Postfinance increases fees for Giro

Ok then I also need some interpretation help… Are you saying that if you have 25k or more into 3rd pillar in Postfinance 75 for instance, then you don’t get charged the 5chf/month??
That could stop me moving my pillar to viac as I was planning for end of year…

Just answered my own question by checking website: shares in e-trading count towards the 25k.
This quote is about the “investment amount” which continues to give u free Pf even with the changes on 1.1.19.
“Investment assets are recalculated monthly. The amount at the end of the month – made up of the total of investment funds (PostFinance funds, funds of third-party providers), retirement funds (pillar 3a and vested benefits) and e-trading (custody account assets without cash) – is taken into account.”
https://www.postfinance.ch/en/detail/pricing-2019/private-customers.html

@tent 3rd pillar funds definitely count. That i was sure of. I’m surprised that normal shares in e-trading count tho. I suppose they get Fr 90 per year from the client for the e-trading account already, so that’ll do for now.

what confuses me most is when they write:

From 1 January 2019
Account management fee private account
Account management CHF 5/month (irrespective of level of assets)

now I think I’ve not to interpret as assets the 3rd pillar nor e-trading
so very good :slight_smile:

tent

I agree it’s confusing. U cud explain it kind of like Customer Assets refer to cash accounts which they can’t earn money from due to the negativzinsen, so u need to pay a 5Fr fee. If have Investment Assets >25k then they earning money from u (90 Fr/y) already so it annuls the 5Fr fee.

I see, but if I have 3rd e but no e-trading I don’t pay the 90chf…still I guess they earn it from them being kind of vested there… Now I have to redo the math for viac vs pf75 :wink:

25k @ VIAC costs you around 125 CHF per year (0.5%)
25k @ PF 75 is around. 250 CHF per year (TER went close to 1% this year)
AND you are a lot less flexible at PF. But this is discussed elsewhere

There’s no such thing as a free Postfinance account

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You are so right! No fee lunch Anywhere of course, didn’t realize pf75 TER was so high…

Another alternative: ZKB inklusiv Basis

Costs 60CHF/year, but you get 1% of interest on the first 5000 CHF (=50CHF). That means you pay only 10CHF/year and, as far as I can see, all the essential things are included (Maestrocard, Visa credit card, e-banking, savings account) as long as you only pay within Switzerland. But with Transferwise/Revolut/… this should not be a big problem…

Please correct me if I missed something!

the creditcard is basically useless (2.5% if you use it outside switzerland), Mastercard costs you if you withdraw at any non-kantonalbank ATMs and you don’t have an EUR account to use with Revolut.

Still not that bad.

It’s correct but the thing with those interest incentives is that they are changed all the time and usually don’t last. Fees on the other hand are changed less often.

@ma0 @Thaek
Thanks for the input, those were things I thought about as well. In my situation (need a proper Swiss bank account) it still seems like the best option at the moment as I have a German credit card with DKB as well as Transferwise and Revolut. Postfinance costs 60/year anyway and Migros Bank charges for receiving money if I understand correctly, a system I personally do not like :slight_smile:

Incentives will change for sure, but just hope this one will stay for some time, and even if it does not, not much is lost compared to other offers… :smiley: But I would be happy to know of any better alternative!

have you checked Raiffeisenbank Zurich? I don’t have an account at the ZH one, so I’m not sure if it’s good or not.

I am actually thankful to PostFinance for introducing the fees, cause it made me actually see how much money I was loosing on using their saving accounts :slight_smile:

I have talked to Cler, checked BCV and Migros Bank, and even considered staying with UBS for the first year, but in the end I decided to go with Credit Agricole Suisse: free package (more or less like CS, or UBS, account, Maestro, swiss transfers, etc.) if 20k is on any of their accounts each month (saving accounts: 0.5 - 1.0%/year now, with some restrictions).

The customer service was great so far, and all the interactions in English.

That’s great, had a look and Credit Agricole Suisse does look attractive. Do you know if you can also have a USD denominated account with them?

I know they offer EUR accounts (+ another Maestro) cause they work mostly with cross-boarder workers, but I’m not sure about USD account.

You can get a USD account from TransferWise for free (incoming transfers from the US), and use Revolut for outgoing USD transfers.

I recently found neon:
https://www.neon-free.ch/en/

Could be a very interesting alternative for banking in CHF and withdrawing some cash. NOT for doing stuff abroad.

Pros:

  • account is free,
  • maestro is free,
  • 2 withdrawals at any atm per month free
  • no need to go to the bank, everything is fancy and done in-app

Cons:

  • no EUR account
  • no daueraufträge until sometime in 2019 (you may get pissed paying your rent before they implement it)
  • no credit card until next year
  • no savings account
  • no ebanking in-browser
  • sepa payment is “free” (1.5% fee)
  • you can not bring cash to the bank (who does anyway?)

I may still open an account there and park some kCHF just for the maestro part

Called them up yesterday, Credit Agricole Suisse, they were very polite. They do offer USD accounts, free of charge, as part of the normal accounts they have.
From all I can read it sounds like this one is the winner - my only concern is that I never heard of them before. Not sure how safe they are as a bank…
I have too much savings in USD to keep it at Revolut, I am slowly investing it but a bit cautious with today’s markets.

Credit Agricole is “only” the third biggest French bank…

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I thought Credit Agricole is free only for the CHF account. Is the EUR also free? Their Fees are very very confusing. All mixed up and in small print.