ZAK App From Bank Cler Reviews

Do you have any experience with the ZAK app from Bank Cler? What does it cost and more importantly, is it worth the cost?

Hi there,

The Zak app is part of Bank Cler's forthcoming efforts to attract a younger customer base. This app is one of the first attempts by a Swiss bank to create a one-stop, stand-alone interface for app-based banking. It is likely that similar apps will be offered by other Swiss banks and fintech companies in the near future, as Swiss financial services providers find themselves competing against foreign competition (like Revolut and N26, for example).

The app is currently in its beta testing phase. Bank Cler has not yet announced the exact fees which it will charge for the service, although it is clear that some of the services will continue to be offered at no additional fee after the beta stage.

Best regards from Moneyguru

More on this topic:
Swiss bank account comparisons

I find the cashless version of the ZAK account to be good value for money. I use cash all the time, but you don't pay for withdrawals at Bank Cler ATMs (you find these around many Coop supermarkets, and at Bank Cler branches). International wire transfers are limited to Europe (most of Europe anyway). I use Transferwise for international transfers anyway. For local banking in Switzerland, I doubt it gets cheaper than this app. You don't pay for the account, nor for local wire transfers, nor for local credit card use, nor for money withdrawals at Bank Cler ATMs with the debit card. In my case, the costs are basically null.

Hi there,

Here is a basic explanation of the costs and benefits of both the Cashless and Choice models of the ZAK private account from Bank Cler:

Both models only provide local bank transfers within Switzerland and SEPA transfers within the SEPA area (the Eurozone and some other European countries).

Cashless model:
- No monthly account fee.
- No annual fees for Maestro debit card and Mastercard credit card.
- Foreign transaction fee for foreign purchases with debit card: CHF 1.50 per transaction.
- Foreign transaction fee for foreign purchases with credit card: 2.5%.
- Cash withdrawal with debit card at Bank Cler ATMs: Free of charge.
- Cash withdrawal with debit card at other Swiss ATMs: CHF 2 per withdrawal.
- Cash withdrawal with debit card at ATMs outside of Switzerland: CHF 5 per withdrawal.
- SEPA transfers: Free of charge.
- Interest rate: 0%.

Choice model:
- Monthly account fee: CHF 6.
- Cash withdrawal with debit card at other Swiss ATMs: Free of charge.
- Cash withdrawal with debit card at ATMs outside of Switzerland: 4 withdrawals per year free of charge. Additional withdrawals cost CHF 5 per withdrawal.

Aside from the additional benefits listed here, the Choice model is virtually identical to the Cashless model.

The main advantages of the ZAK account are:
- The Cashless version has no monthly or annual account fee.
- You do not pay annual fees for the Maestro debit card and the Mastercard credit card (most banks charge annual fees for these).

The main disadvantages of the ZAK account are:
- The credit card’s 2.5% foreign transaction fee is relatively high.
- You cannot currently make transfers to countries which do not participate in SEPA.

Best regards from Moneyguru

Account opening (videochat identification) worked fine. The account comes with a Maestro card and Mastercard (credit card).

The app runs stable and is well laid out, in my opinion.

Things that bother me: I have no control over payments made. Transactions should be visible under Profile, but I don’t see them anymore (since the last update).

Before I was able to see payments which I had made, not I have no way to check whether transactions have gone through or not. Another issue is that, back when I actually had an overview of payments, I was not able to make any changes once payments had been made, and there was no way to cancel accidental or incorrect transfers. I contacted Bank Cler via the contact form, but didn’t hear back. I find that a shame.

It is also important to understand that (as with Neon) you can only access your account via the app. It is not possible to log in via a web browser.

I also find the security somewhat lacking. The account uses two-factor authentication for transfers. But the fact that both the transfer order and the authentication are done on the same device (authentication via SMS to your smartphone) is a possible security breech, in my opinion. If the option to log in by touch ID is enabled, anyone who is able to gain access to your phone can also access your bank account and make transfers. For that reason, I only use the option of entering a PIN to access the app, rather than touch ID.

Over my 6 months of using this account, I have run into a few hiccups which are worth sharing:

1. The account has a weekly transaction limit of CHF 10,000. I found this out when I made a series of transfers to my stock broker to take advantage of a rapidly climbing stock, and had to call to find out why my transfers were not going through. If you make large transactions, this account might not work well for you.

2. I wanted to cancel the paper credit card statements because they cost money and I don’t need them, but doing this required a separate app (the Viseca app), which I found impractical.

3. Bank Cler sent me their updated terms and conditions for the account, and their updated privacy policy leaves a lot to be desired (information can be shared with third-party services providers).

I primarily make transfers within the SEPA area, and this is a cheap account for doing that. It’s a good basic account that would probably work well for young adults and others who don’t need to make large transactions, and for basic transactions inside Switzerland the costs are really unbeatable. I use it as a secondary account for mobile banking and card payments, but have my main account at another bank for the "real" banking.

Update: The ZAK app now includes the option of freezing payment cards. You can now access your PIN via the app.

Bank Cler has also added a pillar 3a retirement savings account to the ZAK bundle. The fees and interest rate currently match those of the standard Bank Cler pillar 3a account. You can review these here: https://www.moneyland.ch/en/bank-cler/pillar-3a-accounts/welfare-account-3a

Be careful with Bank Cler's ZAK application overnight you may not be able to access your account, they may lose your documents, statements and you no longer know how much money you had on your account and it seems that they either.... It has now been two months since all the data in our account was lost. Despite endless calls and emails, they can't get them back. Is your data in danger at Zak de la Bank Cler what about your money?

moneyland.ch recently conducted a study of Swiss app-based banking applications which provides useful insights into how the costs of app-based banking services compare.