Swiss credit terms, explained

Effective annual rate, ZEK, IKO, Betreibung, withdrawal right and 13 more terms, each in a few lines, with what it means for your loan and the sources it rests on.

B

  • Betreibung

    debt collection

    The Swiss procedure for enforcing payment of a debt, run by the debt collection office.

  • Betreibungsauszug

    debt collection extract

    Your extract from the debt collection register: the proceedings opened against you in one district in the past 5 years.

C

  • Consumer Credit Act

    Konsumkreditgesetz, KKG

    The Swiss law on consumer credit: the contract, the credit check, the maximum rate, and your rights to withdraw and to repay early.

  • Credit assessment

    Kreditfähigkeitsprüfung

    The check a lender must make before it lends: whether you can repay without touching your Existenzminimum.

  • Creditworthiness

    Bonität

    Whether you can take on a credit and repay it, as a lender checks it before it lends.

E

  • Effective annual rate

    effektiver Jahreszins

    The whole yearly cost of a credit, the interest and the other costs, as a percentage of the amount.

I

  • IKO

    Informationsstelle für Konsumkredit, information office for consumer credit

    The information office the Consumer Credit Act requires: lenders report the consumer credits they grant, and look you up there first.

L

  • Loan term

    Laufzeit

    The time over which you repay a loan, counted in months.

M

  • Maximum interest rate

    Höchstzinssatz

    The highest effective annual rate a consumer credit may cost: 10 % a year for cash loans since 1 January 2026.

  • Minimum subsistence level

    Existenzminimum

    The part of your income that can’t be seized in debt collection: what you and your family absolutely need.

  • Monthly payment

    Monatsrate

    What you pay each month: a part of the amount borrowed, and the interest on what you still owe.

P

  • Payment protection insurance

    Restschuldversicherung

    Insurance that pays the instalments of a loan in case of illness, disability, unemployment or death.

R

  • Refinancing

    Umschuldung

    Taking out a new loan to pay off credits you already have, often several at once.

  • Residence permit

    Aufenthaltsbewilligung, permits L, B, C and G

    The permit a foreign national needs to stay in Switzerland for more than three months: L, B, C, or G for cross-border commuters.

  • Right of withdrawal

    Widerrufsrecht

    14 days to withdraw from a consumer credit contract, in writing, with no reason to give.

S

  • Seizure

    Pfändung

    The step of a Betreibung in which the office takes income or assets to pay the creditor.

V

  • Verlustschein

    certificate of loss

    A certificate for what a creditor is still owed when a seizure did not cover the debt.

Z

  • ZEK

    Zentralstelle für Kreditinformation, central office for credit information

    A private credit database whose members from the financial services sector share data on credits, leasing contracts and cards.

Swizeo