![]() Fees are generally in the range from JPY 1,950 to JPY 10,800. Gold cards usually have higher annual fees than regular cards, although the fees can vary a lot depending on the provider. An outlier is American Express, with yearly card fees from JPY 7,560 to JPY 12,960 depending on whether it is co-branded or directly through American Express. The fee for cards with yearly fees range from around JPY 515 to JPY 2,160. Some of the cards tied to point programs have no yearly fees. Many regular cards have a yearly membership fee from the second year. They also have family cards and gold cards, as well as a fuel card tie-up with Cosmo. You can apply for a Visa, Mastercard or JCB card, but you have to do it in Japanese. Other perks include discounts on cinema tickets and JAL air miles. The Japanese supermarket giant Aeon has credit cards, which are quite useful if you do your shopping there-you collect Waon points and get discounts on groceries. The yearly fees for Amex cards seem to be much higher on average though. Getting credit and paying it back will establish a credit record.Īnecdotally, Amazon cards, JCB cards, Rakuten and American Express cards have a reputation to be easier to get. Taking any opportunity for financing-even if you’re just buying a TV.Thanks to JICC, any previous failed applications are visible to any companies to which you apply. Not applying for lots of cards in succession.Applying for a co-branded card with a mileage program you already have.Having a full-time job-freelancers, contract workers, part-timers and company owners may be at a disadvantage.Providing a fixed line home phone number (this might be out of date).Having a spouse visa (i.e., married to a Japanese national) or, even better, permanent residence.Using a (Japanese) driver’s license for ID instead of your residency card (your residency card shows how long you’ve been in Japan).A certificate of employment-and if you were in Japan the previous year, a tax certificate showing income and tax paid.Proof of address (usually a utility bill) with YOUR NAME on it.An inkan/personal seal (if you used it to open your bank account).Visa to remain in Japan (not a tourist visa!).Anecdotal evidence (it’s either super easy or super hard), and the opaque requirements mean that it’s hard to know exactly what will work, or exactly what will trip you up. The tips below are not guaranteed to work, but may help. What’s the best way to avoid the rejection and get my hands on some plastic?Īs you don’t have a credit record, it’s more than likely you will be rejected. Outside of Japan, JCB is generally only accepted in places that are frequented by Japanese tourists. Some merchants may refuse American Express because of the higher merchant fees. Visa, Mastercard and JCB are the most widely accepted cards in Japan. Additionally, you can apply directly to JCB or American Express. Photo by /Boogich What are the options?Īll banks in Japan have a tie-up with one or more of the big brands: Visa, Mastercard or JCB. While you can use them for regular payments, shopping online, or eating out, the low credit limit effectively makes them useless for purchasing large items like airline tickets-unless you choose payment in installments. On a regular card (not Gold, Platinum or Black) credit limits are low-often only JPY 100,000 (less than US$1,000). As with bunkatsu barai, there will be an interest/admin charge to split up your bill payments.įor example, if you owed JPY 120,000 on your statement, you could request to break off JPY 60,000, and pay it off over a period of six months. To do this, you need to request it from your card issuer, and they need to approve you. Known as ribo barai, this allows you to split your bill payments if you’d prefer not to pay it all in one go. So if you decide to pay off a JPY 200,000 laptop computer over 24 months, the total amount you pay will end up being around JPY 232,000 (assuming a 16% interest rate). The total interest you pay may be between 12% and 16.37% of the total, depending on the card. The higher the number of payments, the more you pay though. You can either pay it all in one go ( ikkatsu barai) or you can split it into up to 36 payments. This can be requested on the credit card terminal at the point of sale. While you have to pay the amount of the statement in full, you can choose to split a purchase payment (known as bunkatsu barai) when you buy something. Photo by Chris Kirkland Choose payment in installments (bunkastsu barai)
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