Rakuten visa debit card anyone?

**candyjon2002** · 2010-12-24, 02:19 PM

I heard recently rakuten now offers visa debit card for free. Has anyone been successful? I'm applying but i keep getting email in japanese so i'm stuck. Help plz

**mpyrean** · 2011-01-26, 04:19 PM

first step: Learn Japanese!

OK, smartassery aside: you'll need to have a Rakuten Bank account to get the card. No account = nowhere to debit the payment from.

If you can get that far then all you need to do is put some money in the account & apply for the card (it won't let you apply if you have nothing in your account), but if you can't read Japanese the account opening process itself will be tricky -- Japanese banks aren't known for their multilingual service, even the good ones.

I find the Rikaichan plugin for Firefox (or Rikaikun for Chrome) to be extremely handy for completing online Japanese forms. Just mouse over the word & voila, a translation of the kanji pops up. It's pretty reliable when you're only translating single words.

**easa** · 2011-01-26, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by candyjon2002

I heard recently rakuten now offers visa debit card ...

second step: Learn how to spell !
The Rakuten Visa debit card is not a visa !

**mpyrean** · 2011-01-27, 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by easa

second step: Learn how to spell !
The Rakuten Visa debit card is not a visa !

It IS a Visa -- you use it just like a credit card, but the money is debited from your account. Perfect for shopping online.

Pretty much all bank cash cards can use the J-debit system, where you type your PIN at the register. But you can't use it when someone's asking for a credit card number.

**kagi00** · 2011-01-27, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by mpyrean

It IS a Visa -- you use it just like a credit card, but the money is debited from your account. Perfect for shopping online.

he meant Visa that you use to make payment electronically, not visa the document you need for immigration, capital v is the difference he was making I think

my favorite is people that say 'Mastercharge' when they mean 'Mastercard' and I don't mean Japanese people. hey dopes, it's not Mastercharge, not for the last 40some years

**Jakebullet** · 2011-01-27, 09:28 AM

Originally Posted by mpyrean

It IS a Visa -- you use it just like a credit card, but the money is debited from your account. Perfect for shopping online.

Pretty much all bank cash cards can use the J-debit system, where you type your PIN at the register. But you can't use it when someone's asking for a credit card number.

I just got a new card from Rakuten. Dont know if need a debit card. I am pretty sure all of the banks have these don't they?

**TJrandom** · 2011-01-27, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by kagi00

he meant Visa that you use to make payment electronically, not visa the document you need for immigration, capital v is the difference he was making I think

my favorite is people that say 'Mastercharge' when they mean 'Mastercard' and I don't mean Japanese people. hey dopes, it's not Mastercharge, not for the last 40some years

OR BankAmericard - when they mean Visa... which was the genesis of the Credit Card as it is known today....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankamericard#Background

**easa** · 2011-01-27, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by kagi00

he meant Visa that you use to make payment electronically, not visa the document you need for immigration, capital v is the difference he was making I think

You are right ! Capital v is the difference !

'Sorry to be pedantic but.... "visa" is not a proper noun unless its part of a particular title and is usually modified by another adjective e.g. "Working visa" so it doesn't need a capital letter. A visa is a generic word. VISA is a type of credit card.' ( KansaiBen )

**candyjon2002** · 2011-01-28, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by easa

second step: Learn how to spell !
The Rakuten Visa debit card is not a visa !

You Idiot!! If i didn't spell it correct, how the rass did you figure it out? I'm so sick of you fake ___ sarcatic fool trying to pull stupid jokes! This isn't a a damn english test. No one gives a rats-___.....wait, i spelt english INCORRECT again. letters are letters FOOL!

**Krobin** · 2011-01-28, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by candyjon2002

You Idiot!! If i didn't spell it correct, how the rass did you figure it out? I'm so sick of you fake ___ sarcatic fool trying to pull stupid jokes! This isn't a a damn english test. No one gives a rats-___.....wait, i spelt english INCORRECT again. letters are letters FOOL!

English is spelled with a capital e. I'm not gonna go into all the other problems with this sentence as it would take too long. Which by the way is an impressive feat to pull off on four sentences. Good job.

**easa** · 2011-01-29, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by candyjon2002

You Idiot!! If i didn't spell it correct, how the rass did you figure it out? I'm so sick of you fake ___ sarcatic fool trying to pull stupid jokes! This isn't a a damn english test. No one gives a rats-___.....wait, i spelt english INCORRECT again. letters are letters FOOL!

**thenoie** · 2011-01-31, 10:53 PM

Anyway all the poop aside

I just got a new Rakuten visa for me and master card for the wife
I don't have an bank account with them, just had an account on their website and they wanted the details of my other j-bank Was very easy. (apart from me needing to be home to sign for it..)

One of the only points reward credit cards I was interested in in Japan

**tsunatuna** · 2011-02-01, 09:54 AM

Rakuten was formerly ebank, right?
As some of you might remember ebank stopped their free VISA debit card service which is when many of us changed to other banks - so did I.
I still have a bank account with them.
I was just wondering if Rakuten now offers a free VISA debit card again or if they charge a monthly/yearly fee?

**tokyo_dom** · 2011-02-01, 01:14 PM

Still charge a monthly fee from what i can see... which is why i am in the process of opening a Suruga bank account for their free visa debit card

**candyjon2002** · 2011-02-01, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by tokyo_dom

Still charge a monthly fee from what i can see... which is why i am in the process of opening a Suruga bank account for their free visa debit card

The fees are 1000yen/year and 3000yen/year.

Whats the website for opening up a Suruga account?

**tokyo_dom** · 2011-02-02, 12:37 AM

http://www.surugabank.co.jp/my/debit/index.html

Careful, the forms and all communication is all in Japanese. Kinda obvious, but yeah...

**MetalManiac** · 2011-02-23, 09:19 PM

Thought I may add that if your name is long like mine (I'm Mexican, we usually have 2 first and 2 last names) you may have a lot of trouble getting the Suruga one, there is an 18 character limit. After 3 or 4 failed attempts they finally refused to give me the debit card arguing that I needed to make a phone interview in Japanese because all their customer support is Japanese-only.

On the other hand, I just finished creating a Rakuten account online, which wasn't easy either but at least I managed to get pass through the name thing. I will be trying to get the Visa debit card from them as soon as I can deposit some money on it. 1000 yen per year sounds reasonable to me.

Both are difficult if you don't understand Japanese. I had to keep bugging my coworkers many times.

**tokyo_dom** · 2011-02-23, 10:44 PM

Hah! yep i had the same problem... I have 2 middle names and a total of 28 letters in my full name.

First time i applied i left out the middle names (as i often do in Australia), but they came back and said my name had to match the alien card/password. After a bit of discussing with them they told me that it is only in certain sections where my full name had to appear; The Romaji part of the form didnt have to be exact.

I just got an email from them saying they are sending my card out now, so i guess i got it right on my second time

**clymk** · 2011-12-04, 02:03 AM

I write tutorial since 2007 explaining how to get debit card from rakuten bank

is in portuguese(sorry) but so easy step-by-step

http://universohost.com/blog/?p=17

**TooNice** · 2012-02-01, 11:27 PM

Sorry for the bump, but I was wondering if anyone wouldn't mind explaining the benefits of the a Visa Debit over a regular cash cards, and more specifically a Rakuten Visa Debit card. This is the first time that I have seen Visa Debit cards with a monthly fee (though I am new in Japan and it might be a common thing here), and I'd like to know under what circumstances is it good value. As I understand:

1. Visa Debit offers more ways to pay for goods and services over regular cash cards.
2. Rakuten Visa Debit offers allows you to collect points. You get more points with the Gold card, as well as well as a couple of extra perks like insurance for online purchases for an extra 2000 yen per year.

Regarding 1: In practice, are there many places (online and offline) that do not accept cash cards (J-Debit), but accept Visa Debit? So far I have seen services (e.g. mobile phone contracts) that requires a *credit* card, such as Visa Credit, MasterCard, AMEX etc.), rejecting both cash cards and Visa Debit, but I haven't seen places rejecting cash cards but accepting Visa Debit.

Regarding 2: What exactly are those points used for? Is there a table showing what you can do with X amount of points?

And finally, are there any "per transaction fees" with Visa Debit?

Thanks

**candyjon2002** · 2012-02-08, 10:25 AM

I prefer Visa debit because i can shop online. Simple. Not interested in points or anything.

**sai.weiv** · 2012-04-15, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by TooNice

...but I haven't seen places rejecting cash cards but accepting Visa Debit.

And finally, are there any "per transaction fees" with Visa Debit?

bump. =P

Toonice, did you ever get an answer to these questions? I'm on the same boat, trying to figure out if I can use the Visa debit card at most places and if regular transactions have a fee. Much appreciated! =)

**outkast** · 2012-04-23, 08:42 PM

You can use it almost anywhere. The only problems I ever experienced were:

1.) Hotels- You can certainly pay online (in advance) or even in person for hotel rooms with this card, but for the rare (but it does happen) anal places that charge an extra amount to test if you can pay damages after you leave, it might not work. Also some hotels are just lame and insist on credit cards only, even though there is no technical reason hindering using your debit.

2.) Rental Cars- I've rented cars dozens of times with my debit, and no problem. However, the anal hotels above have an anal cousin, and it's possible you might be turned down some time.

That said, the only problems I ever had were on trips to America, of all things. Japan has always been fine. (And that was just with one rental car place, and one hotel chain. Others worked fine.)

On the J-debit issue, places that take these are few and far in between. Stick to real debit cards that have a Visa/etc. logo like Rakuten's. And best way to prevent people refusing your debit card because it's not credit (like bill companies)... Don't tell them it's debit. I pay my pensions with my Rakuten debit card, mo' fo's...

**outkast** · 2012-04-23, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by sai.weiv

bump. =P

Toonice, did you ever get an answer to these questions? I'm on the same boat, trying to figure out if I can use the Visa debit card at most places and if regular transactions have a fee. Much appreciated! =)

There's no fee. Depending on the card, there might be an upfront advertised yearly fee, but no transaction fees.

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