Hello!
I've had the PostFinance MasterCard Value for almost 2 years and I decided to cancel it and change to normal credit card. The reason is that I had problems with many online transactions, especially with airlines (which makes it quite useless if I can not use it there!).
I went to the post today for that and they told me that they are not responsible for this process and I should do it online. However I can't find how. I tried through e-finance but there seems to be no link for canceling the card.
Anybody tried that before?
Thanks
A
I would guess you have to call them? 0848 888 710
What were the problems?
I'm thinking of ordering one myself.
Shouldn't this card be equivalent to any other Mastercard Standart from the point of view of online payments?
How much is the card?
>>Details on prices and conditions<< just sais that the "Annual price" is "Debited directly from your card credit".
Why don ́t they say "the card ́s annual price is xx CHF and debited directly from your card credit".
Rule#1 (for me) in all finanancial matters: What isn ́t 100% clear to me (or whatever the provider chooses not to describe in a 100% understandable way), won ́t be bought/signed/purchased/whatever.
Easy and 100% free are the (Mastercard) credit cards offered through both Migros and Coop. Coop also offers Visa.
Why pay for something, if you can have the same thing free? Or is "prepaid" such a big advantage?
The PostFinance has a pdf form to Cancel your card, if you prefer:
https://www.postfinance.ch/content/d...el_form_en.pdf
No it's not the same, mainly because the pre-paid credit card is available to ages 12 and over, whereas the normal credit card is for 18+.
So you will have trouble for online sites which require some-sort-of age verification. (incl. perhaps airlines).
The price is on the same page, just on a different tab (the one that says "price"). It costs 50 CHF / year, or 25 CHF / year if you are young (under 20, which also highlights that pre-paid cards in this country are predominantly what teenagers use).
Id love it if more companies had pdf forms to cancel their service, i always have to google search for templates.
Ooops - didn ́t see the tab. However, CHF 50 for a credit card that ́s available free elsewhere? Why should anyone take it?
If prepaid is the question: There is a German-based EUR prepaid credit card ( www.kalixa.com ), which only has a once-off signup fee of EUR 9,95. Problem is, that a German address is needed to order/manage/maintain the card. However, everything is managed online, with the exception of receiving the actual card.
It has the pretty unique feature (together with Advanzia ́s www.gebuhrenfrei.com ) that payments outside of the EUR-Zone are converted at the current fx-mean-rate without any surcharge (only payments, not ATM-withdrawals).
But how do online shops know the difference?
Aren't they supposed to see it as just Mastercard (with a number and CVV code)?
I've had debit MasterCard and Visa from a russian bank and never had any problems with them.
Do Swiss pre-paid Mastercard/Visa work differently?
Coop and Migros refused to provide me with their cards. Actually the latter requested some additional documents that cost money to obtain which doesn't make sense in case of the "free" card.
Anyway, I have my salary account with PostFinance, so their card would be more convenient. Although, even if the give me a credit card, I guess that the money won't be freely transferable (probably, only from the account to the card and only once a month).
I hope that in case of the pre-paid card, I would be able to transfer money both ways and at any time. Although, maybe I'm wrong and it doesn't work like this in Switzerland.
I have my "central" Swiss account with Postfinance, too.
I received both Coop and Migros cards when I first moved to Switzerland, providing my first payslip (only), and obvisouly some identification. With both I run up a monthly bill, which is then taken, in full, from my Postfinance-account.
With Migros this happens automatically, while Coop sends an E-bill into the Postfinance-system, which I can then pay by simply confirming.
Why Coop doesn ́t offer withdrawing the outstanding amount in full automatically, I can only speculate. I assume they hope that customers forget to pay in time, and can then charge interest on the outstanding balance.
I admit my credit-card advice is biased, as I always use credit-cards as "a specific way to pay things" only. I never use credit cards to actually use the credit, as I deem their rates unacceptable.
Well I have not seen any Swiss cards where you can transfer both ways, but I remain to be corrected on that one.
Also while the cards are issued by the banks they are not responsible for the processing, so transfer to do appear immediately on the other side. It is just like any other payment you make and can take between 24 and 48 hours to appear on your card. At least that is my experience.
As for using the card, I've had no problems using it online, booking hotels, renting cars or booking flights....
As with everything, it depends what a card "offers". They are not all the same product. The annual price is not everything.
Eg, Postfinance credit card may be 50 CHF, but offers 0.5% cashback on all purchaces (1% the first year), so if you use it a lot it's also free,and can actually make a profit.
If you fly a lot, you may get miles-and-more, which is not free, but you get (quite a few actually) miles when you use it. Others give you supermarket points etc. The CFF/SBB credit card gives you discount on the 1/2-tariff or GA subscription (and is also free if you use it above a limit).
So it depends how you use your credit card. Also note that the Supermarket Cards have a (slightly) higher interest rate if you don't pay it all; and also worse non-CHF Conversion Fees -- so can be a ripoff if you happen to want to use then on non-CHF sites or abroad
Correct I have a kantonal bank visa card which has really good travel and car hire insurance built in and which is free when you have sufficient annual transactions on the card. Have had zero fees on it for the last few years and given it has the inbuilt travel insurance its well ahead of the free cards and would even be good value at 200CHF a year
By the way, I've stumbled upon one reply that says that transfers both ways are possible. Although, who knows...
Best ebanking - accurate and on the spot ? (not PostFinance please)