The audacity of hope a foreigner trying to apply for a credit card in Japan, whose hope is ultimately shattered by a rejection letter!
I want to buy a house in Japan; maybe not tomorrow, but someday. In order to buy a house I need credit. It can’t be any credit, though. No sir. It’s got to be Japanese credit. Visa is not just Visa. It’s Japanese Visa. Or Mastercard. Or American Express. Do you see the humor behind a financially-eligible American being rejected for an American Express in Japan?
To get a Japanese credit card, you have to have a Japanese credit history. To get a Japanese credit history, you need a Japanese credit card. This is Catch-22 in all its glory! (To be sent home from the war, you simply have to tell the doctor that you’re crazy. If anyone tells the doctor that they are crazy, they are not crazy and must be sent back into action.)
I don’t rant about Japan very often, because I don’t think there’s much to rant about, and most of the “rants” I hear from others are typically just cases of “whinging”, but come on - What gives with this credit situation?! Throw me a frickin’ bone here!
16 Comments
July 14, 2008 at 9:31 am
Yeah - lots of the credit cards in this area have a requirement for a 5 year continuous residency at the same location. That’s pretty hard to do for people who can only get visas up to a certain length of time, and who tend to get moved by business obligation. I hope they throw you a bone! I would if I had any power at all to help in the situation - but let’s face it - that’s just funny.
July 14, 2008 at 9:43 am
I do not have a Japanese credit card, and I have had no trouble getting a housing loan - but I’m applying jointly with my wife, who is Japanese, and apparently because my place of employment has 国立 on it, that is a big help. (国立情報学研究所 for the curious. It has nothing to do with being a government employee, although technically the faculty here are 公務員, but me, I’m just a 特任研究員, no public service there…
Anyway, I plan to apply for a Japanese credit card after we get the first few mortgage payments out of the way. Every time I hear 二回払い I know that my US-based credit card will not work, and the store employee will not know why…
July 14, 2008 at 9:44 am
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(I need a preview button, edit comment button, or more patience.)
July 14, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I have a Japanese translation of Catch 22. I’ve been tempted to send it to you before, but it’s pretty heavy and I am cheap… but it’s the half-thought that counts.
July 14, 2008 at 8:40 pm
My advice is for you to go with a small bank. Also, as you know, Japanese banks are also obsessed with applicants being a 正社員 rather than a contract employee. I had no credit history in Japan but a smaller bank in Saitama prefecture issued me my first card with a tiny limit (100,000 yen). Another option is to go with Shinsei Bank. Once you have setup a bank account with them, they use the credit agency アプラス which will issue you a card, again, with a small limit.
Another option is to get a card issued by a department store. Tsutaya or Lawson would probably issue you a card. The credit agencies they use take more “risk” than the banks.
FYI: For a house, don’t worry, you don’t need a credit card. A good friend of mine is from China and he is married to a Chinese woman. So he doesn’t have the Japanese spouse thing going for him. He doesn’t use credit cards and he still managed to purchase a home. Once he got his PR status from immigration and 10% of the total cost of the loan to offer up front, he was able to get a loan from a Japanese bank for a regular 一軒家 with very little trouble. The PR status seems to be the most important. It took him about five years of continuous residence to get PR status.
July 14, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Well, Bryan, that’s all wonderful information to hear. I see a break in the clouds! We may have some sunshine yet!
Claytonian: I have the Japanese version of Catch-22, because I went out and special-ordered it from Iwase books, since they didn’t carry it in-store. But thanks for the thought!
July 15, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Now I feel your pain; 7-11 rejected my account application because my bills don’t have my middle name on them!
July 16, 2008 at 5:15 pm
That’s gold, Claytonian! Like anyone even really uses a middle name…well…except for when your mother gets mad at you.
July 16, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Bryan - that’s why the want it, don’t you see!? They want to know how to yell at him in a motherly tone when he screws up on his credit…. It’s all coming together now.
July 18, 2008 at 4:57 pm
i got a japanese amex about 4 years ago…did you try applying online?
July 18, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hello Pamela! Thanks for dropping by.
I haven’t tried an online application. What site did you apply with? I really want to build up my credit ASAP, not to mention the cash-back rewards you get at the end of the fiscal year which bring in a lot of savings.
(Hope you drop by again so you can respond to this!)
July 20, 2008 at 9:35 am
Many people have said it’s really easy, just get your Japanese wife to co-sign, or just do it in her name. But that clearly isn’t an answer to the problem, just a different approach as the question is how can a foreigner get a card.
I’ve also been declined applications for legitimate cards from Mitsubishi UFJ, but have found that the yakuza people are happy to give you a card and thus I have a Marui department store card, with a 20% interest rate and a 100,000 yen limit. The first thing I did was just put 100,000 yen on it and am paying it off. Sure I’m taking a hit with that sick interest rate, but I figure it’s an investment towards being able to get a real card, or even a car our house some day.
I was also able to get a Amazon.co.jp Visa card which is done by CityBank. Got the same 100,000 yen limit and ridiculous interest rate, but I just use it for buying books online through Amazon.
It’s a crappy situation and this type of stuff would never be an issue in America, however we are having a credit bubble crisis right now so perhaps the American way isn’t the best. Personally though, I think there is a happy medium where people who should get credit and those that don’t don’t as apposed to no one gets credit unless they absolutely could never need it (Japan) or anyone with a pen to sign their name gets credit (America).
July 20, 2008 at 9:45 am
Well, my wife is Korean, so we’re both foreigners here, and while she’s been here for longer than I have, she’s a uni student and is even less eligible for a card than I am, unless we can find a card targeting students.
Another hurdle is that there are no citibanks in our area! Toho Bank dominates the area. I might try to apply for an American Express through Amazon and see where that takes me.
July 20, 2008 at 11:32 am
Actually being a student might help. The card companies may look at it like this:
1) She’s paying tuition, so she has the ability to find money if needed
2) Because she’s got an established thing going on in her life, she’s less likely to ‘flee’.
As the Japanese love stability, the ultimate goal in life is to become some 正社員 somewhere. A 四年制大学生 is the late 10’s early 20’s version of this. Much better than say a 契約社員 who can be be fired at the drop of a hat.
I’ve never actually applied for a card with CitiBank directly, just that the Amazon.co.jp card is a CitiBank card.
July 22, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Hello post.
As most of you, I have tasted the sweet delicacy of being rejected when asking for a credit card. I think that building a credit history in Japan is a must if you plan to stay for a long, as I do since my wife is Japanese. I can’t depend on her every time I need to make an online transaction. I can’t depend on her every time I need to go to a department store, where most of the times they only accept credit cards.
Sure. Most of us have bank accounts. Tried what others recommended in other posts: open an account in Citibank or Shinsei and then apply for their cards. Well, the side issue is that both banks said: “Sorry. No card.” Citibank even called me with a nice gringo in perfect gringo accent why they turned me down: Since I haven’t lived here in Nihonland for more than 3 or more years,and since I don’t have the typical profile of a “salary man” worker, well, no credit card for you.
I’m a software engineer. I decided to start my own run up in Asia. I chose Japan. Still think and feel that the true action is in Hong Kong. But, got mixed ideas and information about how to get a credit card in this country.
I’m trying the department store strategy: Went to Takashimaya at JR Towers (I live in Nagoya) and also filled not one but two different cards for Aeon (Aeon Card and Suica Card). I also applied for the American Express issued in conjunction with Amazon.co.jp. I also filled out the application for JP Post bank. Some bloggers and posters in the net says that you can apply for a debit card at JP Bank. I asked them about the card. And they don’t know that the hell am I talking about.
We’ll see. Some people are lucky. Maybe because they are kiss asses and work hard at a company. Some because we chose to be a lost bullet and be financially and socially independent, auto sufficient as I do and my own career.
You tell me. You are the experts. I’m just a newbie here.
July 23, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I had a Japanese visa while I was there! I got it within 2 years of living in Japan. Then again I had a cushy corporate job so I guess they were comfortable approving me.
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