Rakuten Gold Card: Time to Switch?

[adamu]

Rakuten Gold credit card just adds up significantly over time. I honestly have no idea how Rakuten makes money given how much they give away in points.

I don't use this personally, but I think some people here are using this card. They are removing the 4% points bonus for Rakuten Ichiba, which means there are no benefits to this card compared to others, and it's better to downgrade to standard, or upgrade to premium.

Excellent summary (in Japanese) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X49rBLcd9bk

The video suggests for most people, downgrading to the standard card, which is still very competitive, would be the best option. Or if you use airport lounges abroad (not likely right now...) the premium card pays for itself.

He finishes by speculating that such a degradation without any replacement is surprising, so maybe they are planning something new that has yet to be announced.

Update

Here's a summary of the video conclusion, for people that can't/don't want to watch it:

1. From 1 April, the 4x points on the gold card will turn into 2x points for Rakuten Ichiba (same as the normal card), making it not worth the annual fee. Premium keeps 4x.
2. If you spend more than 550,000 in Rakuten Ichiba, upgrading to premium is worth it (If using Furusato Nozei, you need to be earning 20M yen to use this amount).
3. If you use the Priority Pass for international lounges, Premium pays for itself.
4. For everyone else the normal card is still a good deal: Works with Edy, No annual fee, bonus multipliers for other Rakuten services (Energy, Mobile, Travel, Securities...)
5. If downgrading, he recommends to take advantage of the final marathons in Feb/March and this year's Furusazo Nozei allowance before doing so.
6. Maybe Rakuten have something else in the works they've not announced yet?

In addition to this as Kanto mentioned below, the free ETC card becomes 550yen/year if you downgrade, or stays free if you maintain platinum or diamond point club status. But remember that you earn points with the ETC card too, so if you spend more than 55,000 on highways, it pays for itself even at 550 yen.

[Kanto]

Rakuten Gold credit card just adds up significantly over time. I honestly have no idea how Rakuten makes money given how much they give away in points.

I don't use this personally, but I think some people here are using this card. They are removing the 4% points bonus for Rakuten Ichiba, which means there are no benefits to this card compared to others, and it's better to downgrade to standard, or upgrade to premium.

Excellent summary (in Japanese) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X49rBLcd9bk

The video suggests for most people, downgrading to the standard card, which is still very competitive, would be the best option. Or if you use airport lounges abroad (not likely right now...) the premium card pays for itself.

He finishes by speculating that such a degradation without any replacement is surprising, so maybe they are planning something new that has yet to be announced.

Hmmm perhaps it is time to downgrade? I have another Gold card.

I suppose with the standard card you have to pay for a family card and ETC and Edy?

The card fee is fairly low though.

[Viralriver]

Oh, I was about to convert to Gold but now seeing this I guess I won't... will the platinum still offer 4x points?

[adamu]

Edy is free. Not sure about ETC, as I get that free from Saison. Last I checked I believe it's about 500 yen, but free as long as you actually use it.

Don't know about family cards.

Premium still gets 4% on ichiba - details are in the video.

[Kanto]

Edy is free. Not sure about ETC, as I get that free from Saison. Last I checked I believe it's about 500 yen, but free as long as you actually use it.

Don't know about family cards.

Premium still gets 4% on ichiba - details are in the video.

As I have an Amazon Gold card I probably will not go for Rakuten Premium.

I will either stay or downgrade. It is only Y2200 though.

[adamu]

It is only Y2200 though.

Yeah. As the video said, you're paying 2,200 yen to change the colour from silver to gold.

[Kanto]

It is only Y2200 though.

Yeah. As the video said, you're paying 2,200 yen to change the colour from silver to gold.

Thanks Adam. I struggled through the video.

Looks like I will probably downgrade.

I'm expecting Rakuten will come out with new lineup.

[OwenM]

Seems to be that if you are likely to spend 500k a year on Rakuten then the premium card is worth the fee.

[adamu]

Seems to be that if you are likely to spend 500k a year on Rakuten then the premium card is worth the fee.

550,000, according to the video.

Thanks Adam. I struggled through the video.

Looks like I will probably downgrade.

I'm expecting Rakuten will come out with new lineup.

Yes, it's hard to imagine they would just leave premium subscribers paying an annual fee for no reason.

I updated the original post with a summary of the video conclusion.

Not sure about ETC, as I get that free from Saison. Last I checked I believe it's about 500 yen, but free as long as you actually use it.

Just checked this. ETC is free for Platinum and Diamond point members with the normal card, otherwise it's 550 yen.

[taneandy]

It seems like a strange decision as the difference between the standard and gold card is now so minimal that there doesn't really seem to be any point in having two different types of cards.
I'd be surprised if they got many new applicants for the gold card, maybe they are just hoping to completely phase it out or introduce something new.

The only other significant difference I can see is that with the gold card you can apply for a limit of up to 2,000,000 yen, whereas it's 1,000,000 for the standard card.