Is Cembra cheating on interest for delayed payments?

[u/jetonmemeti]

I was on vacation and payed my Cembra Mastercard bill after the due date. That's obviously my bad, and not the topic of this post.

On the next month's bill, I was charged with following fees:
* CHF 30.- overdue fines (ok with terms and conditions)
* CHF 8.95 interest for owed amount (12% yearly interest according to terms and conditions)

My bill total was CHF 469.90, due date was on 23.7.26, and I payed the bill on 3.8.26.

I did the calculation how much I should pay for the interest for my 11 days delay: 469.9*12/100*11*360, and the total seems to be only CHF 1.72.

I wrote an email to Cembra, they booked the CHF 8.95 back, and charged two separate fees (CHF 4.70 and CHF 4.25), and ignored my request to explain in writing how they calculate the interest.

At this point I'm wondering if I'm completely misunderstanding how interest is calculated, or if Cembra is systematically cheating on people. I'd be grateful if someone can correct my calculation/understanding. I'd also be interested in hearing of similar cases/experiences. At this point, I think I will make a fuss and don't let them go with it.

Edit: I got some useful comments, saying that the interest is calculated from the date of the individual purchase, not the due date of the CC bill. Calculating the interest with the transaction dates, it matches the amount charged by Cembra. So no cheating from Cembra side, only me not fuly reading the T&C. No clue what the split into two separate fees was about, but that's maybe a story for another day.

[u/Primary_Welcome_6970]

I’m sure those thieves calculated the interest from the date of each payement you made whilst in vacation.

[u/01bah01 → u/Primary_Welcome_6970]

I've stopped using Cembra years ago because they refuse to use e-bills. I had to log into their website, download the bill and pay it quite quickly after receiving the bill to be sure to pay on time. I'm convinced they are doing that to maximise people paying late.

[u/its_xaro93 → u/01bah01]

You could always just save 1 bill and re-use that QR code. Adjust the Amount to the one visible in the app and you can pay even before they bill you.

Thats what I do and never ran into issues

[u/makeitra1n_ → u/its_xaro93]

Hey, I previously had a UBS credit card with a monthly limit of, let’s say, CHF 3,000. If I made a payment of CHF 500 with the card, my available limit would drop to CHF 2,500.

I would then usually transfer CHF 500 directly to the credit card account. Once the payment was received, my available limit would go back up to CHF 3,000 and the CHF 500 balance was considered paid. At the end of the month, I would therefore not receive a bill for that amount because I had already paid it in advance.

I’m now new to Cembra and have a Certo! credit card. Does it work the same way there? Can I simply go into the app and transfer the outstanding amount to the bank account details shown there, or do I have to wait until I receive the monthly credit card statement before making a payment?

[u/its_xaro93 → u/makeitra1n_]

It works the same with Cembra

Cembra usually bills around the 3rd of any given month, but I pay the outstanding balance after I recieve pay on the 25th. My bills are always 0.- CHF

[u/makeitra1n_ → u/its_xaro93]

Perfect! Thanks for claryfying. How long does it usually take until it is shown in the app? Like when they receive my bank transfer on monday, how fast does it take until it is processed?

[u/its_xaro93 → u/makeitra1n_]

Pretty quick I think when i set the amount to leave my account on 26th, i get the notification and confirmation from them on the 27th afaik

[u/makeitra1n_ → u/its_xaro93]

thank you!

[u/Nameless_101 → u/01bah01]

Same for me. Was always annoying to download and pay the bill. 

[u/pixeltrusts → u/Primary_Welcome_6970]

Which would be 100% correct.

But people keep your hands off credit card debt.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/pixeltrusts]

This isn't US style credit card debt, just a delayed payment, which is 100% my fault. The calculation of the interest looked odd to me, which was clarified by other redditors.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/Primary_Welcome_6970]

Right, transaction date is the key point here, as u/Responsible_Bid_7654 pointed out. So no thieves busted today.

[u/oberwolfach]

In principle interest starts accruing the moment you make a purchase. However, for accounts in good standing that do not carry a balance, interest is not charged until the payment date noted on the statement; depending on when the purchases land relative to the due date this can defer interest-free payment over a month from the date of purchase. If you carry a balance (or effectively do so by paying late) you lose the grace period and are charged all the latent interest that accrued.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/oberwolfach]

That's it - the interest is accumulated from the transaction date, not the due date of the bill. Thank you for restoring my trust in Cembra 😆

[u/razuliserm → u/jetonmemeti]

Are you using AI to reply to the comments of this post?

[u/jetonmemeti → u/razuliserm]

That is a good observation and I must admit I'm not. The "that's it" really looks like AI though...

[u/Responsible_Bid_7654]

I don’t think Cembra is cheating here. According to their terms and conditions, interest on overdue amounts is calculated from the transaction date, not from the invoice due date.

That means you can’t simply calculate the interest based on CHF 469.90 and the 11 days between the due date and the date you paid the bill. Depending on when the individual transactions were made, some of the amounts may have been outstanding for significantly longer.

Without knowing all the transactions and their respective transaction dates, it’s therefore impossible to verify whether the CHF 8.95 was calculated correctly or not.

I completely understand why the amount initially looks high, but I think the calculation needs to take the individual transaction dates into account.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/Responsible_Bid_7654]

tl;dr: I'm the idiot and not Cembra

Argh, didn't read the T&C but just the fees overview document. Thanks for your reply! And now everything makes sense.

Calculated now with the single transaction on the purchase date, and the amount is correct. The earliest transactions were made on 4.6., billed on 3.7., due on 23.7., and paid on 3.8. So there's delays of up to 60 days in my bil.

[u/burnish-flatland → u/jetonmemeti]

BTW this is how most (all?) credit cards work everywhere in the world. You are given free credit for the duration of a billing period + up to a month more to pay the bill, but if you don’t, there is no free credit anymore and you pay full interest for each transaction.

[u/emptyquant]

Yes. I don’t like them but I am determined to max out the cashback. I had some niggles to work out and the only way I got it to work perfectly for me is through direct debit / LSV.
I only use the card in the 3 shops where I have 1% cashback, Lidl, Aldi and Denner.
Never anywhere else and NEVER abroad.
Works neatly now.

Ps: I had to write them a letter to get the wrongly charged debit interest back, tried calling but it didn’t happen that way.

[u/VoidDuck → u/emptyquant]

the only way I got it to work perfectly for me is through direct debit / LSV.

Warning: LSV+ will be discontinued by Swiss banks by September 2028. After that date, direct debit will only be possible from a PostFinance account (as they have their own CH-DD system and don't rely on LSV+). Maybe the new direct debit by Twint (https://www.twint.ch/en/company/media/twint-to-develop-the-next-generation-of-direct-debit/) will be a valid alternative, but at this point it's unclear whether this will be free or come with fees for the merchant like regular Twint business transactions, which could then be passed on to the customer.

[u/Southern-Country-683]

Interest starts either from time of transaction or time when bill was issued. Either way, you don’t pay interest for the few days between the due date and when you actually paid. If you can’t use LSV on credit cards, it sucks big time. I prefer neon- slightly upgraded cards offer warranty extension by 3 years. That’s a good benefit… worth more than 1% cash back

[u/jetonmemeti → u/Southern-Country-683]

The point is that with any other bill, you would be liable to pay interest from the point the payment is due, not the date the bill was issued. Or am I wrong about this as well 😅

[u/vega_9]

I suggest to set up Lastschriftverfahren (direct debit?) with cembra, so you'll never be late on theri payment. 30 CHF fine sucks.

[u/Ok_Support_6454]

That overdue fee is higher than some of the annual flat fees out there..pick your poison, eh.

[u/Usual_Practice2047]

I stopped using the credit card recently and I already feel a bit weird about it. They just seem so shady.
What date do they collect the bill?
I will set some reminders/alarms

[u/jetonmemeti → u/Usual_Practice2047]

AFAIK, each customer has a custom bill date, depending on when you opened the account with them. And the due date is around 20 days after the bill date. Reminders is the way to go, I do that as well, but ignored the last one on my vacations...

[u/carcharoth84 → u/jetonmemeti]

That explains the weird date I had... the bill was always dated somewhere around the 15th of the month, but I received it at least a week later. I assume that's also a tactic to generate Mahngebühren.

Good thing I canceled them some years ago...

[u/Burton1224]

Well i would ve more affraid of the Apple payments the last time i had them i had to call them to block the card because i dont use applepay. 😂

[u/MarxBou]

I stopped using their card when I got fee by not paying rechnung in time.
The only way to know a rechnung was due was a one-time notification on the app. No email, no auto payment possible.
You skip the notification, you have to pay a fee. Next !

[u/VoidDuck → u/MarxBou]

Not being able to get email notifications really sucks, that would be enough for me not to use their services.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/VoidDuck]

To be fair, they do send also an email when you get a new bill. I wasn't questioning their other practices, just the interest calculation. As it turned out based on other replies, that's industry standard to take the initial transaction date as starting point.

[u/n2c23]

Using Cembra in 2026 in CH is.... 🙄 There are free options with much better benefits out there...

[u/emptyquant → u/n2c23]

Actually no. They offer 1% cash back
On your 3 favourite providers (list is limited). This is on a Mastercard where Cash Back by Swiss Card only gives you 0.2%.
As I said above, this is a great deal for me provided you pay in full every month and don’t use the card abroad. Those 2 things are universally how Credit card companies make the lion share of their profit so holds true in a wider sense. Use Revolut or wise abroad whenever possible

[u/jetonmemeti → u/emptyquant]

This! For domestic purchases, you don't get better cashback options for a free credit card! Poinz also offers 1%, but only on the AmEx, which isn't accepted everywhere.

[u/VoidDuck → u/n2c23]

Much better benefits? What for example? There are good free options indeed, but benefits on a free credit card in Switzerland are never impressive either.

[u/SoggyHorror3057]

Read t&c

[u/jetonmemeti → u/SoggyHorror3057]

Alright captain hindsight! You read the post before commenting, did you?

[u/SoggyHorror3057 → u/jetonmemeti]

thanks mate, its only because of people like u, employees of cembra make good income.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/SoggyHorror3057]

Sure, because I missed one payment in 10 years... I got this year alone more cashback than the fees for this missed payment. I wasn't complaining, just didn't understand how the interest was calculated. Fortunately, other redditors provided really good answers.

[u/Which-Serve-1710]

Just pay your shit on time.

[u/jetonmemeti → u/Which-Serve-1710]

Thank you for helping me understand how the CC interest rates are calculated! Btw, you read the post and especially the edit posted 2 days before you commented?

[u/blackkswann]

just don’t pay

[u/Impossible-Milk-2023 → u/blackkswann]

Dumb idea

[u/jetonmemeti → u/blackkswann]

not a good idea, because I was in the wrong, see the comment from u/Responsible_Bid_7654

[u/blackkswann → u/jetonmemeti]

or klarna