Postfinance account [card reader] not accessible from abroad

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hi friends,

I need your suggestion on one topic.

I have a postfinance account. I left Switzerland in May but my account is open, contains money and is used for tax payment, filing etc.

Now my card reader ran out of battery and I cant access my account any more. I know they wont ship it to India. I also checked online help that says card reader will stop working if the battery is replaced.

What should I do? I have friends in Zurich whom I can authorize so that Postfinance sends the new card reader to his address and I can collect from him while he travels to India next month. But not sure if they accept this option.

Please help

Indswiss

2
Since 2011 PostFinance card readers have a battery compartment so that the user can replace the battery as needed. Suggest you replace the battery:

http://www.pctipp.ch/news/sicherheit...enleser-55482/

3
The card reader isn't specific to your account, so anyone who can get one from PF (probably just account holders, but perhaps any walk-in to a PF office) will be able to get one for you.

4
Indeed, the SwissFinance on-line application for a new card reader will only accept orders from surrounding countries:

https://www.postfinance.ch/en/cust/efin/idpcd.html

For your use, this link is to the "Change of Address" form so that you can notify PostFinance of your new address in India:

https://www.postfinance.ch/binp/post...iv_form_en.pdf

5
Thank you, I didnt know that. I had another old device from Post finance that I tried, but it showed "wrong card". So, thought this is always specific to an account and a card.

In that case, my friends who have account in PF can easily get one for me. Great !

6
Didnt know about this either. Yes, I saw there is a compartment for the battery. Not sure which battery will work, but that I will find out.

Thank you for your help !

7
In addition to fixing the yellow abomination, consider enabling MobileID access to your account.

This is radically more convenient, although it requires a SIM card which is MobileID-capable (Swisscom), something that you might (no longer) have.

This would then be your backup path for account access. This access path works as long as you have a mobile signal (also in India).

8
Let me help you with that:

Battery: 2 x CR 2032 3V (Panasonic)

9
It does seem that all Chip Authentication Programme readers are compatible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_A...cation_Program

Certainly all UK readers are interchangeable. But as someone else suggested, I had our Swiss cantonal bank switch from a matrix confirmation system to an SMS code sent to my NATEL mobile. None of our Swiss banks offered us a card reader; in fact not all issued us cards of any kind. Credit Suisse issued us an RSA SecurID, a little bit less handy. They replaced it once, when all SecurID gizmos were compromised and recalled, and sent the replacement overseas.

For what it's worth, a Barclays branch replaced the battery in our PINsentry reader (they were out of stock couldn't replace the reader).

An alternative for some banks is a mobile phone app that replaces the card reader, issuing a similar 6-digit code.

10
indswiss, what are you going to do when the card expires? I mean, they probably still have your swiss adress, right?