I thought I would put this post on for those folks on L permits looking for credit cards here in CH. I opened a Credit Suisse Boniva Silver account that comes with a standard account, savings account, a choice of a Visa Credit or MasterCard credit and an American Express card. All I had to prove was that my work contract was open ended, meaning that my employment wasn't automatically terminated after a period of time. I just got my Swiss cards today and I am so excited because I was under the assumption that I would be moving money to my US account or getting a prepaid card for travel and online shopping. If you are looking for a good option to have credit, try out Credit Suisse.

P.S. There customer service at the local branch here in Thun was outstanding. Very helpful and I always work with the same person.

Ohh so good to know!
Thank you, I will try that!

out of curiosity, how long did it take from you actual application for the bonviva package until you receievd the cards / documentation? Its been about 3 weeks since i've heard from them..

tahnks

I just tried for our account (L permit, but open-ended work contract) and CS said no to us. Don't know if it's luck of the draw or some other criteria that makes them decide one way or the other. We had an account already and were just looking to upgrade - maybe they figured they already had our business, so why bother upgrading it? Who knows.

Very strange....I suspect that it has to do with the person on the phone who opens the account. The man I spoke with spoke perfect English and was all but happy to open it. You might try filling in the online application and have someone call you. I did it this way and they phoned me two days later. YOu never know, they may do it the second time.

Perhaps they check out the number of posts and reputation on EF before they decide.
Sorry, Off-Topic.

Meh, we're just going to try another card - SBB or a store. Just need it occasionally and if CS doesn't want out business, I'm not going to work for it

When I applied a couple of months back with an 'L' and fixed term contract I had the following results:

Credit Suisse: Rejected
Post Finance: Accepted but Low Credit Limit (1,000 Chuffs since you ask)
Corner Card: Accepted and Decent Limit

So far the Corner Card service has been really good. Their online credit card service is very good i.e. can view transactions posted etc. (which might seem strange to mention but from what I've read, some credit card services don't actually have such an offering)...

That's my 2 cents.....

Hello,
Just yesterday I also tried to apply for the Credit Suisse credit card and was rejected because I have a L permit...
I will try this Corner Card, thanks snoopy1664.

Whoa! I had just been searching this thread last night!
I tried Postfinance and they rejected it! But that was within 2 months of my arrival, was that a reason?
Anyways, was looking through Corner code website, just stuck at the form, its completely in german/french and in PDF, so google translate is impossible!

Seems so strange that the Swiss, with such black and white rules could be so all over the map with this. All I needed with Post Finance was my passport and rental agreement. CS just needed my work contract. They key, I found out, is that the contract MUST NOT BE FIXED. It has to have the terminology that clearly states that it is a contract that continues. My contract is worded like this. "The employee is under a a two year contract and will incur penalties for termination before this period. After the two year period the contract continues and renews automatically each year beyond. The employee may terminate their employment after the two year period with no early termination penalty"
So my job is for as long as I chose to keep it unless I do something hideous to get fired.

Well, for me PostFinance just said that they do not provide the card for my Work permit type.
I have managed to fill in the corner card form, will drop it today. If this works fine, else i'll just forget it.

I got Coop Credit card (issued by credit suisse) and SBB credit card (they offered when I was getting my halb tax) and I have an L permit with an open end contract.

I don t know if it any helps, but the company I work for is one of the biggest Swiss companies -not a foreign company with HQ around. pure swiss

I really think the open ended contract is a key. If they see that you have a set amount of time you will be here, they will generally not extend credit to you. If they know that you have the opportunity to be here for an indefinite period of time, they are much more likely to give credit. CS gave me 4500 per month limit on each of the two credit cards they issued.

My husband has an indefinite contract and they refused us. So, who knows. We asked, they said no, I pressed, the teller called someone who confirmed they would not upgrade our account. NonEU, L permit, good salary.

As a follow-up to myself, we just received our Coop Supercardplus Visa cards in the mail... which are issued by Credit Suisse, who turned us down for a CS credit card because we have an L permit. Go figure. Our limit seems to be about a month's salary.

So, I tried the Cornercard! After 3 weeks waiting, they just denied my credit card request and instead they offered me a prepaid one. :/
Anyway lets keep trying...
So I have until today:
Credit Suisse: Denied
Cornercard: Denied
SBB: Will try now.

I cannot find out why, but I cannot get a credit card
from Credit Suisse either.

I have a B permit and have both the miles and more AMEX and MasterCard - and folks you're seriously not missing out. Here's a list of the issues I've had with both cards.

1. Both get blocked on a regular basis (every 2 months or so) for no reason.

2. When I travel the cards are blocked every single time, even if I call ahead and tell them where I am going to be on which date.

3. It took at least 6 months to sort the billing, and I was told not to pay as they would fix it yet I was being sent malnung after malnung.

4. For 3 years my miles were going unrecorded because they were not linking up to my mileage account as my passport name was different than my credit card name. I finally figured it out after asking for months for my M&M pin number.

5. My credit card number was stolen somehow and I was only notified almost 3 weeks after unauthorized transactions were made, adding thousands of francs to my bill. And now they are saying it takes 6-8 weeks to sort.

It is literally the. worst. card. ever, but I still use it as I've finally built enough miles for a return ticket to north America.

Honestly, you're not missing out on the CS card people.

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