Banking...Swiss style (and US)

When Steve was in Zurich a few weeks ago, he emailed me to say that he had gone to open our "Swiss bank account" that day...and it was exactly as you'd expect...lots of marble, perfectly coiffed assistants, and a long walk down a long hallway to a private room.   Unfortunately he burst our personal banker Tobias' bubble when he revealed that we did not in fact, intend to open an account with billions of US dollars but rather, just an account that would enable us to make cash withdrawals, pay bills on-line, and get a Swiss credit card.  Poor Tobias...he didn't hit the jackpot with these Americans!


Yesterday we had a return appointment with Tobias as I was now in town to sign the appropriate paperwork.  Same marble, coiffing, and long hallway.  But Tobias turned out to be quite the character - not the stodgy old Swiss banker of movie fame - but a young, personable guy cracking jokes.  Best part of the meeting was when he explained that for on-line banking there is a two-step security process to sign-in (Swiss banking after all).  First you put in your password, and then you need to put in a second code that changes every time you sign-in!  You can get the code either from a small box that flashes changing numbers (or a "token" as he called it) or via a text message on your cell phone.  Since I don't really have a cell phone yet...and I really want to see this other thing...I opted for the "token".  I'll be sure to send a photo as soon as its here.  Tobias said there is still one bank in town where you are given a slip of paper with 100 different security numbers...and you cross them off in order as you go along...high tech, no...but secure, no doubt!


As for US banking...wouldn't you know it Steve got a call from the Chase fraud department yesterday saying they thought there might be a problem with our card.  There was a $1 movie charge with the incorrect expiration date and incorrect address.  After each of the kids assured us they hadn't tried to rent a movie with our card (and that they do in fact know their home address...) we told Chase to cancel the card and send us a new one.  Wouldn't be that big of a problem...if all of our automatic payments for NJ weren't connected to it!  Oh well, at least the internet works...and I wrote down all of that account information before I left! 

My Swiss coin holder - "inherited" from our predecessors.  For everyday banking :)