SBB Half fare PLUS

Life Hacking
121

No, only supercard credit card is accepted. And there is no kick back on this amount.

122

Well, you have to get your supercard scanned for some reason (works with the app as well). But I just pay with my usual postfinance card, so I guess any other credit card would work, too.

I keep getting some superpoints too, but I guess it is not that much.

123

There are daily limits to how much you can exchange, this is an easy way to check it.

Debit cards, sure, but not credit ones.

1 Like
124

According to this page:

Accepted means of payment are cash, debit cards, Supercard (Mastercard, Visa and Visa Prepaid), PostFinance Card, VPAY (other credit cards are not accepted).

But you’re right that such topups are usually excluded in the T&C.

125

We are not the only clever guys out there. If you search, you can still find some 4+ years old threads from times when topping up your Revolut account for free with some credit cards was giving a turnover bonus.

126

Lies!

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127

Also be aware that Reka Card costs 6.–/year from the second year, and canceling the card costs 10.–

128

That’s correct
But I know someone who did collect a lot of miles with this Revolut loophole

129

You can also buy it with Reka cheques (I got more than 3% discount at work) and then cancel it immediately. After 2 or 3 weeks or so, they will refund it to your bank account. At least that was the policy in February when I did this. It was in the terms and conditions at the time, but first they wanted to give me a voucher. I complained and they agreed, but told me it was an exception (but my point was that it’s in the terms and conditions, so they have to do it). I’m wondering if this might have changed in the meantime. Any experience?

130

After 2 or 3 weeks or so, they will refund it to your bank account. At least that was the policy in February when I did this. It was in the terms and conditions at the time, but first they wanted to give me a voucher. I complained and they agreed, but told me it was an exception (but my point was that it’s in the terms and conditions, so they have to do it).

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of - in T&C it’s clearly stated they should refund to bank account, but I heard some stories they were doing problems. Which is pretty ridiculous, but I can really believe that one day they say “no, because no” and we will be left with a pricey voucher :upside_down_face:

131

I don’t understand this

Why would you buy Halb fare plus & then cancel it immediately?

132

I guess churn the reka discount (assuming it’s like 7-10%).

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133

Hi All
small testimonial
so one year ago I bouth the Halbtax Plus, paid CHF 1’500 and received CHF 500 potential bonus.

When the time was up a week ago, I had about CF 200 left on it, so my orignal calculation estimate on how much I’d need turned out to be quite accurate. I could also buy SBB tickets for the forseeable future on the last day of validity of the halbtax, lowering the remainder to ~10 Franks, which i assume lost now.

So for me it workted quite well :slight_smile:
Pro:

  • bought CHF 1’990 worth of SBB tickets, but paid only CHF 1’500

con:

  • i had to estimate those chf 1990 a year in advance
  • i carried the risk of not using the bonus
  • accounting (in my case beancount) is a pain since swisspass does not offer csv export, such that i had to enter everything manually
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134

This is why I would rather buy the 800 + 200 option twice if you’re on the edge (buy 1 and buy second after it is used up). Then you are sure you have time to use it up (& you don’t have to buy tickets/trips which you wouldnt really had to).

However, you then only have 20% reduction and not 25%. Good that it worked out for you though! :slight_smile:

135

Glad it worked for you so well. I have used my first 1500/2000 Halbtax Plus in 9 months and got a new one right away.

As for accounting, I just put one amount per month (old balance minus new balance). Do you need more accurate day-by-day figures?

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136

one could say i have a fetish of precisely capturing my expenses

not generally recommended^^ and there are excelptions :smiley:

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137

dear all, in the SBB half fare 800, if you’re not sure if you will spend 800 but u spend for instance only 500, do you get reimbursed the 300 - ofc then you wouldnt get the bonus of 200, but at least you get the 300 back?

138

Yes, you would get 300 back.

139

wow thank you so its a no brainer right? specially if you can use the reka card from the employer, as i believe you can pay the half fare with that.

140

It literally takes 10 seconds to google an answer to your initial question


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