Credit cards with no annual fee are popular in Switzerland. As of November 1, 2018, the Migros Cumulus Mastercard issued by Cembra Money Bank and the Coop Supercardplus issued by Swisscard - the current most popular no-annual-fee credit cards in Switzerland – have been supplemented by the new Coop Supercard issued by Topcard (UBS) and the Cashback credit card issued by Swisscard.
Phased-out Coop Supercardplus by Swisscard
The longstanding partnership between major retailer Coop and card issuer Swisscard for the issuing of the Coop Supercardplus rewards credit card will end on October 31, 2020. Coop Supercardplus cardholders will be able to use their cards until that date, but according to Swisscard, Coop Supercardplus credit cards are not being issued for new customers as of November 1, 2018.
Existing Supercardplus cardholders are able to swap their cards for the Cashback credit card from Swisscard by entering their card number in a simple online exchange form. Coop Supercardplus cardholders who do not take the time to swap their cards will automatically be issued Swisscard Cashback credit cards when their Supercardplus cards expire (at the latest by October, 2020).
New Coop Supercard (Topcard)
Coop has entered a partnership with UBS subsidiary Topcard to issue the new Coop Supercard credit card (notice the absence of the “plus”). The new card is almost identical to its predecessor, the Coop Supercardplus issued by Swisscard. It is issued in Visa and Mastercard versions. The biggest differences between the new Coop Supercard and the phased-out Coop Supercardplus are as follows:
- The new Coop credit card uses UBS currency exchange rates, while the phased-out Supercardplus uses Swisscard exchange rates. Rates recorded by moneyland.ch on multiple dates show that the exchange rates used by UBS and Swisscard are similar.
- Like other credit cards issued by Topcard and UBS, the new Coop Supercard comes with a complimentary travel accident insurance and also provides a discount on car rentals from Europcar. However, it does not include the guaranteed return benefit provided by the previous Coop credit card.
- The UBS late payment fees apply to the new card. The phased-out Coop Supercardplus has a late payment fee of 30 francs per reminder. The new Coop Supercard has one free late payment reminder, with the second reminder costing 30 francs and the third reminder costing 60 francs.
- Like its predecessor, the new Coop Supercard delivers rewards in the form of Coop Superpoints. It comes with an introductory offer by which cardholders earn 1 Superpoint per 3 Swiss francs of purchases charged at Coop stores and partners.
- Card statements for up to two months are provided on a complimentary basis. Older statements cost 10 francs for the first copy and 5 francs for additional copies. The phased-out Supercardplus had a fee of 10 francs per order of card statement copies.
Coop and Topcard have also launched a new Supercard Visa prepaid card. Like the credit cards, this prepaid card has no annual fee. The fees and benefits are almost identical to those of the Supercard Visa and Mastercard credit cards, with these differences:
- The prepaid card does not include insurance benefits.
- A loading fee equal to 1% of the amount credited to a prepaid card account (minimum 3 francs per reload) applies.
- The loading fee makes the prepaid card more expensive to use than the credit card versions.
New Cashback credit card from Swisscard
Swisscard launched its new Cashback credit card on November 1, 2018. The new cash back card has no annual fee and is compatible with the Apple Pay and Samsung Pay mobile wallets. The majority of the fees applicable to the new Swisscard Cashback credit card are identical to those of the phased-out Coop Supercardplus.
Aside from its mobile wallet compatibility, the biggest difference between this card and the rewards credit cards from Migros and Coop is that cardholders earn cash back as statement credits, rather than rewards points which can only be redeemed through retailer rewards programs. Cash back is generally a more customer friendly rewards system because it is simpler and more flexible. You can find detailed information and get informed about how Swisscard’s new cash back card compares to other Swiss credit cards in the moneyland.ch Cashback credit card from Swisscard review.
The interactive credit card comparison on moneyland.ch lets you compare the costs of all Swiss credit cards and find cards based on the specific benefits you want.
More on this topic:
Unbiased credit card comparison
Cashback credit card from Swisscard review
Cashback credit card from Swisscard details
