Japanese credit cards for JETs and AETs

[mr.sumo.snr]

I'm putting together a list of successes and failures regarding credit card applications for short-term residents i.e. JETs and other AETs on 1-3 year visas. But it can basically include anyone who's NOT here on a spouse or PR visa.
Especially interesting are shop, hotel, DVD rental store and gym cards.
This is what I've collected so far:

Super Sports Xebio JACCS card
JA bank credit card (already a JA bank customer)
Toyoko-Inn credit card with a story!
"Yeah, I got the blue VISA. It was a piece of cake. I stayed at the hotel and inquired about getting the card. So a lady at the "Front" gave me an application and helped me fill it out. She even took my picture. I mailed the form in and had my card in about 3 weeks."
Maruzen bookstore credit card
DC card through Hachi-ju-ni Bank in Nagano - successful
Eiden card - refused
Citibank has been mentioned several times.

--

[Glenski]

What makes you think spouse visa holders or PR holders are so special that they automatically get credit cards? They don't.

[mr.sumo.snr]

What makes you think spouse visa holders or PR holders are so special that they automatically get credit cards? They don't.

I make no such claims!

Read my post more carefully. I'm after specific information.

--

[JimmySeal]

Tsutaya card - turned down
Amazon.co.jp card from Chase bank - rejected, even though I hold an Amazon.com card also backed by Chase

[Emoni]

This is a pretty interesting thread here. Curious to watch it progress and see if there is any trend.

[mr.sumo.snr]

There is some method in my madness. Spouse and PR visa holders will be denied credit cards for more or less the same reasons as native Japanese. Poor credit history, excessive debt, temporary or part-time employment status, insufficient time at current address etc., etc.

For fixed-contract AETs most of these factors are gimmes PLUS their work visas are egg-timers. Yet some of them still manage to secure cards from various sources. Yesterday I heard from several JETs living in Nagano City who were able to get Seiyu Saison cards filling out the application forms during a Saison ‘campaign’ day at their local store.

--

[pipokun]

There is some method in my madness. Spouse and PR visa holders will be denied credit cards for more or less the same reasons as native Japanese.

temporary or part-time employment status

This is the same as Japanese or permanent residents.
It is rather hard for part-timers to get the card or find places to live in.

I read a miserable story in a book by a Japanese freelance writer that he was requested TWO guarantors as well as 1 year worth deposit when he rent an apartment, even though he had his several books published, even one of them sold over 100,000 copies in Japan.

The JET guys were merely lucky.

[mr.sumo.snr]

Yes, you're correct to say that Japanese who work part-time will sometimes find it hard to apply for a credit card. Just this month I've been accepted for two new cards - a Northwest airlines card and a Japan Post Office card. My wife, who now works part-time, was turned now for the same cards. I've been ruthlessly pulling her leg about it for the last two weeks!

The NWA card was free for one year and with 5000 complimentary airmiles. Hopefully it's going to pay for a beach holiday flight for me and my family during next year's rainy season. I'll ditch it in October because the annual fee is a whopping 18000 yen! Or I'll change it to a non-gold NWA card which has a 9000 yen fee.

--

[FrustratedDave]

The only way you will get a card is if you know someone or you already have a credit card. Any other way will be rejected.

[mr.sumo.snr]

The only way you will get a card is if you know someone or you already have a credit card. Any other way will be rejected.

Well, from the evidence that's been presented to me, that's clearly NOT the case.

None of the AETs who've contacted me had anything other than JA or Post Office bank accounts when their CC applications were approved.

I've yet to hear from anyone on anything 'less' than a one-year work visa.

--

[FrustratedDave]

Well, from the evidence that's been presented to me, that's clearly NOT the case.
None of the AETs who've contacted me had anything other than JA or Post Office bank accounts when their CC applications were approved.
I've yet to hear from anyone on anything 'less' than a one-year work visa.
--

I see no evidence that these people did not already have credit cards or used the cards of their parents or spouse, unless you polled each person on what they actually wrote on thier application?

[Mikawa Ossan]

The only way you will get a card is if you ...already have a credit card. Any other way will be rejected.

Do you mean a Japanese issued credit card? If this is what you mean, I can tell you from experience that that is simply not true in every case. I got my first Japanese issued credit card when I applied separately for a loan to get a wall A/C unit about a month or two after I had moved and started a new job. I'm pretty certain that all of my American credit cards had already been cancelled by then, anyway.

[mr.sumo.snr]

I see no evidence that these people did not already have credit cards or used the cards of their parents or spouse, unless you polled each person on what they actually wrote on thier application?

None of the information I presented came from AETs who:
A) had a Japanese spouse nor
B) held, at the time of application, a Japanese credit card


--