Hi guys, I did a little investigation and decided to choose between these two. Here are my needs: 1. Free cash withdraw on ATMs within Switzerland. I don't know which one has more ATMs so that I can withdraw cash conveniently when I move around. 2. A credit card without annual fee 3. Cheap money transfer to oversea bank accounts 4. Less approval time for the bank account, so that I can start using it ASAP. 5. I don't want any additional fares, so the services should be as cheap as possible. 6. When I graduate and these student accounts are not available anymore, I hope I can transfer into a normal account with less payment easily. Any suggestion is appreciated. Thx.

for your requirements:

1. with UBS, you can withdraw on ANY atm machines in CH. With Postfinance, you are only limited to Postfinance atm. So UBS clearly wins here

2. With Postfinance, as a student, you are not allowed a credit card. Only a debit card. with UBS, you can get a creditcard without annual fee, maximal credit limit is only 2000chf.

3. From this forum, it appears that Postfinance have the cheapest fee. I have done a couple of transfer with Postfinance, but never UBS

4. Both are fast.

5. Both are free

6. With Postfinance, they will send you a letter, asking your enrolment certificate to prove you are still a student. With UBS, i *think* it is a maximum of 2 years. (not sure).
No clue about the transfer part.

HTH

Thanks for the info. I am still wondering about the offer of the credit card. The Student Set of Postfinance has claimed a free credit card. The web site has closed so I cannot paste the link. I don't know how much credits are included in it, and how the services are compared with UBS.

Thanks to your detailed comparison, I prefer the service provided by UBS.
It is a big bank anyway. If the approval time is acceptable(within 10 days),
I guess I will get a UBS bank account. I guess my passport and my contract
with the university are all the necessary documents, am I right?

You can withdraw all over the world on the "Plus" and "Eufiserv" networks with your postcard.
I had a Postfinance credit card when I was an student
Yes

Hmm,

2 weeks ago, i walked into Postfinance and asked to get a credit card, but the lady said that since i am a student, from my country, that I cannot get a credit card.

She even went to ask someone at the back, and confirmed it.

Perhaps because i am not an EU student.

Today I went to UBS with my passport and a student card (WITHOUT a permit), and they opened a campus account for me. For credit card, the corresponding money need to be blocked from the bank account. And it takes shorter time than Postfinance to approve the card. They said it takes 3-5 days, while postfinance said it takes 10 days.

In postfinance, it is not possible to deposit/withdraw currencies other than chf/euro. It is possible to open an account in dollars, but you can only transfer money to this account from other banks. Also student account doesn't apply to accounts other than chf. So if you will have other currencies, i suggest you to go with UBS.

Btw, i got a credit card from postfinance as a student, so it should be possible.

I have a friend who has a limit of 3k on her UBS credit card and is a PhD student

Yeah my credit limit on my UBS Visa is definitely not limited at 2k. Unfortuately there is an age limit on the UBS student plan--not sure about Post Finance.

I just emailed to see if I can get an increase along with my yearly salary increase