Poinz Credit Card Review – The Ultimate Cashback Card Test
A free credit card duo and cashback on every purchase - poinz credit cards offer everything we expect from a good credit card.
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☝️ The most important facts in brief | 2024
The poinz credit cards achieve the best possible result in our credit card comparison
With the cashback credit cards from poinz, you receive a portion of the purchase amount refunded with every payment (1% Amex & 0.25% Visa).
In addition, the poinz credit card duo (Amex + VISA) is free of charge.
Welcome offer 🚀CHF 80 starting bonus + 3% welcome cashbackReceive a starting credit of CHF 80.00 with the poinz promo code BW80-YKGU. In addition, the welcome cashback is 3% in the first 3 months with the AMEX credit card (up to a maximum cashback amount of CHF 100). |
Introduction: poinz credit cards review
In this article in the ‘Experience & Review’ series, we test the advantages and disadvantages of poinz credit cards. Find out how you can get money back on every purchase with the free credit cards and why the poinz credit cards came out on top in our comparison.
Free credit cards are now numerous and widespread. Credit card companies earn money from every payment you make with your credit card. On the one hand, the merchant from whom you buy something has to pay a fee to the credit card issuer and, on the other hand, the credit card issuer also earns directly from you. This is because fees are charged for late payments, instalments, transactions abroad or withdrawing money from ATMs.
What are cashback credit cards?
In order to make credit cards more attractive to customers and encourage them to use them regularly, numerous so-called cashback credit cards have been launched on the market. The customer receives a refund on purchases made. You therefore receive a portion of the fees that the retailer has to pay to the credit card company. For you, cashback is like a discount that you receive with every purchase.
Credit cards by poinz
The poinz credit cards are a card duo; you receive an American Express and a Visa credit card as standard.
This is to guarantee the best possible worldwide card acceptance. The poinz credit cards are issued by Swisscard AECS GmbH. When paying with American Express, you will receive 1% cashback on every purchase (in the first three months even 3% up to a cashback amount of CHF 100), and 0.25% when paying with Visa. The cashback amount collected will be credited directly to your poinz app.
As you can see, it pays to use American Express as often as possible. American Express is now accepted at around 150,000 points of sale in Switzerland, including Coop, Migros, IKEA, SBB and Manor. Nevertheless, there are (especially smaller) shops that do not accept American Express cards. We therefore recommend that you always have your Visa with you. To avoid having to carry several cards around, you can also simply deposit the cards with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay and leave the physical cards at home.
What is poinz?
poinz has enabled users to collect digital loyalty points on their smartphone since it was founded in 2012. Since then, it has no longer been necessary to carry around all the physical stamp cards in your wallet. In the meantime, however, poinz has become a comprehensive voucher and cashback platform. You can still collect the original loyalty points. It works like this: If you eat at a participating restaurant, for example, you scan the QR code given to you during the payment process. This will give you a digital stamp for your stamp card. As soon as the stamp card is full (the number of stamps required varies depending on the provider), you will receive a reward. In the case of restaurants, this is often a free meal.
In addition, poinz is constantly offering you new deals, which often offer savings of up to 50% or even more on the original price. If you want to take advantage of a deal, you can purchase it in the poinz app with cashback credit or by card payment. You will then receive a digital voucher directly in the poinz app, which you can redeem with the respective provider.
poinz introduced a cashback system in 2022 that gives you cashback on every purchase you make locally and in online shops. All you have to do is enter all your existing means of payment (credit and debit cards and Twint) in the poinz app and you will automatically collect at least 1% cashback from the partners. You can even receive up to 25% cashback at various online shops (currently there are around 400 participating shops, such as Media Markt, Just Eat and Swiss).
All you have to do is select the desired online shop in the poinz app and click on ‘Open online shop now’. You will be redirected to the online shop and can now make your purchase. The purchase will be automatically assigned to your poinz account and you will receive the promised cashback amount afterwards. It is also possible to purchase digital vouchers with a discount in the form of cashback. For example, you currently receive 5.5% cashback when you buy Zalando or H&M vouchers.
All you need for all these applications is an account with poinz. If you don't know poinz yet, it's best to download the app and give it a try. If you want to collect even more cashback, the poinz credit cards are the icing on the cake, as they allow you to collect 1% (American Express) or 0.25% cashback (Visa) on all your purchases.
Some online shops do not accept the American Express card. However, if you still want to receive 1% cashback, you can simply register your American Express with PayPal and collect 1% cashback in all online shops that accept PayPal as a payment option. Otherwise, there is always Visa, with which you still receive 0.25% cashback.
Redeem the cashback
The cashback amount collected is displayed in the app on a daily basis. The amount is divided into immediately redeemable credit, provisional credit (this becomes redeemable credit as soon as the monthly credit card statement has been issued) and blocked credit (this becomes redeemable as soon as the partner shop has confirmed the purchase).
You can now use the redeemable credit to either buy digital vouchers or deals or have the credit paid out to your bank account (the amount paid out must exceed CHF 100).
Fees
The poinz credit cards are free credit cards; there are no fees for issuing the card or for using it in Switzerland. However, you must ensure that no additional fees are charged. You should therefore only use the cards in Switzerland (as there are high foreign currency fees of 2.5% plus an exchange rate surcharge of 1-2% abroad and in foreign online shops). You should also always pay your bill on time, otherwise you will incur high interest rates for using the instalment facility or reminder fees.
The best option is to pay by direct debit (LSV), which allows Swisscard to debit the invoice amount from your bank account automatically. Make sure that the account has sufficient funds at the end of the month to pay the credit card bill. Alternatively, you can also receive and pay your bill via eBill. You should also avoid using credit cards to withdraw cash from ATMs, as this incurs a fee of 4% or at least CHF 10. You can find all the details about the fees in our credit card comparison.
Swisscard App
You can manage your credit cards conveniently in the Swisscard app. Payments are displayed there in real time and you can activate push notifications if required. If online payments need to be authorised, this is also done via the app (using the 3-D Secure procedure). Your current balance and invoices are also displayed there. You also have the option of temporarily managing the cards in the app, blocking them or reporting them lost or stolen. The app therefore gives you full control and a good overview of your current spending.
Are poinz credit cards recommendable?
We can highly recommend the poinz credit cards, especially for everyday use in Switzerland. It is most worthwhile if you pay for all purchases with your American Express card, as you will then receive 1% cashback. However, you should get another card for transactions abroad, as the foreign currency fees of 2.5% and the additional exchange rate surcharge of around 1-2% are very high.
If you are also convinced of the benefits of poinz credit cards, you can apply for them by clicking the button below. You will then benefit from an increased starting bonus of CHF 80 and 3% cashback in the first 3 months (up to CHF 100).
If you currently still have a credit card for which you have to pay an annual fee, then it's high time you started looking for a new credit card! Not only will you save on the basic fee, but you will also receive a ‘discount’ on every purchase in the form of cashback - it really pays off over time.
Welcome offer 🚀CHF 80 starting bonus + 3% welcome cashbackReceive a starting credit of CHF 80.00 with the poinz promo code BW80-YKGU. In addition, the welcome cashback is 3% in the first 3 months with the AMEX credit card (up to a maximum cashback amount of CHF 100). |
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