Trouble Opening a Rakuten Bank account

[TonyKaku]

Has anyone else had trouble opening a Rakuten bank account? I'm trying to have all my finances within the Rakuten universe, but my five applications since June have all failed!

If any of this helps:
I'm a 15-year permanent resident,
my credit rating should be fine,
I work part-time, but it's a permanent contract,
I've provided them nearly every form of I.D. I possess,
I've followed their middle name instructions to the 't',
I've had a Rakuten Point card for years, and
I was recently approved for and have just received a Rakuten credit card.
In effect, they'll let me borrow their money, but the don't want me to lend them my money!

I dug around their website to find a support email address, but the reply was just like rejection letters – "Sorry, but we can only answer questions regarding your application status." I just want to know if I filled it in incorrectly. Does anyone know how I might speak to a human about this (English-speaker if possible) either by phone or in person?

TIA!

[Moneymatters]

No problem for me. I was done and dusted in 6(six) short months.

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1612&p=14570#p14570

For what it’s worth. If your Japanese isn’t strong. As evidenced by asking for English support, get a native speaker to help. Not speaking Japanese well is an excuse for them to refuse opening your account. No shame to ask for help. Their emails are really not clear sometimes.

I also suggest you watch the movie “Brazil” as it lends valuable context.

[adamu]

Maybe we can issue you with best username award to keep you motivated in the meantime.

[Moneymatters]

Maybe we can issue you with best username award to keep you motivated in the meantime.

Oh thats is very good! Maybe we gather names and put it to a poll. My submission is.

@halfmanhalfsenbei Which I hope is in reference to British band “Half man half biscuit.”

Im unable to nominate this next one as until precisely five minutes ago I have been misreading @Toushi_time as “Toshi time” and assuming it was a reference to the greatest thing on the internet and quite possibly life in general. Whilst NOT NSFW, discretion is advised.

https://youtu.be/1oZQCqPRa8E
C’mon Toshi, c’mon!

[nickr]

I’ve been approved, but because of the hassles and inability to contact anyone in their customer support (they only contact applicants on their terms, not the other way around), I can’t possibly trust them with my money.

So, I’m using my local bank with Rakuten Securities for iDeCo, even if I lose the benefit of Rakuten points.

[zeroshiki]

I don't like the idea of not having physical locations for my main bank as well so I just transfer money into Rakuten Bank whenever I need it to buy securities. Its a good enough compromise.

[pfdsa]

I also was rejected 2 times by them even though I have the rakuten credit card and a rakuten securities account. Called them in Japanese and they told me the same, that they can"t tell me the reason I was rejected. Decided that it isn"t worth the headaches and gave up.
Hope that you figure it out.

[TonyKaku]

Haha! Yes, I'd read of your (funny/not funny) trials and tribulations, Moneymatters and admire your perseverance – I must watch Brazil again!
Cheers for the award nomination, adamu – I'll take what I can get these days.
Their lack of a physical location (not staffed by robots) is a valid concern, zeroshiki and nickr, and I can empathise, pfdsa.
But hold on, didn't Rakuten once 'pride' itself on requiring their staff speak English? Unfair when it's not an official language, I know, but it would be handy for the times I mix up my toushi with my toshi.

[zeroshiki]

So on the topic, when you submit an application, they ask you to upload 2 IDs right? While its in application, you can get on the Rakuten Bank app and put in your application number and it will tell you the application status. I've experienced it that they rejected my health card because it was in katakana (since all of them are) and that led to the application itself getting rejected so maybe look into that?

They need both the IDs you upload to be exactly the same name you use in your application. I used my zairyu card and MyNumber card and got it through. They're actually not that particular about the spaces (that's Card and Securities who have this problem)

[pfdsa]

So on the topic, when you submit an application, they ask you to upload 2 IDs right? While its in application, you can get on the Rakuten Bank app and put in your application number and it will tell you the application status. I've experienced it that they rejected my health card because it was in katakana (since all of them are) and that led to the application itself getting rejected so maybe look into that?

They need both the IDs you upload to be exactly the same name you use in your application. I used my zairyu card and MyNumber card and got it through. They're actually not that particular about the spaces (that's Card and Securities who have this problem)

Decided to give it a last try and used this method (submiting the zairyu card and MyNumber card), was denied for the 3rd time. This is getting ridiculous, guess that it's time to give up on Rakuten Bank