I have been browsing casually ThePoorSwiss and MoneyLand websites, only to discover there is no true strive for the question which is in all our minds but sprinkled and scattered across multiple threads, as in:

Can you do zero-cost banking in Switzerland?

Might not be as straightforward as going to a single provider for all your services, but possibly/maybe a smart combination of multiple offerings tailored to one's needs?

I am using Revolut and (Transfer)Wise but they do not cover current account (where one might get their salary), or credit card which is not pre-paid, or eBill where one might automate their recurring payments...

Have any of you bright minds found answers that allow you to do zero, or near-zero cost banking in Switzerland?

Cheers

Yep, keep plenty of money in an account and you get free banking (still....)

Postfinance chrge CHF 5 a month or its free if you have assets over CHF 25k. I'm with UBS and am happy to pay the yearly charge for the level of customer service and advice I receive. In the grand scheme zero cost usual equates with poor service as I experienced with several of my UK bank accounts.

Postfinance was free if you had 25k.


From July 1 they charge.

Neon, CSX and Zak (all digital only) are free. Migros Bank (physical) is free if you hold 7500 CHF or more.

Neon is probably the best for most people as the card is 0 fx. 10 CHF free for joining too if you use a code (pm me if required).

Iirc Zak and Migros apps don't support Englisch.

Could you remind please does Neon offer CHF IBAN ?

PostFinance is no longer free. They changed their prices last year I believe, now you have to pay 5 CHF or 12 CHF (different packages) regardless of your assets.

Neon is a Swiss (digital) bank, so yes they offer a CHF IBAN

I am thinking about getting Neon (currently I am a UBS customer), but what bothers me is the management of all the ebills that I have configured with UBS.
Is there any standard way to transfer the ebills from one bank to another? Or should I cancel the existing subscriptions from UBS and then start everything from scratch with Neon?

Zero cost would be very difficult these days, even so you'll not get the services you require to have a safe and useful bank account with zero or minimal charge

Your eBill account is associated with an email address. You can use a single eBill account with multiple banks by configuring the same eBill email address in different banking apps. You then see your bills in all these banking apps. This should make it easy to switch to Neon.



Automatic payment of eBills is tied to the bank, though. I.e. you'll have to set up automatic payment again at Neon, if you want that.

If all you ever wanted was a checking account? Probably yes. But: You get what you pay for. I found that even the paid offers are worse in quality than in other countries... I'd really not want to have to deal with a free service when stuff doesnt work out.

If it's free (i.e. no direct apparent costs) you and your data are the product.

That's accurate. There's no such thing as zero cost banking. Its a service that costs them a non-zero amount to supply. You're paying for it with your data and/or in other ways (for example, via overdraft or other fees).

It's just a pity it's not work out then.... all the banks including the digital ones are loosing money.

Banking has become a commodity industry, an unconsolidated one. And it's a race to the bottom and when it ends the winners will hike up the fees.