Am I lucky or what... finally after all these years

[musicisgood]

This is kind of " I want people to know this " post.

Many of us here in Japan are NOT able to get Japanese credit cards.
Well, I don't know what happened, but JCB and VISA now it seems like they are giving out credit cards to foreigners. Check it out guys.

I've been here a long time and have been rejected 5 times for credit cards, but now I've been approved for the JCB and VISA cards. Wow! Japan is changing.

 

[Strawberryzaaria]

Why did they not let foreigners get cards? Is it because they assume you are staying for a short time or...?

 

[musicisgood]

Why did they not let foreigners get cards? Is it because they assume you are staying for a short time or...?

I was under the impression for many years that there was distrust about paying back their credit cards once leaving Japan. But now I don't think one can leave Japan permanently with a debt to be paid on their credit card. Immigration here can also get you for unpaid income taxes also.

 

[thomas]

Yes, getting the first one can be challenging ("no credit history", but you are never told). Once you have one, you can have any (and many).

 

[Grandpa Frank]

My credit cards crack me up. It's like they are asking you to get in trouble. My Mastercard allows $25,000 and my Discover $22.000. I always wanted to walk into a car dealer and buy the vehicle on my Mastercard. I did just buy a new Subaru Forester which now takes 3 months or more to arrive. To keep the payment size down , I used the cash that I buy guns with to give them $10,000. They looked at me like I was a drug dealer ; I guess no one uses cash anymore.

 

[bentenmusume]

I had no idea this was a thing. I got my first Japanese credit card years ago and don't recall my "foreignness" ever being an issue.
Have many people actually experienced this problem? I would think that the credit card companies would be looking at the applicant's employment history/visa status/income/length of residence in Japan/etc. rather than simply their nationality.

 

[thomas]

I had no idea this was a thing. I got my first Japanese credit card years ago and don't recall my "foreignness" ever being an issue.
Have many people actually experienced this problem? I would think that the credit card companies would be looking at the applicant's employment history/visa status/income/length of residence in Japan/etc. rather than simply their nationality.

I'm not sure what the situation is nowadays, but 10-15 years ago, both Japanese and foreign first-time applicants were affected by those issues. Freelancers have no employment records to show, thus posed an "incalculable risk" to CC companies. I was refused twice but never given a reason.

 

[musicisgood]

I only asked for a line of 1000 bucks ( 100000 yen ) credit. 50000 yen of it is for travel expenses. Not sure why they asked for that question.
Either way, I do feel having 2 cards for an emergency is a wise thing to have in this country as a foreigner and I only use it for a ONE time payment only. NO installment payments, too risky for me.