offer this anymore." "They're already wrapped." "Blah, blah, blah." "Mutter, mutter, mutter." The people behind me were craning their necks to see what all the fuss was about. He hadn't started ringing up the items so I just shrugged, put the prawns down and walked away, leaving everything on the conveyor belt.

Would a Swiss Bank Teller know what a wingeing pom is?

She lied. Go to another person in the same or another Raffaisen office. Repeat the operation as many time as necessary. Worse case senario: you come to Basel an open an account in the office here, because if they refuse your wife, I give you the name of clients with B permets I know here.

Boy, you'd really have to be desperate to bank with Raffeisen to go to all that trouble!

Hey I am wondering what is the problem with the plastic bags on the counter too. First to me it is so strange that you have to ask for it and it is like they are not so willing to give them to you.

Secondly the other day I asked for a plastic bag and there was no any on the counter and older woman had to go to another to take and give me. In the meanwhile I myself took two plastic bags because they were closer to me. Amd lady took one from me and said something in german like I do not think you need both.

Because I still do not know rules of the game I went home puzzled, but I found out she did not have right to do that. But it is difficult when you do not know the language to fight back.

I also have a B permit, and have been with this bank over two years, In fact I opened my private account in Interlaken while on holiday, before I had decided to move to Switzerland. They sent all paper work to Scotland no problem.
Then in February this year I started the Business and opened a Business account with the local branch here in Merenschwand.
I can't fault this bank: my debit card even gives me free entry to most Museums,and reductions to others (yeah)


joethehandyman.shutterfly.com

I must admit your statement is relevent to the topic
I just don't judge people's bank choice. My choice of bank is not exactly rational either.

Thanks. I edited the post to clarify what I meant

Thanks Lisa, but I am a fluent french speaker and there was absolutely no mistaking what she said. I did ask twice and she confirmed that as a bank policy. I don't know if she meant it was policy of that particular branch or the whole bank. I admit that I should've probed further, but her statement kind-of surprised us, in a bad way. We were a bit annoyed and I felt walking away was the best option. We were getting late for work as well, and didn't want to waste time with them. As someone else mentioned above, we literally walked across the road to another bank and got her an account in 5 minutes.

Getting a job and having your own account is a very important step psychologically. I wouldn't deny that to my wife. Maybe we spend running costs on 2 accounts instead of 1, but it made sense for us have 2 accounts. I guess its a personal thing.

They may just want to limit the number of new accounts, which may sound a bit silly at first. Raiffeissen has become very popular as it has a 100% guarantee, i believe, for account holders so during the banking fiasco a whole lot of people moved to Raiffeisen with new accounts and all the deposited $$ had to be invested in various secure investments and mortgages, which caused some problems.

You must also remember in Switzerland there will be a little cartel on a local basis, a cantonal basis and on a country basis. My guess is the Raiffeisen have agreed with thier chums nit to accept too many new accounts, which is why you were refused on such a flimsy excuse.

Go try the cantonal banks, BCV is ok

i think its not a lie but their (branch) decision. they dont do it. that doesnt mean they say raiffeisen itself doesnt do it at all.

when i came here...it was that i after being at the migrationsamt i got a paper stating what permit I WILL get 6 weeks later. so i had no hard copy of my permit which is key to get a bank account with all (normal) extras. but i could negotiate a Maestro card and a credit card with no problems as others had serious probs at the same raiffeisen branch limmatquai in zurich. its often depending on your accountant or the policy given by the director of the branch. dunno whats wrong in their head...

To understand Raiffeisen, you have to realize they have common rules, and local rules. Each smaller group of affiliate banks has a tendency to set their own policy.

For example, the Bern office says, if you move abroad, you cannot keep your Raiffeisen account. Whereas a group I know in the French part says yes, no problem at all, why would we mind? We will just forward your mail, not even a minimum amount left in the account required (unlike UBS, which wants loads...!).
Also, I have been very impressed with them, they even offer foreign currencies accounts at zero cost (depending on branch, not on your situation!).

So bottom line, rules vary per branch group, and fees do too, even interest rates! You can check this by selecting the right branch group at their site first, and then select the fees, this way you know you are getting the correct ones.

One warning though, if you opt to pay the 200 chf member fee to the cooperative to reduce your general banking costs, be warned that if Raiffeisen goes belly up, you are liable to tune of a large amount (between 6000 and 8000 CHF, cannot remember the exact amount. This is listed in the policy booklet that applies to ALL! Raiffeisen banks. If you want to opt out, just tell them and they will refund the 200 chf).

You should have asked her if she was a member of the SVP.

what if she was? Isn't the SVP the biggest party in Switzerland?