How do you get a credit card in Japan?

I'll begin with a bit of self-validation. I fought the system for a year and won. After countless rejections, i finally got the credit card i wanted.

Next, a disclaimer - i've grown up a privileged Singaporean. I've never had to submit a credit report or figure out the details for a credit card submission before coming to Japan. In Singapore I login with Singpass, our virtual identity authentication app, the bank retrieves what it needs, and they approve my application in 10 seconds. Easy (to the privileged Singaporean, aka me). I realise that is probably not everyone's experience, hence the disclaimer. But for me going from a fully electronic, 10-second approval to multiple rounds of futility was maddening.

If you're planning to apply for a credit card in Japan, or aren't in Japan but are interested in this for whatever reason, here's hoping that my little knowledge and experience can help you.

Do you need a credit card in Japan?

The answer is probably no. Not long ago cash was still the primary mode of payment at many places. If you ask to pay via credit card at a store they're likely to ask you to insert your card and enter a pin number. They do this even if you buy something that costs a dollar. If you say "paywave" they'll look at you confused. If you say "touch" they'll look even more confused.

Nowadays more stores are going cashless, but it's nothing a debit card or cash card can't handle. If you have a bank account, you should have one of these.

One of the only times not having a credit card was genuinely troublesome was at the petrol station, where they only accept cash (physical, very secure, no fraud) or credit card (virtual, not so secure, open to fraud) for some reason. No debit cards allowed. (if, for whatever reason, you know why - tell me!)

So no, you don't need one.

But.

To my mind the premise of a credit card is this: i give the bank a bunch of money, they collect interest on it to fund their employee's bonuses, then they disburse it to the merchants i bought things from. In return, they give me a little gift in the form of cashback or points. In other words, i'm rewarded for spending. The bank will keep adding cherries on top of my cupcake as i eat it. When i finish my cupcake i might have also eaten 45 cherries along the way. If i bought it with cash i'd only have had the cupcake.

Long story short, when you have the chance to stretch your dollar, i'm of the opinion that you should take it.

What are the benefits anyway? Do you actually get 45 cherries for using a credit card?

This is Japan, the land of negative interest rates. My bank interest rate is 0.001%. That's not a typo. I will get a whopping 10 yen per year, if i hold JPY1M in my account for that duration. So long story short - no, you don't really get cherries. You get a sprinkle on top of your cupcake. Maybe two if you're lucky.

Here's an example - this is the SMBC prestia credit card that was offered to me when i opened my bank account. The tl;dr breakdown is:

• I get 1 out of 200 yen back within the SMBC ecosystem, a cashback of 0.5%
• I get roughly 0.8 yen back if its outside of the SMBC ecosystem, a cashback of 0.4%
• If i hold an existing ANA credit card I can convert points to ANA miles at a preferred rate, anywhere between 1-3 miles per point, for a valuation ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 miles / JPY100
• Without an ANA credit card, i get 0.5 ANA miles per point, good for a value of 0.25 miles / JPY100

For a comparison on the miles front, an entry level credit card in Singapore would get 1.2 miles per dollar. A similar entry level card gets you less than 25% of that here.

This is representative of most cards i've seen. That said, there are some cards that turn sprinkles into cherries, but these are the hardest to navigate.

Why you'll probably struggle with applying for one

I've combed the depths of Reddit and found posts saying they got approved on their first try. I've also found posts saying they've gone years without being approved for a credit card. This is a your-mileage-may-vary situation - but in a distribution there are many more cases of failure than success.

In general, the stakes are stacked against you because

1. you're a foreigner
2. the banks don't know anything about you
3. if they do, they don't trust their information on you because of (1)

Here's a story that played out over several months. There are several entry level credit cards that many people on aforementioned reddit threads recommend because they are easy to procure - Rakuten and Amazon credit cards among them. I applied for both and was promptly rejected. 6 months later i tried again, to the same result. I mentioned this to a colleague who expressed extreme surprise. He said something along the lines of, "even unemployed people can get approved for the Rakuten card." In case you're wondering where foreigners stand in the hierarchy financially, now you know.

If you're thinking, well all i need to do is spend a few months building a good credit score and i'll be in good standing, i've got some news for you - your credit report will contain your existing financial instruments, assigned credit limits, and last payment dates. This is not helpful because to have a credit history you need to have a credit card to begin with. Assuming you somehow have a credit card already, your credit history is used selectively. The bank will reject your application if they see debt or poor payment history, but the opposite does not hold true (case in point - my credit report was pristine).

My experience applying (and being rejected) for a credit card

When i opened a bank account i was given an option to apply for an SMBC Prestia credit card (in this post). Here's what i wrote then:

I declined Prestia’s credit card because i thought i could apply for one with better benefits elsewhere. This was a terrible decision... my guess is that the lack of any credit history severely affected my chances. You might be better off taking what you can get... building 6 months of credit history, then trying again with other cards

Reading this you can see a contradiction. Back then I suggested trying to build a credit history. I didn't know any better. With the benefit of hindsight, i'll fill in the blanks in this experience. Here's the timeline.

In February last year, one month after moving to Japan, i applied for my first credit card. In my naivety, with the hugely-mistaken assumption that applying for a credit card would be as simple for me as it was in Singapore, i applied for the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Premium credit card. It took them all of 1 business hour to reject me. No reason was given.

The same day i was rejected i applied for the Rakuten card. They were a little more gracious, waiting a full 24 hours to turn me down.

Five months later in July i tried again - Amex, Rakuten, and also Amazon this time. All three rejected me again, within a day. No reason was given.

In November I hung my head, went back to Prestia, and took them up on their credit card offer (more on this later). I was quickly approved, and received my first credit card.

In January this year, 6 months after my last application, i tried again, to the same result. This time, i called Amex. They asked me if i wanted support in English or Japanese - i said English. They said they'd call be back later in the day. I didn't receive that call.

The next day i called them again and proceeded with Japanese support. Here i found some useful information. Online applications are rigid. Any text field must have 100% fidelity to successfully pass through for a further check.

This meant that any free form input entered into the online form - your full name, company name, address - must match your visa and residence card. Any discrepancies disqualify you immediately.

They suggested i cross-check my input and re-apply. They also suggested i check my credit history to verify that i do not have any credit issues. I took their advice and applied for my credit report from the JICC - for the curious, this post on RetireJapan gives some information about how to apply for it and what it contains.

Unsurprisingly, my credit report was squeaky clean. So i tried again, taking care to match all text fields this time. Immediate rejection.

I called Amex again. They said, sorry we can't give you any further information about why you were rejected during the screening process. You could wait for 6 months or 1 year for the application history to clear then try again.

I ask, 6 months or 1 year? Which is it?

They reply, it could be 6 months or 1 year. We don't know for sure, you just need to try again.

And i said, if i apply after 6 months but it turns out i needed to wait for 1 year, does that reset the clock?

Yes.

If i wait 1 year and apply again, i'll still go through the same checks and there's no way of knowing what my chances are?

Yes.

If i somehow wait 1 year and get rejected again, what happens then?

Wait 6 months or 1 year and try again.

This conversation was giving shades of the process™ (mentioned when i discuss the uncanny valley of process in my post here)

Exasperated, i gave up. I thanked them for what advice they could provide, and was prepared to acquiesce to the fact that the world of points and miles would remain gated to me.

And then.

Hope. (In the form of Amex customer support)

I mentioned asking for English support from Amex and not receiving a call back. There are no red herrings in this post - this was a critical juncture of my application.

A few hours after my conversation with the Japanese-speaking support consultant, The English speaking support consultant from Amex called me back, blissfully unaware of the conversation that had just transpired a short while ago.

And he said, i understand you want to apply for the Amex card?

Yes.

Okay, we'll proceed with the application for you.

Hold on, i've applied multiple times before and was rejected already. Wouldn't this just be the same process all over again?

And he said, okay, can i get some information from you?

Sure.

And we went through the application - which card i was applying for, my name, address, company, salary, essentially all information i had filled in online.

And at the end, he said, okay we'll proceed with the application. You may get an email notifying you of rejection, but you can ignore it. We'll send you a form to confirm your identity and salary, fill that out and send it back to us.

This exchange was drastically different than any other that i'd had in my entire credit card application process. I was cautiously optimistic that this might actually go through, but also hedging my bets by mentally preparing for the inevitable rejection.

A week later i received a form, that i promptly submitted. A few days later i received a follow up call from Amex, where they confirmed they'd received the response, and then they said, you can expect to receive your card by the end of the month.

Now i was in disbelief. Like, that's it?

And true enough, i got my card at the end of the month, and have been spending like a fiend ever since.

So what's the best way to apply for a credit card?

There's a method to (what seems like) Japanese madness. I'll dive into the details on my specific credit card, and why i applied for it in the first place, in another post. But having gone through this year-long process, i've pieced together what i think is the best way to get the card you want as a foreigner. Your mileage may vary, of course, but the context here lies in my SMBC Prestia credit card application.

Applying for the SMBC Prestia credit card

When i went back to Prestia and requested to apply for the credit card, i was expecting them to process an application for me on the spot. That's how it'd have happened in Singapore - the first time i applied for a credit card in Singapore, in person, a representative typed something into a computer, told me to go home, and the card arrived in the mail a day or two later. But from a Singaporean perspective, Japan is a place of misaligned expectations when it comes to financial services. They gave me an envelope containing an information leaflet, a paper form and a return envelope, and told me to complete the form and post it.

From my conversation with the bank representative, i gathered that Prestia could not process my application because they are not the bank issuing the credit card - SMBC is (of which Prestia is a stand-alone subsidiary, affiliated yet not at the same time). They also said that they could help me on the spot... by guiding me to fill in the paper form, but i would still have to post it myself.

I found this a rather jarring experience because

1. Prestia was offering me a Prestia branded card, that's actually entirely administered by SMBC, that they have no control over (which is why they cannot process anything and redirected me to submit the form directly to SMBC instead), and
2. i'm filling up a paper form and submitting documents with sensitive personal and financial information and posting it in the year 2023

Anyway i was desperate so i took the form home, completed it following the instructions provided, and didn't think twice about putting this information into a flimsy envelope and entrusting it to Japan Post.

A few weeks later a credit card magically appeared in my letterbox.

Okay, so why is the SMBC Prestia credit card relevant?

Here's the trend.

I applied for 4 credit cards online and was instantly rejected 4 times.

I applied for 1 credit card via post and the invisible hand of Japanese industry delivered it to me.

In Japan there's truly something magical about operations performed by hand - they're the ones designed to invoke the sense of "it just works." You post out a letter, and the world shifts to accommodate your written instructions. Human intervention is the cure-all. In hindsight, every transaction i've completed through post has been seamless.

• Applying for my SMBC Prestia credit card - card magically appears a month later.
• Applying to link my bank account to my Prestia credit card (no, this isn't done automatically because, while affiliated, the bank and credit card companies are independent entities) - deductions start occurring automatically on the 10th of each month
• Submitting forms for rental payments via bank transfer - monthly payment notices disappear and the sum starts being deducted at the end of each month instead
• Submitting my information to Shibuya ward for cost-of-living subsidies - to help with rising costs in 2023, Shibuya ward offered a one-time payout of several ten thousand yen to all its residents. I filled in the form and received money a month later. Seamless.

Incidentally, these are all financial transactions. Legacy processes are hard to kill indeed.

Armed with the knowledge that financial institutions overwhelmingly prefer people and paper, and paper applications have access to channels that online ones do not (i.e people), here's the obvious-in-retrospect steps on applying for a credit card

How i'd recommend applying for a credit card

1. Have a job that pays you money that you can keep in your bank, so that you can show you have money if the credit card company asks you.
2. Get your credit report. This is optional, but i'd recommend it, just to make sure there's no unexpected black marks against your record. They're unlikely to use the information to approve any applications, but they definitely will to disapprove it.
3. Call the bank. This is absolutely crucial. I hate this step because i hate calls, but online portals are a gateway to dead ends, and finding your way out of a dead end is far more challenging because they will have records of failed applications and may use it against you.
4. Ask for English support. This is controversial because this emphasises your foreign-ness, which may heighten your risk factor, which can lead to places turning you away. But my take here is, some banks actively want to bank the foreign population in Japan, and Amex is one of them. That's why they have an English support channel in the first place.

And that's it. Going through the paper trail should increase your odds significantly.

If you've come across this post and used this advice, let me know if it worked for you! Tell me at by mail or DM - i'd love to know.

Next time - a deep dive into my credit card and it's perks.