I have received tax refund for shopping in Spain as a paper cheque (remember those?) My bank wants 20.- CHF in commission to lodge it into my account. Is there another way to cash it in Switzerland?
No
Had the same issue with a French insurer, which sent their reimbursement by way of cheque. I am afraid in CH there is no other way.
What you could try is to reach out to the payer and ask if they can alternatively pay into your bank account using IBAN (and thus cancel your check).
We occasionally get American checks.
We mail them to our American bank and deposit them there without extra fees. If you don't have a similar capability you're going to pay the Swiss banking piper.
CHF 20 is pretty cheap, usually it's CHF 40.
Tom
Next time have it credited to your credit card
That was my expectation. Not sure why they decided to issue a cheque.
I had a Swiss Franc government cheque drawn on a UBS account in Bern. My UBS branch in Nyon wanted f40 to ‘cash’ it into my account. When I complained to my advisor she explained that they charged the fee because they wanted to dissuade people from using cheques. I asked why they didn’t convey that message to the government writing the cheque, she said ‘that’s their business, not ours’
Bar-Stewards.