Getting A Credit Card

[bigupz]

I've tried twice at my bank UFJ to get a credit card and once at Citibank, to no avail. I've been working/living in Japan for 4 years and I don't have any debt... I'm earning around Y300,000 per month and don't have any expenses. I can't understand why I can't get one!?Has anyone had any luck with other banks?
Cheers

[eku]

I've tried twice at my bank UFJ to get a credit card and once at Citibank, to no avail. I've been working/living in Japan for 4 years and I don't have any debt... I'm earning around Y300,000 per month and don't have any expenses. I can't understand why I can't get one!?Has anyone had any luck with other banks?
Cheers

i got a creditcard when i signed up with AU
JCB has a credit card (VISA) called Keitai where you can use the points to pay your keitai bill.
sometimes its easier to get one of those campaign cards rather than straight from the bank... they all work the same.
good choices are
mastercard from COSTCO (very gaijin friendly)
VISA from LAWSONS or TSUTAYA (you get points when you shop or rent dvd which can be used to buy stuff in LAWSON) actually most conbini have these deals.
A card from any major department store choice VISA Diners or Mastercard...
all these cards can be used internationally.

goodluck.

[eku]

PS change to SHINSEI BANK they will probably give you a card.

[bigupz]

Glad to know I'm not the only one up thinking up at this time! Thanks heaps for advice

[strobie]

What requirements do you need in order to get a card as a gaijin? Do you need a minimum length of stay in Japan or minimum salary/period of work?

I really want to get a card at the local SATY for a promotion. Also, what limit they start you out with?

[DenshaDeGO]

I got a credit card when I moved into my first apartment. It was part of the deal with MiniTech; they had me pay my rent with a card. Even after I moved out I kept the card. It is with Orico.

From what I've heard, it is very difficult for foreigners to get a cc in this country. I think they're afraid that ppl will run up a huge bill and then run off without paying (like some ppl do with 携帯s.)

What I've heard they look for is how much you make per month, and how long you've had your job. If your salary fluctuates a lot, or you keep jumping jobs, you can probably forget about getting one.

Good luck!

[BKun]

Is it possible to get several credit cards?
Would this be a good thing or a bad thing in terms of credit ratings and history? The reason I ask is because I am thinking about the future and would like to improve my chances of getting a house loan if there was ever a need/opportunity...

Thanks

[oceglok]

What requirements do you need in order to get a card as a gaijin?

I am not sure, but it might depend on the visa, that you're on. I got a credit card from JUSCO after only about two months in Japan, when no bank would even dream of giving me one. But then, I was on a spouse visa at that time, which could make things easier. It's all probably the typical japanese "case by case" thing, so just shop around and take, whatever you can lay your hands on.

Good luck
oceglok

[justme]

Hi there,

One of requirements for getting a credit card is that you must be able to read the small print and conditions for using the card. It is after all a legal contract! If you can't read Japanese you can't get a credit card because reasonably you don't know what you are signing up to.

No creditable organisation is going to lay itself open to charges of breaking financial law.

It is not enough to have a Japanese translate the conditions for you!

That was the explanation I got from the bank staff last time I tried to get a credit card.

Getting a debit card though is no trouble at all. Maybe that would be sufficient.

Alternatively perhaps a mobile phone and pay using that; though I haven't tried it.

Graham

[oceglok]

If you can't read Japanese you can't get a credit card because reasonably you don't know what you are signing up to.

LOL, that's another good one! The Japanese never run out of BS ideas, when it comes to politely get rid of a gaijin. I am pretty sure, they added "This is japanese way" to their explanation

oceglok

[gabrielle]

Visa Card from SAISON is good. I got my Visa card from Loft Department Store and JCB from Ito Yokado.
Try to get a credit card from Post office.Deposit money and i think you'll get your credit card.I got my Mastercard there.

[resce]

Is it possible to get several credit cards?
Would this be a good thing or a bad thing in terms of credit ratings and history? The reason I ask is because I am thinking about the future and would like to improve my chances of getting a house loan if there was ever a need/opportunity...

Creditors look at a couple of things on your report. One of which is available credit. Ideally, there should be a good balance between your worth and your available credit. In other words, having a million dollar credit line from other creditors only looks good if you can back it up. Otherwise you look risky because you might be trying to max your available credit and then use it and skip town.

Creditors also look for multiple lines of credit. Getting a home loan from a bank now, they will usually ask to see around 3 lines of credit held for over a year. Things like a credit card in good standing, a car or student loans that are paid on time work well for this.

Basically, you want to have around 3 lines of credit and keep them active and paid forever. Those people telling you to cut up your cards aren't neccessarily correct.

[resce]

Sorry for two in a row, but for cards in Japan, be careful of fees. Yearly fees for the priviledge of carrying their card is pretty common in Japan especially for AmEx. The card from Shinsei as mention earlier is an AmEx that is free for the first year and then gets downright expensive just to have it, not including their above average rates.

The Visa Saison, also mentioned, is a great deal and free to use. If you go to Lawson or something every day, then their card might be better, but otherwise, I'd try Saison.

Also, to the person who mentioned using a keitai to pay, you have to program the phone with credit card info in most cases.

[U99A]

Just keep applying. You will get one eventually. Just make sure it is filled out in Japanese and get a hanko. They will probably call your place of employment to confirm that you work there.

[B1-B2]

if you join a KONAMI Sports Club they will issue you with a credit card with low fees

[donpaulo]

It seems that a large portion of the credit card industry in Japan requires that we be able to read khanji. If you tell the truth and say "no" they will deny your request.

Take the application home, have a friend help you fill it out.

its a medieval policy

[trip_hop]

Why on earth would application forms for Japanese credit cards, from Japanese companies, for customers in Japan, be written in anything other than Japanese language?

If were concerned about others, on a purely numerical basis, they could justify Chinese, Korean, Portugese, Tagalog, then maybe English......

[gaijin74]

Why on earth would application forms for Japanese credit cards, from Japanese companies, for customers in Japan, be written in anything other than Japanese language?

If were concerned about others, on a purely numerical basis, they could justify Chinese, Korean, Portugese, Tagalog, then maybe English......

Agreed. English is not the national language of Japan so why would they write their conditions in English or anything else for that matter?

[DenshaDeGO]

English is the official language in the US, yet lots of things have to be put into Spanish.

[B1-B2]

English is the official language in the US, yet lots of things have to be put into Spanish.

That's because by 2090 English will be the second language of The U.S

[paulh]

English is the official language in the US, yet lots of things have to be put into Spanish.

If Im not mistaken, there is actually no official language written into law. By default English has been the language spoken by most Americans but Spanish is dominant in Florida and California.

There is no legal offical language of the United States though AFAIK

[deleted by request]

Do international credit cards work in japan?
if i take my credit card from home would it work there?

[gaijin74]

My Australian issued visa and mastercard both work in Japan. All visa, amex, mc, diners, etc. should work internationally even if they can't swipe: they should be able to do a manual authorisation.

[ballbags]

British credit cards work fine in Japan as they do anywhere else. Exchange rate isn't so good though these days for sending the payments back to UK.

I got a citi bank visa pretty easy, but my japanese wife was recently turned down for the same card! I laughed all the way to work that morning.

I've also got a card from Daiei supermarket (OMC card). No problem there either.

I will say that Mitsui Sumitomo Bank authorises most applications for store based cards in Japan, and for other non-bank credit cards. They seem to be very anti foreigner. I have been turned down five times for different cards and discovered that they had been the declining authority in ALL cases.

[Flywalker]

[QUOTE=bigupz]I've tried twice at my bank UFJ to get a credit card and once at Citibank, to no avail. I've been working/living in Japan for 4 years and I don't have any debt... I'm earning around Y300,000 per month and don't have any expenses. I can't understand why I can't get one!?Has anyone had any luck with other banks?

When l opened an account at Citibank l had a look at the cards on offer. You can get a Gold Elite card with only a 2 million yen yearly salary....which you obviously are doing...and by having a Gold card they waive the monthly fees if you are below the 500,000 yen balance. As long as you have at least 6 months left on your visa there should be no problem. l applied for my account and credit card at the same time....the c/c arrived 3 weeks later.

[Flywalker]

Hi there,

One of requirements for getting a credit card is that you must be able to read the small print and conditions for using the card. It is after all a legal contract! If you can't read Japanese you can't get a credit card because reasonably you don't know what you are signing up to.

No creditable organisation is going to lay itself open to charges of breaking financial law.

It is not enough to have a Japanese translate the conditions for you!

That was the explanation I got from the bank staff last time I tried to get a credit card.

Getting a debit card though is no trouble at all. Maybe that would be sufficient.

Alternatively perhaps a mobile phone and pay using that; though I haven't tried it.

Graham

Again...go back to Citibank. You don't need to speak a word of Japanese. As long as you have at least 6 months left on a WORKING visa and a minimum salary of 2 million a year you're good to go.

[donpaulo]

Lets see where to begin on this.

Its good business to offer financial services to foreign people in your home country. Therefore it seems to reason that offering credit card services is a good idea. If by having a form translated into a foreign language results in more business thats a good thing. right ?

In fact if you want to get a drivers license in the USA you can take the written test in khanji, arabic or even farsi if you want. Its discrimination to prevent someone driving based solely on their ability to understand written english. Then again USA was built on immigration, something that Japan could never understand.

I used to work for Shearson Lehman financial services and we had a battery of foreign language speakers for foreign folks using our cards. Most credit card companies worth their salt provide multilingual services. They do the same thing in Japan. So multilingual service isn't the issue.

It just requires a bit of a leap in faith to connect the dots and allow non khanji folks to use credit services.
Something Japan appears to lack in a real and substantial way.

The problem is that the rules are meant to followed and not questioned. Even if the rules make no sense. The result is its a pain in the arse to get a card in Japan.

[Hot Shoe]

I've tried twice at my bank UFJ to get a credit card and once at Citibank, to no avail. I've been working/living in Japan for 4 years and I don't have any debt... I'm earning around Y300,000 per month and don't have any expenses. I can't understand why I can't get one!?Has anyone had any luck with other banks?
Cheers

i guess i was REAL lucky then...

i had an account at tokyo mitsubishi for a year organized through the school i worked for and applied after a year at the same bank..

process took a while but it was approved with a decent limit.

i reckon the best bet is to go through the bank youve been using but also it really helps if someone can endorse the thing.

in my case i didnt need it but in cases like housing ( i know its kinda irrelevant...but) it helps to have some Japanese backing in that respect..

still..if youve been rejected like that, i wonder..they say in Japan things are a case by case situation..

do they keep a record of how many applications you make for a credit card? if so, that might make it more difficult..

chin up ol` slice..

[Ed Ob]

I must have been lucky too . . .I was earning about the same as the OP at the time too . . .

I had a standard current account with SMBC, set up by my employer for about a year. Then I went in and set up a One's Card account, no problem. The application was in Japanese but WTF, it's JAPAN. Good bank, good service and apart from the old age pr1ck "security guard" who refuses to say "Irrashaimase" when I enter unless I stare at his dopey fecking face, never experienced any of that anti-foreigner BS they've been accused of on this thread.

What's your visa status? Anything less than a spouse visa I think being refused credit is a fair call.

[marni]

Are there any cards that don't require you to pay off the full amount at the end of the month? I would love to find a 'REAL" credit card that you don't have to pay off every month! I know some cards offer revolving credit on big items... but it's not a 'real' card...
Also, does anyone know about cards that offer card loans? I have a DC/VISA card that has a 60man limit, but also has a 200man card loan attached to it, at the rather resonable rate of 8.7%....I'd love to get another like this...

[Name Deleted]

English is the official language in the US, yet lots of things have to be put into Spanish.

There is no official language in the US. In the arguments against bilingualism in the US they tried to point out English is the majority language but there is nothing under law that English MUST be used for daily business etc.

People feel threatened by people speaking in spanish and their own languages in the US, feel overwhelmed by foreigners etc but there is no legal obligation that schooling must be in English etc.

FYI In Japan Japanese study Kokugo or the 'land language' used in Japan while foreigners study Nihongo or Japanese. There is no subject called Nihongo in Japanese high schools.

[kotoha]

I got a credit card when I had been here for a little over a year, was on a one-year working visa, making less than you are! I was in UFJ doing something else... registering a change of phone number or something? And the bank staff were pushing those cards on EVERYONE.

So I usually tell people to go to UFJ... but if that didn't work for you... my other cards are through Yellow Hat (a car acessory/oil change/etc place, if you have a car get your oil changed there and they will offer it!), Marui (I signed up when it was just the marui card though and then it changed to a Visa that can be used everywhere), OhKawa furniture (buy a 100,000 yen couch and its yours!), and amazon.co.jp (but that's a citibank card so you might be refused for it, even though it is an online application and they sent the information biligual even though I filled out the app in Japanese... I think everyone gets bilingual statements from citibank).

I've been offered cards by Konami Sports Club as mentioned above, by other deaprtment stores, by gas stations...

Rather than asking for a card, try signing up for one that is offered to you? But it probably helps if you show that you know what you are doing... i.e. even if you buy the sofa, the furniture shop might not offer you a card if you are stumbling through the conversation with a friend as translator. They might though... who knows?

Konami does offer one to everyone who joins, apparently.

[JRrider]

we banked with citibank the last time we lived in tokyo, and got this pre-approved credit card invitation letter from them. i filled out, and a few weeks later, they sent rejection letter with, of course, no reason given. called the bank wanted to know why, they said they couldn't give reason as this was confidential. basically told them off and to stop wasting people's time especially those with good income and willingness to do business with them. this was a couple of years ago, so practice may have changed since. but now that we just moved back here, no way we are doing anything with citibank. their loss, someone else's gain.

[Gaijin 06]

I got a credit card with Citibank in the same month as I arrived in Japan, I just applied for it at the same time as the bank account... So you don't need Japanese work history or anything like that... one fallacy down.

I signed the forms as I didn't (and still don't) have a hanko... another fallacy down.

Finally the forms were in Japanese, and I couldn't read it to save my life so that's another fallacy dealt with....

[Jin597]

I tried getting numerous cards included cards from my banks (2). All denied me.

At my bank I was denied twice in one month (applied twice at advice of branch staff). When I was denied the second time I called and asked why, but I got the "we can't tell you the reason" answer. The person on the phone despite this was very helpful. They took my name down and assigned me to a person in another department (the department that reviews applications). I filled out another application and it went directly to that person rather than to the automated center. It took longer to process of course, but in the end, I was approved for a 750,000 yen limit gold card! Quite amazing after being rejected twice in 1 month by the same company! (this was CitiCard btw).

I guess sometimes human observers are better than automated systems

[rad]

Lets see where to begin on this.

Its good business to offer financial services to foreign people in your home country. Therefore it seems to reason that offering credit card services is a good idea. If by having a form translated into a foreign language results in more business thats a good thing. right ?

In fact if you want to get a drivers license in the USA you can take the written test in khanji, arabic or even farsi if you want. Its discrimination to prevent someone driving based solely on their ability to understand written english. Then again USA was built on immigration,
something that Japan could never understand.

I used to work for Shearson Lehman financial services and we had a battery of foreign language speakers for foreign folks using our cards. Most credit card companies worth their salt provide multilingual services. They do the same thing in Japan. So multilingual service isn't the issue.

It just requires a bit of a leap in faith to connect the dots and allow non khanji folks to use credit services.
Something Japan appears to lack in a real and substantial way.

The problem is that the rules are meant to followed and not questioned. Even if the rules make no sense. The result is its a pain in the arse to get a card in Japan.

Yes. It seems that's why a lot of silly rules and ways of doing things are never changed. People just follow and don't question things, or if they question it, it's when they're drunk with friends at the izakaya.....& that ain't gunna change nothin.

Australia has many language services it offers, especially at government offices etc.
I suppose that's just one of those things that the older Japanese do not want to change quickly. They don't really want to make things easier for us, that seems very evident.
Although, things are slowly, slowly changing.

[rad]

ARE YOU KIDDING? English IS NOT THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE!
Congress wont pass a bill to state that!
They wont do it, its "policially incorrect" those polititions are so full of treason, cant't stand the conduct or even the topic of the District of Criminals- D.C.

Like Italy just last year passed the law of "Italian is the official" language. and there was arguments on the floor about that. as there are many versions of it.

I heard that recently and was very surprised. What a joke!

Although it would have to be officially listed as 'American English'............English with spelling mistakes

[g-raff]

we banked with citibank the last time we lived in tokyo, and got this pre-approved credit card invitation letter from them. i filled out, and a few weeks later, they sent rejection letter with, of course, no reason given. called the bank wanted to know why, they said they couldn't give reason as this was confidential. basically told them off and to stop wasting people's time especially those with good income and willingness to do business with them. this was a couple of years ago, so practice may have changed since. but now that we just moved back here, no way we are doing anything with citibank. their loss, someone else's gain.

Credit card companies do not give reasons for rejection. There are confidentiality issues invloved.. it's one of the things in life you should accept and get over.

[ttdkeet]

Do international credit cards work in japan?
if i take my credit card from home would it work there?

I`ve tried that. The credit companies are connected by only not. I had a Canadian mastercard. I could use it anywhere, but I could only pay the bill from Canada. Sending money to Canada to pay your credit card bill is not fun...

[Shepherd]

During my first year in Japan, I applied for a credit card with Mitsui Sumitomo Bank. Was refused. While visiting the UFJ for a transaction over something I decided to inquire about the cards they offer. Found a staff who spoke fluent English and filled up a form. Imagine my surprise when I got it a few weeks later. This was my 2nd year.

In my 3rd year I re-applied with Mitsui Sumitomo, reason being I was after the Singapore Airlines VISA card they offer. Got it!! Now I'm busy accumulating miles. Got a free ticket already!!

I got the cards probably because I'd kept the same job and had a decent balance in my bank account. But it's beyond me why they give to some and don't to others. I have gaijin friends who have been here for more than six years with a steady job and income yet are turned down every time.