PostFinance Card

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The PostFinance Card is the debit card from PostFinance . A plastic card ( ISO 7810 ) is colloquially referred to as a Postcard , which allows direct and immediate access to the credit balance or the available credit line of the bank account . The Postcard is only available in combination with a private or business account with PostFinance in CHF or EUR .

Around 3 million postcards are in circulation. For business customers, there is also the PostFinance Card Pay, which only allows payments to be made to the postal account.

Since 2019, business customers have been charged an annual fee of CHF 30 per Postcard. Previously, two cards per account had been issued free of charge.

acceptance

Postomat ( Wincor Nixdorf ProCash 2050 Cash Dispenser)

The debit card service is available throughout Switzerland. As a rule, Postcard and Maestro-Card are accepted equally by all acceptance points ( retail trade , petrol stations , service providers ).

Cash can be withdrawn free of charge in all post offices and Postomats, as well as at the cash registers of some retailers ( Migros , Denner , Spar , Manor and Coop Pronto as well as the transport company SBB ). With the Sonect app, other points of sale such as the Valora kiosks have been added. Cash has been available in the branches of Volg since March 2019 with Sonect . The Postcard can not only be used for cashless payments in Switzerland, it is also possible to withdraw cash from ATMs from all banks affiliated with EUFISERV and Visa PLUS . A corresponding fee can be charged for withdrawals at ATMs .

The Postcard is part of the security elements of e-finance, PostFinance's electronic banking system , and serves as a means of authentication when logging in .

PostFinance AG is the undisputed market leader in domestic payment transactions with 2.9 million customers. PostFinance AG is also a leader in the field of electronic banking and e-payment . Almost without exception, all online shops in Switzerland offer the option of paying the invoice amount directly during the ordering process using Postcard or e-finance.

Payment process

At an EFT / POS terminal

  1. The cardholder identifies himself with the Postcard and PIN on the card reader.
  2. The amount to be offset is checked and authorized within seconds if there is sufficient funds in the account .
  3. The transactions are sent to PostFinance with the daily closing.
  4. The purchase amount is usually debited to the cardholder on the following day.
  5. Amounts paid with the Postcard will be credited to the seller's postal account on the following day.

Contactless

Contactless symbol

All newly issued credit and debit cards from PostFinance have the contactless function . For small amounts, you can simply hold the card up to the payment terminal and the purchase is paid for. For amounts over CHF 80.00 (the amount was CHF 40.00 up to the COVID-19 pandemic , but was increased until further notice due to hygiene measures), authentication by means of a PIN is required. Before the first contactless payment, a contact-based transaction with PIN entry is always necessary, for example a balance query at the Postomat. Contactless payment is possible wherever the contactless symbol can be seen. In Switzerland this is the case at most points of sale. The Postcard can also be stored digitally in the PostFinance App for Android (PostFinance Mobile), provided the smartphone is equipped with an NFC function. All you have to do to pay is activate the smartphone screen.

safety

In order to prevent misuse , you have to authenticate yourself when using it. This is usually done by entering a secret number ( PIN ).

All postcards are equipped with a microprocessor chip and have been protected according to the EMV standard since 2006 . In the event of theft, the debit card can only be used if the thief knows the PIN.

The online transactions are secured with 128-bit encryption . In addition, certain transactions are monitored by PostFinance to prevent misuse.

In 2006, at the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin , Bernd Fix pointed out a massive security gap that had existed since 2002, which made it possible to clone the debit card very easily and even create cards with fictitious postal accounts, which are easily recognized by EFT / POS terminals could. The PIN can be freely selected during creation and is not decisive for successful payment at EFT / POS terminals. The only information required for cloning is the extended card number as well as the issue and expiry date. PostFinance AG and the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication reacted calmly to the allegations made. It is not known if the security issue persists today.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c PostFinance Card. Offer. PostFinance AG, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
  2. ↑ New debit cards from Swiss banks. In: moneyland.ch. February 17, 2020, accessed on March 1, 2020 : "There are currently around 3 million PostFinance cards in circulation."
  3. ↑ Postfinance increases fees - so many customers are affected. In: tagesanzeiger.ch . October 10, 2018, accessed October 19, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Now the Denner cash register is also becoming an ATM . Blick.ch , November 7, 2017, accessed on November 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ With the Sonect app you can withdraw cash - and have it delivered to you . Werbewoche , May 17, 2017, accessed on November 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ Logistics point - Swiss Post makes ideas fly . Swiss Post , July 18, 2017, accessed on November 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ Marcel Urech: Valora turns the kiosk into an ATM. In: netzwoche.ch . November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Zurich fintech Sonect wins Volg as a customer. In: nzz.ch . March 5, 2019, accessed March 6, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Login procedure. PostFinance AG, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Marc Andrey: 3rd quarter 2013: Post on previous year's course. PostFinance AG, November 21, 2013, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
  11. ↑ EFT / POS. Offer details. PostFinance AG, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
  12. ↑ How to protect yourself from bank robbers on the Internet. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. January 25, 2017. Retrieved August 23, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Contactless is now possible with the Postcard. In: blick.ch. June 18, 2015, accessed August 23, 2018 .
  14. ↑ E-Wallet - the digital PostFinance Card. In: postfinance.ch. Retrieved August 24, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Our contribution. PostFinance AG, accessed on July 23, 2014 .
  16. ↑ Bernd R. Fix: A not so smart card. Retrieved July 23, 2014 .
  17. ↑ Pestcard. (No longer available online.) Chaos Computer Club Zurich , archived from the original on July 27, 2014 ; Retrieved July 23, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ccczh.ch
  18. ↑ PostFinance AG and DETEC statements. (PDF) postcard-sicherheit.ch, accessed on July 23, 2014 .