I moved to Switzerland from Ireland two years ago, and I will have to close my Irish bank account soon, which I used when in the EU in countries using the euro. When in other EU countries using local currencies, I used to top up my Revolut account from my Irish account, where I would then convert the euro to the local currency.
When topping up Revolut with either one of my Swiss credit cards or from my current account, the fees are exorbitant.
Would you have any tips and best practices as to what would be the best way to avoid those fees? How do you pay for stuff purchased in the EU?
Why use a credit card? I transfer from my bank to Wise and it costs nothing and outside of weekends is done inside of an hour. Used to use Revo but their customer services are disastrous.
When I am in an EU country I use N26. Its a German bank with a Swiss subsidiary. The account is free. I pay CHF 0.30 to transfer money from my Swiss bank account.
I have a debit card for that account that I use to pay with in a EU country. Twice a month you can also withdraw money for free within a EU country. I am very happy with N26
Wise! Much better than Revolut IMO. I pay no fee to put money on my Wise account from my Swiss account, and once I transfer the money into another currency, no fees to spend it (unlike Revolut, who charged me to spend pounds that were already converted you pounds).
I have had the same UK bank account for over 55 years and lived here 33 years. UK bank works fine for paying for stuff when over there. Visa debit card and online banking included...
Please do correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to me Wise charge a fee for every currency exchange. Revolut don't. As long as I do no more than one transfer out per month I pay no fees whatsoever. Certainly I've never had to pay fees to spend on it.
The OP's problem might be because it's an Irish EUR base account and not a Swiss one?
I just spent C$500 and Wise charged me CHF0.11 to do so. They also gave me a much better rate than I could get elsewhere. I believe I am ahead of the game.
wow, so many insights! Thanks! Let me try to answer all of you at once
I have never heard of Wise so I will definitely have a look. It sounds like the majority of you have been using it and are happy with it.
N26 sounds good too.
Is anybody using Neon by any chance?
When transferring funds to either Wise or N26, do you get charged a transaction or conversion fee? Do both Wise and N26 offer the flexibility to convert from one currency to another just as it is the case with Revolut?
The way I have been using Revolut so far was by topping it up with the funds from my Irish bank account. Now that I have depleted my Irish account, I started to look at what the best way would be to top Revolut from my Swiss bank account.
As for the credit cards I am using, one is a Visa by Supercard (Coop minion here ) and Mastercard and AMEX cards by Cashback. When topping up Revolut by using any of those three cards, I get charged a fee depending on the amount I want to top up Revolut with. For instance, when topping it up by CHF 100, I get charged a 2.5% fee. With CHF 50, it is a 1.25% fee. Same goes when I top up Revolut with funds from my Swiss current account.
Honestly, I wouldn't mind moving away from Revolut considering how preposterous their customer service is, even for subscribers to Premium.
You just send CHF from your Swiss bank to the CHF revolut account, and then convert it to other currency (either immediately or automatically when you pay with the card), isn't that the whole idea of revolut? Both of these things are free of charge
I stopped using Revolut because as a Swiss resident they charged me every time I paid in £ - even if I had put £ on from a U.K. account, they still charged me to spend them.
I gave up on Revolut after numerous transactions, both with credit card and transfers failed. US and Canada bank transfers in particular. And as noted their customer service is crap, failing to solve even one case.
No problems with wise, so can’t comment on their customer service.
As one of the above posters already mentioned, the blog https://thepoorswiss.com/ is a great resource for this kind of financial advice as it relates to CH.
I personally use his recommended credit card and debit card strategy which is:
Swisscard Amex for CHF domestic purchases (1% cashback at end of year): referral code for signup bonus of 40: WC40XPH8D
Cumulus or Supercard CC for where they don't take Amex(v few)
Neon for buying in currencies that are not CHF(no fees or commission, it's great). Sign up with my code and we both get 10 CHF - highly recommend them: JPWHLR
For Revolut then you can topup by just transferring from Neon.
I also use WISE. It's nice to have the option too. I also closed my Irish bank accounts as they were costing me to keep open.