# EUR account/card for normal use
**URL:** https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478
**Category:** Banks, Insurances & Third Pillar
**Created:** [October 12, 2017, 9:58am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478 "2017-10-12T09:58:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@mbaluda](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/mbaluda)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/21 "2017-11-14T22:36:15Z")
Open an account with the german bank [DKB.de](http://DKB.de) and transfer money via SEPA
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### Author:  [@nugget](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/nugget)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/22 "2017-11-15T09:20:40Z")
> [@Castor](#):
>
> Does it have to be the same Swiss bank account you use for transfer of the CHF to IB?
no.
if you go to account managemen =\> transfers =\> deposits you can specify the outgoing account (your EUR account) and the currency (EUR). the latter will yield a german based IBAN number, [i posted recently](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/how-to-send-money-to-your-interactive-brokers-account-for-free/495/48) the exact same thing. should incure zero costs
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### Author:  [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/23 "2017-11-15T17:23:06Z")
Thank you for the suggestion but this doesn’t seem to reduce the hassle (I have enough bank accounts, don’t really need one more…).
Moreover, I think you’ll have an EUR account with DKB -\> you need to convert your CHFs into EURs with other services (i.e. Transfer wise) before sending EURs to Revolut through SEPA payment.
I have an EUR account with Migros Bank which I could use to send EURs through SEPA to Revolut; the problem is the CHF -\> EUR conversion and its rate
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### Author:  [@mbaluda](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/mbaluda)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/24 "2017-11-15T18:06:35Z")
Maybe I miss the point here, but I simply do the SEPA transfer from postfinance CHF-\>EUR
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### Author:  [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/25 "2017-11-15T18:25:53Z")
The point (for me) is: do the conversion (CHF-\>EUR) at the best possible rate. Postfinance uses UBS exchange rates -\> it will charge you more than 1% spread in the currency conversion
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### Author:  [@nugget](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/nugget)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/26 "2017-11-15T20:57:58Z")
so I have, next to my postfinance CHF account, an attached postfinance EUR account. from both i could send funds cost free to my IB account, exchange, and send back. also from both accounts i can send funds to any IBAN, and if within SEPA, cost free.
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### Author:  [@Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Bojack)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/27 "2017-11-16T08:09:11Z")
I was meaning to ask. I know now how it works to send money to IB. How does it work if you want to send it back? Is it all free of charge? How often can you do this? I also have PostFinance and Revolut and I’ve been charging my Revolut Card from my CHF account using SWIFT. PostFinance took 2 CHF for it, and another 6 CHF got lost on the way. As far as I know, this commission should be the same between 200 and 50’000 CHF. So when I send 2000 CHF to Revolut and pay 8 CHF in commissions, that’s 0.4%. The more you send, the lower it gets.
If I exchanged CHF to EUR at IB and sent it back to my EUR PostFinance account, I could charge Revolut using SEPA. The whole operation would cost 2 CHF of conversion fee at IB. At this point, I’m asking myself if all this is worth my time in order to save 6 CHF…
> [@nugget](#):
>
> from both accounts i can send funds to any IBAN, and if within SEPA, cost free
Maybe you can make a SEPA payment from your CHF account “free of charge”, but what is being sent are in the end Euros. And the bank has to exchange these CHF to EUR and their exchange rates have a hidden fee. Even worse, if you make a SEPA payment from CHF account to PLN account, that would mean double conversion CHF\>EUR\>PLN. If I’m talking bullcrap, can please somebody call it?
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### Author:  [@nugget](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/nugget)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/28 "2017-11-16T08:43:43Z")
> [@Bojack](#):
>
> but what is being sent are in the end Euros.
Just to clarify: i have one CHF and one EUR account at Postfinance, both under my name and appearing next to each other in the E-Finance app.
If I specify with IB to send 100 CHF, i would make a 100 CHF wire transfer (“Überweisung”) from my PF CHF account, and CHF 100 arrive at IB.
If I specify with IB to send 100 EUR, i would make a 100 EUR wire transfer (“Überweisung”) from my PF EUR account, and EUR 100 arrive at IB.
no currency exchange happens at all. you could also change xxx into PLN at IB, and then wire it to your polish account (check IB third party withdrawel policies first)
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### Author:  [@Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Bojack)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 9:00am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/29 "2017-11-16T09:00:43Z")
You misunderstood me. You wrote you can make free SEPA payments from your CHF account at PostFinance. The CHF transfer from PF to IB is not a SEPA transfer. It’s a regular transfer to a Swiss IBAN. I’m talking about an actual SEPA transfer. It would not be for free.
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### Author:  [@ma0](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ma0)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 11:17am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/30 "2017-11-16T11:17:40Z")
> [@SwissChalet](#):
>
> I have done an extensive analysis on using various methods to pay in Euros (while ultimately holding CHF) if anybody is interested.
Can you show me your analysis? I start to think that maybe it’s easier to just transfer chf to revolut and let them do the exchange. It will solve my EUR problems and my Credit Card issues as well (other than flight booking, revolut doesn’t have insurances)
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### Author:  [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/31 "2017-11-16T17:45:49Z")
> [@Bojack](#):
>
> How often can you do this?
Once a month free of charge if I recall correctly
edit: [Client Portal User Guide](https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/am/am/funding/withdrawingfunds.htm) “_There is no charge for the first withdrawal (of any kind) in a calendar month; however, we will charge withdrawal fees for any subsequent withdrawal._”
> [@Bojack](#):
>
> At this point, I’m asking myself if all this is worth my time in order to save 6 CHF…
Same question for me…😁
edit: if we are not confident into putting too much money all at once into Revolut (like I am), we could transfer a (quite) big CHF chunk to IB, convert it, transfer it back (again: all at once) to PF EUR and then top Revolut for free using SEPA with smaller amounts when needed… what do you think ?
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### Author:  [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/32 "2017-11-16T17:47:36Z")
> [@nugget](#):
>
> no currency exchange happens at all
If you earn CHF sooner or later you have to convert them into EUR, even to feed the PostFinance EUR account. How do you do this conversion ?
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### Author:  [@nugget](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/nugget)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/33 "2017-11-17T07:27:44Z")
> [@weirded](#):
>
> If you earn CHF sooner or later you have to convert them into EUR
no, why should i?
if i needed to to that i’d send it from my chf account to ib, convert there, and send it back to my EUR account. just mind that deposits on IB have a 3 days grace period before you can withdraw them again
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### Author:  [@Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Bojack)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/34 "2017-11-17T08:17:06Z")
> [@nugget](#):
>
> if i needed to to that i’d send it from my chf account to ib, convert there, and send it back to my EUR account
Exactly. You wouldn’t transfer money from your CHF account to EUR account directly, or make a SEPA transfer directly from the CHF account, because it would be hit with a bad exchange rate.
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### Author:  [@weirded](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/weirded)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/35 "2017-11-17T15:57:21Z")
> [@nugget](#):
>
> no, why should i?
To top up the Revolut card loosing as little money as possible (thus avoiding the expensive SWIFT transfer which would occur transferring CHF directly to Revolut) which was the point @Bojack raised with his original post.
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### Author:  [@nugget](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/nugget)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/36 "2017-11-17T21:10:24Z")
> [@weirded](#):
>
> which was the point @Bojack raised with his original post.
omg these threads are just too long 😃
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### Author:  [@1000000CHF](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/1000000CHF)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/37 "2017-11-19T09:46:29Z")
> [@weirded](#):
>
> edit: if we are not confident into putting too much money all at once into Revolut (like I am), we could transfer a (quite) big CHF chunk to IB, convert it, transfer it back (again: all at once) to PF EUR and then top Revolut for free using SEPA with smaller amounts when needed… what do you think ?
This exactly what I’m doing. In pretty often in Germany and France, and whenever I need money there I’m using my PF EUR card, in other places of the world I’m using Revolut.
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### Author:  [@Bojack](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/Bojack)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2017, 11:01am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/38 "2017-11-19T11:01:36Z")
> [@1000000CHF](#):
>
> This exactly what I’m doing. In pretty often in Germany and France, and whenever I need money there I’m using my PF EUR card, in other places of the world I’m using Revolut.
But the PF EUR card you can only use to withdraw, not to pay, right?
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### Author:  [@1000000CHF](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/1000000CHF)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/39 "2017-11-19T11:06:42Z")
I haven’t tried my EUR PF card abroad for payment. I withdraw in Switzerland normally and use cash abroad. I have to test it and see if it’s possible and if it’s better than using Revolut for payment abroad.
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### Author:  [@ma0](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/u/ma0)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://forum.mustachianpost.com/t/eur-account-card-for-normal-use/478/40 "2017-11-19T11:38:51Z")
You can, but beware, you should have a plus account to withdraw for free.
[https://www.postfinance.ch/en/private/products/cards/postfinance-card-eur.html](https://www.postfinance.ch/en/private/products/cards/postfinance-card-eur.html)
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