All good things come to an end
I’ve been a huge fan of Shinsei Bank for over a decade now. I loved the free ATM withdrawals, the free monthly transfers, being able to take money out abroad and have ATM fees refunded, the foreign currency accounts, and the easy and convenient website.
Sadly over the years Shinsei has reduced its services. The free monthly transfers were reduced, then earlier in the year it was announced that free domestic ATM use would end for regular customers, and then recently that it would no longer be possible to use ATMs overseas.
Shinsei is really pushing GAICA card (seemingly a third-party service) as an alternative. Presumably they are on some kind of commission.
For me the latest cut is the final straw. Shinsei seems to no longer be an attractive option for my main bank. I will probably keep my account in order to have access to foreign currency accounts (useful when receiving transfers from abroad) but will be on the lookout for a new home for my current account.
Any suggestions? I’ll take a look at what is out there and do a bank roundup post soon, but if you know of any good ones please leave a comment below.
I use SMBC Prestia – easy to accept overseas transfers. Online banking system is in English as well.
Downside: ¥2,160 monthly account maintenance fee unless you keep the equivalent of more than ¥200,000 in your multi-currency account. Other than that, they’re amazing. Service especially in branches is also a cut above the megabanks.
Can you give more details about these foreign currency accounts? I occasionally have the the need to move >$1000 USD to JPY and would be interested in the cheapest options (for <$1000 I use fee-free ATMs).
For my two needs, Shinsei has always been good. The first (a) is moving yen into USD at a good rate (and occasionally back), which is the multicurrency feature.
And (b) international transfers. Inbound can remain in the original currency and is not automatically converted to yen. (And as yet, no charge for inbound transfers.)
My outbound transfers go to a single preregistered account, and they can be done by phone. In addition to decent f/x rates, I have enough money there that the outbound transfers are free. Then, probably since they are a major bank, the routing is direct enough that there have never been any nicks ($25-40) by intermediary banks along the way.
I use this account for certain domestic transfers–a few intermittent bills–but things like power and water are billed to a local bank. In a busy month, I might make 2-3 domestic transfers, and other months, zero.
You may laugh, but I’ve literally never used the shinsei ATM card. For money, I make a transfer to feed my local bank and go from there.
The ability to use the shinsei card outside of Japan has always seemed crippled, since funds are deducted from the yen account, and not the $ subaccount if you happen to be in the US. (I have a different card that is fee-free anywhere, and uses good f/x rates.)
Bottom line, Shinsei is still adequate for my needs, the recent/coming changes will not affect me.
@Captainspoke:
>I have a different card that is fee-free anywhere, and uses good f/x rates.
Could you let us know what institution/card that is? Am eager to know.
Thanks for taking the time to do a bank round up post, really looking forward to that one.
I live half the year in the U.S. and much of what I do with my Shinsei account has by now been outsourced, especially to 7-Bank. Using a 7-Bank international ATM I can withdraw up to 100,000 per daily transaction from my home (major) bank. Then I can inserrt my Shinsei card in the same 7-Bank ATM and deposit the money in my Shinsei yen savings account so I can do online transfers to pay my big bills. I haven’t explored whether 7-Bank offers transfer services in English, would like to know as I sense that Shinsei is going to whittle itself down to nothiing much as time goes on.
I gave up Shinsei about a year ago when they refused to change my account name to my new legal alias. This event coincided nicely with me getting a Rakuten Securities account so I just jumped on their banking too. Thanks to the alias, setting up account with exactly same names was now a breeze and the auto-sweep is really nice.
After moving all my yennies there, I was surprised by an upgrade to their whatever highest class, and after gettigetti first salary there, I got free furikomi also.
Their webbank is lightyears ahead of Shinsei’s from 90s site, I can now actually automate monthly transactions. Free ATM and furikomi is nice too.
Fuck shinsei.
Does Rakuten banking have English?
I think that may be Shinsei’s last remaining USP: the English-language support both on the site and on the phone lines…
Well this being Japan so that’s a no. I haven’t seen any of my home country’s banks offer Japanese so I totally understand Japanese banks position on this.
On the other hand a lot of countries have (local language) + English on their websites -English being the international second language. I think it would make sense for more businesses in Japan to go in that direction.
Well…. Japan banking is behind the times when it comes to the global banking standard (I mean… my local bank has no idea how to send money overseas and it took 5 people to cash a check and 4 hours). However, in this case its finally catching up to the nickle and diming and terrible service that is the norm in USA banks. Free checking, gone. Free ATM usage, gone. Minimum balance gets higher and higher. My bank now requires 1500$ balance at all times or they start charging me money. A few years ago it was 500$. By 2025 it will probably be $5,000. So basically when I have 1500$ in the bank I really have ZERO because I can’t use below the 1500$ amount. The banks back in the USA are getting scummier and scammier by the day. Give it 20 more years and Japan banking will probably be on par.
(seriously one reason why I hope crypto gets its act together and gives the us an alternative)
“…my local bank has no idea how to send money overseas and it took 5 people to cash a check and 4 hours…”
Local as in Japan? Or local as in US?
I’d be interested in anyone’s experiences cashing a foreign check in a ‘local’ US bank. Or sending money overseas from one.
I live in a city of about 500,000, and there are probably a half dozen or so large banks downtown where you could buy US$, euros, and a few other major currencies. Large hotels here also offer some exchange services, or at least take those currencies in payment.
I wonder how a person would fare in a similarly sized US city?
About 5 years ago I went to my Shinsei branch in order to deposit a check in dollars. Initially they told me it would cost 4000 yen (for a check of about $100), but I was desperate so I said “sure, why not”. Then they realized I was a “platinum” member and did it for free.
Last year I came with a check of $120 euro (about 15’000 yen). They refused to deposit it, told me they did not offer a service to deposit foreign checks. I pointed out to them that they had no issue doing it back in 2013, and that I was willing to pay a fee if I had to. They said they did not do that anymore. I tried to insist, explaining I was here to put more money in the bank, not to cash it out, but I was met with a wall of “moushi wake arimasen” .
So, I can certainly say that I’m not seeing an improvement in the service quality, even though I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s significantly degraded over the years.
They told me free ATM withdrawals would no longer be free for basic accounts, but I didn’t know about overseas ATM withdrawal no lnoger being a thing. Is this true?
Yep: http://www.shinseibank.com/info/news180606_atm_kaigai_e.html
They also sent out a paper notice encouraging customers to sign up for Gaica a couple of weeks ago.
Hi Ben, Thanks for the great information on all things personal finance in Japan! I just moved back to Japan after about 8 years back in the US. I am pondering different options for my Japanese banking needs and was wondering if you had any thoughts on doing that roundup post. I figured I’d wait for the long-timers to speak before signing up for an account. I’m leaning towards Sony Bank at this point and will go ahead and do that if not. Thanks!
Thanks Cal! It’s on the to-do list, but I’ll bump it up a couple of spaces. Look out for it in September when we’re back in business 🙂