Job Discussion Forums

Sadken · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 341

Hello there,

I was a bit of a fool before I came out to Japan, you know. I have deliberately avoided getting a credit card throughout my adult life, as I believe them to be quite evil things, however, I am now finding more and more that it is quite essential to have one for this whole "living away" lark.

I don't particularly want to commit credit card fraud and say that I am resident in the UK on an application form but I am drawing a blank in finding any cards that I can apply for and be honest about where I am living. Does anyone know of a card I could apply for that would allow me to be resident in Japan? I have heard that getting a Japanese card is pretty difficult to arrange.

Ta muchly.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Sadken · Joined: 11 Aug 2004 Posts: 341

Yeah, I do but I was a little unsure about this, as I will need to sign to say that I am resident in the UK. I suppose people do this kind of thing all the time, however, 6 years as a lawyer leaves its mark and I am wary about lying in official documents....

Perpetual Traveller · Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 651 Location: In the Kak, Japan

It can be really difficult to do because it's not just the mailing address that's the problem, you also have to give details of your employment and if that is in Japan they are going to realise that you're not a resident.

Another option is to get someone back home to apply for a credit card and get two cards on the account, one in your name, but this can obviously be problematic for it's own reasons.

Good luck and please let us know if you come up with another solution.

PT

Revenant · Mod Team Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 1109

If you're in Japan, Citibank might be an option. Just open a citibank account, plop 500,000 yen to start in it and apply for a credit card at the same time.

Most of the major cities have at least one citibank branch in them.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

If you have a job in Japan, then with residency they may grant you one. Unfortunately outside of the US they don't seem to have these schemes where you pay a fixed deposit, and then have a 'credit' card just to give you a credit history.

They're useful for paying bills online and for ordering books from Amazon, but you can do without them; I did living abroad for twenty-five years.

Jizzo T. Clown · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 10:29 pm Post subject:

When I was in Osaka I went to the Visa kiosk near the station and applied for one. After waiting for three days (I think) they gave me a Visa card. I think they based it on my monthly income, because I had to tell them and they also called Nova to verify my employment.

Only thing is, your purchases are deducted at the end of every month, so if you charge a lot, you'll dig yourself a hole really fast.