Swiss Bankers issues prepaid payment cards which are marketed by partners like Raiffeisen, PostFinance, regional banks and cantonal banks.
The Travel Cash card and the Mastercard Prepaid are two of the best-known cards from Swiss Bankers.
Now, Swiss Bankers has made changes to its foreign transaction fee and the foreign cash withdrawal fee. The changes will come into effect on September 1, 2019.
Cash withdrawals outside of Switzerland
Up until now, cash withdrawals both in Switzerland and abroad cost 5 francs per withdrawal (or 5 euros or US dollars for cards denominated by those currencies). From September 1, the fee for cash withdrawals outside of Switzerland is increasing to 7.50 francs. Cash withdrawals in Switzerland will continue to cost 5 francs per withdrawal.
For comparison, many other Swiss prepaid card and credit card issuers charge a minimum fee of 10 francs per cash withdrawal. The general rule here is: Never use a prepaid card or credit card to withdraw cash. Using debit cards for cash withdrawals is much more affordable.
New foreign transaction fee
This change is more significant because it affects all transactions in foreign currencies. From September 2019, the Mastercard Prepaid card (including the digital version) will have a 0.95% foreign transaction fee. Up until now, the card had no foreign transaction fee.
Bei der Travel-Cash-Karte wird weiterhin keine solche Bearbeitungsgebühr erhoben. Dafür gibt es bei der Mastercard Prepaid weiterhin keine Auflade-Gebühr (ausser bei Vertriebspartnern wie der SBB), während bei der Travel-Cash-Karte 1.5% pro Aufladung verrechnet werden.
The Travel Cash card will continue to have no foreign transaction fee. It is worth noting, however, that the Travel Cash card has a 1.5% loading fee, while the Mastercard Prepaid card does not have a loading fee (exception: loading at third-party partners like the SBB/CFF).
When choosing a travel card, you should always compare currency exchange rates in addition to card fees. The credit card and prepaid card comparison on moneyland.ch accounts for both card fees and currency exchange rates (based on ongoing spot checks).
Verdict
As the credit card and prepaid card comparison shows, the Mastercard Prepaid from Swiss Bankers is still one of the most affordable Swiss prepaid cards. But there are other cards which can be cheaper for certain kinds of users. The prepaid cards offered by UK companies TransferWise and Revolut are even more affordable.
More on this topic:
Mastercard Prepaid from Swiss Bankers
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