What is the difference between Credit cards from Swisscard AECS GmbH vs Credit Suisse – apart from obvious fact that one is free and for the other, you are charged fee of approximately 80/90 CHF per year?

9 comments

1. More expensive credit cards come with stupid crap like airplane miles, car rentals and so on.

2. having had swisscard i would choose anything other than swisscard.

3. Can’t comment on which is better but just applied for the Swisscard cash back card. They currently have on the website 10% cash back up to 100chf in the 3 months AND 100chf the first time you use Apple Pay (you have to add the promo code on the website when applying). Seems like a pretty great deal to me even if just a signing bonus!

4. Been using the Swisscard for ages. I only use them for buying stuff, not sure about the extra services as I dont need them. I easily get a 100 chf back a year on cashback.

5. Credit cards with no additional services should be free or pay you back for your expenses, because they already charge a few percent points to the merchant.

   If you pay for a credit card, you may get some of these additional perks:

   * no foreign transaction fee (also available on some free cards)
   * travel insurance (cancellation, sickness, lost baggage, etc.)
   * auto rental insurance (you need to decline the one offered to you when you rent a car)
   * shopping insurance (if you find a cheaper price after buying, they reimburse the difference — hard to qualify in practice)
   * theft/loss insurance of the things you buy with the credit card
   * some perks when flying (priority line, free extra bag, access to lounges)
   * easier access to tickets for events
   * concierge (only expensive cards)
   * other small things

6. The point of cashback cards is mainly to encourage you to change your spending habits, and use your cashback credit card when you might have used cash or debit card. That way they make money from the merchants. Plus they hit you with fees once you do stuff like use foreign currencies, replace your card etc.

   The point of the credit card at your bank is more tight integration with your account and some other services you pay for, like insurance.

   Personally I don’t much like the business model of the „free“ cards. They’re basically using you to shake down merchants. But I agree most bank credit cards are overpriced.

7. A credit card doesn’t give you more money. So, unless you need it to buy in Internet, simply don’t use them.

   Best what you can do with Credit Cards is to place always around a 1000 plus on them. Then the card company pays you interest on it.

   So, you get some plus for that.

8. I recently took csx pro and i got credit cards from them. I had before cashback cards… they funny thing is both of then are in cashback and provided from swisscard and i see then in swisscard app too. So i believe that cashback option was before they implemented this new package for people who are different bank? No clue

9. The Amex from Swisscard is much more expensive for merchants – in local and small shops, I pay with cash, for Migros, Coop, etc, big corporation, I let them pay my cashback.