I’m fairly new in Switzerland, and I have lived here one month until now. I have the B permit (or at least I should have whenever the canton finishes my permit) and I wanted a credit card. I already have a Visa Debit, and a credit card from my bank in Denmark, and I wanted to have a Swiss credit card as well for a lot of reasons!
One simply being that if I am abroad, and something goes wrong, I have learned the hard way that a second card, mainly a credit card, can be a lifesaver. Another reason is that even though I have a lot expenses for my company every month, I don’t get a credit card from them, and having credit card would mean that i usually can get the money back before the expenses are debited from my account.
After checking online I figured out that post finance credit card might be the best option for me. I applied for the card, but got a rejection letter because of an “internal policy”. After calling them, they apparently have a policy that with a B permit, you need to be their customer for at least 6 months to get a credit. Seriously? Since when is this a thing?
What credit card can you recommend, which won’t rip me off in terms of costs? This might be a long shot considering I won’t have my physical permit in the near future
27 years ago UBS said the would give me a card if I paid into my account a min of 5k a month for 3 months, they say my first salary payment was higher than 5K & I had a card about 4 weeks later with a 5 or 6k limit. Cant remember exactly but I was surprised how high it was.
Malta banks want a 200% deposit & I gave them salary information going back 25 years & justification, then gave up.
I stopped being an HSBC premier member so lost my 6k credit card, as I don't work they would not let me change back to being an 'Advance' customer, just a basic one even through I still had over €50k in the account!
I call it a "small country syndrome". The smaller European country is, the more complicated access to a credit is.
I heard exactly the same thing when I went to PostFinance to open an account one month ago.
MBNA in the UK didnt even want to talk to me before I had lived in the UK for 2 years.
In other undisclosed European country I had to pre-pay a credit card during first few months before they removed that crap.
Not to say, they start with ridiculously low limits like 1500 euros/chf. It has nothing to do with security, whoever tells you that has no idea how finances work.
And not to say 2, when I moved to the US, the moment I got a bank account I'd got a credit card with $10k limit with no questions asked.
Do you need a second card that you can use or do you really need a credit ? If former, just get Revolut and forget about CH cards.
Although, if you can get Amex get it. This is the best card to have in Europe.
It took me a while to adjust from the UK way of doing things, but on the whole I prefer the Swiss attitude to consumer finance. I like that credit isn’t forced down everyone’s throat in advertising. I like that legally it is the lender’s responsibility to ensure that you aren’t overburdened with debt and I like that interest is legally capped below usurious rates, even though it means that as a good credit risk I would probably pay more than necessary, as bad risks can’t be priced adequately, so I end up I would end up subsidising the credit book of the lender.
I do still find it strange that banks don’t really do unsecured loans, but I suspect that is a perception thing, as the Swiss see that kind of thing as a bit tawdry. I guess that’s why CS use the Bank Now brand for consumer finance.
I understand you, and maybe its a good thing for 90% of population who don't know much or care to know much about finance. Hence credit usage in the US credit is at extreme.
However, imagine a new expat moving into CH and trying to get access to a simple necessity such as a rental car, impossible without a credit card.
So all these small european countries are restricting access to such a simple but yet useful thing.
One doesnt need to be an Einstein to create proper credit risk profiles, but no one cares/needs that. Most of EU banks just playing on safe side.
Not sure what standard of living has to do with anything that is being discussed in this thread. You might want to start another thread if you feel like talking about it ?
US has the most advanced and well-developed financial system in the world. They have lots of liquidity hence most of US banks are able to offer credit cards with big limits are they are able to turn-over or offload that risk fast enough (probably to Norwegian and Danish pension funds).
Unfortunately, CH is 50 years behind in traditional Fiat finance.
Luckily they are pretty advanced in the crypto space, which is very encouraging.
I kind of understand to some extent if it's because I have a B permit and thus less reliable than long term residents, but as we both work our credit limit is less than one week take home salary which seems outrageously low. I'd have expected c. 10 times that figure.
It's only because we are frugal that we aren't topping out during the month.