Start with the reason you want to change
A free-pension arrangement under pillar 3b is not a single product. A savings account and a life insurance contract can have very different exit conditions. If a policy premium no longer fits your budget, distinguish the need for cash today from the need to stop future premiums. Surrender ends the contract in exchange for its applicable surrender value, where available. Making it paid-up, if the contract permits, generally stops regular premiums while keeping a reduced insured benefit. Ask the insurer whether either option is available and what happens to each attached risk benefit.
Request figures on the same date
Ask for the effective date, surrender proceeds, reduced guaranteed benefits and any projected non-guaranteed amounts. Ask which fees or adjustments are included and whether an outstanding pledge or policy loan changes what is actually paid. Check cover for death and disability separately: a reduced savings benefit does not tell you whether a rider remains. If a partial reduction or premium adjustment is offered, ask for it as a third written option. Do not compare an immediate cash amount with an illustrated maturity amount without considering timing, remaining premiums and uncertainty.
A fictional comparison for a tight budget
Suppose a policy requires CHF 250 monthly and the household can no longer sustain it. Imagine the insurer quotes CHF 12,000 for full surrender today and, as a different option, a guaranteed CHF 15,000 at maturity in six years with no future premiums and reduced death cover. The figures are fictional, not a product illustration. Surrender creates immediate liquidity but ends the policy; the paid-up choice preserves a later benefit and some cover under these assumptions. Neither figure proves a better return. If replacing protection, compare the confirmed new policy and its effective date before giving up existing cover.
Write down the trade-off in a sentence
For each option, complete this sentence: “We gain this much cash on this date, and we give up these benefits.” If you cannot fill in the second half, ask for more detail before acting. Confirm whether the quote has an expiry date and whether investment market movements could change it. A dated answer is more useful than comparing figures from unrelated statements.
Know what FINMA can verify
FINMA explains that it can check calculated surrender and paid-up values against approved methods, free of charge on request, after the policyholder has submitted the relevant request to the insurer. It does not decide whether fees or surplus participation are fair in a private dispute. Start with the insurer’s written breakdown and verify what formal steps are required before making an irreversible instruction. Tax treatment can depend on the actual 3b contract and your situation; get that checked separately. Keep the option sheet with the policy rather than making the decision from the sum of past premiums alone.