Credit card comparisons

[TBS]

...there's a different campaign for 2k points for opening a gold card, and 3k for a platinum (or 4k if you're a Diamond member)...

Good catch. I read that page and thought it was time limited, but that was just the campaign for the base level cards.
As with everything Rakuten, you have to read the T&Cs carefully

Beware for the 4k Diamond member promotion. That looks to be for a card switch rather than getting a second card. If you switch you'll have to update the card details with 楽天証券 to continue getting the points there (and for any other recurring payments from your current Rakuten card I guess...)


Anyone with an ETC card (through Rakuten or another CC company) should definitely look at the ETC Mileage Service (https://www.smile-etc.jp/). It works out as up to 10% cashback on expressway tolls.

[beanhead]

I'm going to disagree with you on that, unless I'm majorly mistaken - there's a different campaign for 2k points for opening a gold card, and 3k for a platinum (or 4k if you're a Diamond member). That page explicitly shows the Gold and Platinum as part of the second card 2k point campaign, but in the T&C below says they're not - but you do get either the 2k/3k from the separate campaign of opening a Gold/Platinum. So yeah you get the points, but it's from a different campaign. So those who know of the other campaign who think they're getting double points are... not correct .

Yeah, I think you are right. I just looked at the Gold one and the 2,000 points and assumed it was the same...bizarre things going on at Rakuten card marketing department!

[Viralriver]

I've spent much of today looking through many of the different campaigns and making sure I understand them properly. I can definitely see the benefit in going forward in the Rakuten ecosystem for maximum points and savings, just need to be really careful with their marketing ploys! Saying that, I need to hope I can get approved for their premium card in the first place otherwise this is all moot.

Some things I found out in my searches today:

• For SPU, even if you buy something before you get the +1 from your 楽天証券, travel, etc service, as long as you do it before the end of the month you get the full SPU multiplication for all purchases. I.e. if on January 1st you buy something, then the next day you book a hotel giving you +1 SPU, you will still have that +1 SPU applied to that purchase you made before. More details here
• In the kaimawari campain it doesn't matter what order you buy your items in. I've been buying cheap -> expensive, but yeah, calculations are done at a later date.
• There is a specific upper limit to the points you can collect for each part of the SPU (see here). These limits reset every month, so if you have a high salary and want to get tonnes of points from Furusato, it's best to do this over multiple campaigns.
• Best day for purchasing (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong), would be a day which ends in a 5 or a 0 (+2x points) which coincides with a win from the Eagles+Vissel Kobe+Barcelona (+4x points), during a kaimawari campaign. If just one of those teams wins, it's +2x points, two wins is +3x points, and all three winning on the same day is +4x points. I'd be surprised if there's even 1 day a year on average where all teams play on the same day and all win, but there we go.
• Opening a mobile contract with Rakuten is completely free for data only with a monthly usage of less than 1 GB. If you have the time to turn on a separate phone to use that data for a couple of mins/ a second SIM slot in your current phone, you can probably get the +1 SPU here pretty easily. I haven't confirmed this but read it in an article. If it's the case, it's a pretty nice +1.
• Always use the app for purchasing from ichiba as it's an additional +0.5 SPU.
• +1 SPU for spending at least 500 yen (including points) on funds in Rakuten shouken. Won't go into details on this as I assume if you're on this site you probably are doing this anyway.

If I missed any let me know. I'll probably make a thread at some point with a collation of Rakuten tips.

EDIT: I did some checking into the games - since the campaign has run, all 3 teams have only ever won on the same day once, on 2018/10/20. 2 teams have won on the same day a little more frequently, close to once per month.

When I can be bothered I'll maybe make a chart of fixtures for all 3 teams over the year to see if there are any days coming up with potential bigger earnings

[Viralriver]

...there's a different campaign for 2k points for opening a gold card, and 3k for a platinum (or 4k if you're a Diamond member)...

Good catch. I read that page and thought it was time limited, but that was just the campaign for the base level cards.
As with everything Rakuten, you have to read the T&Cs carefully

Beware for the 4k Diamond member promotion. That looks to be for a card switch rather than getting a second card. If you switch you'll have to update the card details with 楽天証券 to continue getting the points there (and for any other recurring payments from your current Rakuten card I guess...)


Anyone with an ETC card (through Rakuten or another CC company) should definitely look at the ETC Mileage Service (https://www.smile-etc.jp/). It works out as up to 10% cashback on expressway tolls.

Apologies for the double post (I wish there was a way to multiquote on here).

Thanks for the advice. I recognise that ETC website as I tried to sign up before, but it seems to require the ETC device number as well as the card and since I solely use a car sharing service this isn't applicable to me. Oh well!

As for the Diamond promotion, thanks - I realised it would be a card switch. I'm actually wondering if there's any benefit to having that second card in addition (I assume there would be two lines of credit there, which I don't need per se). Only thing I can really think of is separating payments between necessities and.. everything else, but if it means less points that's not a good enough reason for me! Maybe I missed something?

[TBS]

As for the Diamond promotion, thanks - I realised it would be a card switch. I'm actually wondering if there's any benefit to having that second card in addition (I assume there would be two lines of credit there, which I don't need per se). Only thing I can really think of is separating payments between necessities and.. everything else, but if it means less points that's not a good enough reason for me! Maybe I missed something?

On the diamond promotion a sentence in the T&Cs made me think doing a switch would require changing the card number, and hence having to update card details with all companies you have recurring payments with (楽天証券, electricity, phone...). A lot of hassle I thought just for an extra 10 bucks.

Reading again it says: "楽天証券の投信積立サービスを利用されている方で、カード種類を切り替えの際、同時にブランドの変更（例:VisaからJCB）を行われた場合は楽天証券に登録されている楽天カード情報の変更手続きが必要となります。"
So it's actually just if you switch card provider (Visa to JCB etc.). It's still likely the card expiry date will change, however. So some updating of continual payments would be needed.

I've not tried switching/getting a second Rakuten Card yet. Maybe try clicking through on the diamond promotion link - it might offer the option of getting a second card instead of switching. If you've not got many recurring payments currently on your Rakuten Card, this is all a non-issue.


Shame about the ETC Mileage service - this site says registration is basically impossible unless you own a vehicle.

[Viralriver]

On the diamond promotion a sentence in the T&Cs made me think doing a switch would require changing the card number, and hence having to update card details with all companies you have recurring payments with (楽天証券, electricity, phone...). A lot of hassle I thought just for an extra 10 bucks.

Reading again it says: "楽天証券の投信積立サービスを利用されている方で、カード種類を切り替えの際、同時にブランドの変更（例:VisaからJCB）を行われた場合は楽天証券に登録されている楽天カード情報の変更手続きが必要となります。"
So it's actually just if you switch card provider (Visa to JCB etc.). It's still likely the card expiry date will change, however. So some updating of continual payments would be needed.

I've not tried switching/getting a second Rakuten Card yet. Maybe try clicking through on the diamond promotion link - it might offer the option of getting a second card instead of switching. If you've not got many recurring payments currently on your Rakuten Card, this is all a non-issue.


Shame about the ETC Mileage service - this site says registration is basically impossible unless you own a vehicle.

I just completed my application, and I kept it as a Mastercard so I'll see if the number's different when I get the new card (if accepted). It did say my point card number will change so I need to put my point cards on pause or something like that. I have 9k points right now so should probably find a way of using it lol. They're all time-limited, and I don't really know where to use them haha.

There was no option for a second card, it was just a switch. I don't primarily use this card at the moment so luckily won't be too much of a headache with updating payment info. Downgrading my SMBC however...

Thanks fo the link - yeah I guess this is a small reason in favour of owning a car!

[eyeswideshut]

I've spent much of today looking through many of the different campaigns and making sure I understand them properly. I can definitely see the benefit in going forward in the Rakuten ecosystem for maximum points and savings, just need to be really careful with their marketing ploys! Saying that, I need to hope I can get approved for their premium card in the first place otherwise this is all moot.

Some things I found out in my searches today:

• For SPU, even if you buy something before you get the +1 from your 楽天証券, travel, etc service, as long as you do it before the end of the month you get the full SPU multiplication for all purchases. I.e. if on January 1st you buy something, then the next day you book a hotel giving you +1 SPU, you will still have that +1 SPU applied to that purchase you made before. More details here
• In the kaimawari campain it doesn't matter what order you buy your items in. I've been buying cheap -> expensive, but yeah, calculations are done at a later date.
• There is a specific upper limit to the points you can collect for each part of the SPU (see here). These limits reset every month, so if you have a high salary and want to get tonnes of points from Furusato, it's best to do this over multiple campaigns.
• Best day for purchasing (I think, please correct me if I'm wrong), would be a day which ends in a 5 or a 0 (+2x points) which coincides with a win from the Eagles+Vissel Kobe+Barcelona (+4x points), during a kaimawari campaign. If just one of those teams wins, it's +2x points, two wins is +3x points, and all three winning on the same day is +4x points. I'd be surprised if there's even 1 day a year on average where all teams play on the same day and all win, but there we go.
• Opening a mobile contract with Rakuten is completely free for data only with a monthly usage of less than 1 GB. If you have the time to turn on a separate phone to use that data for a couple of mins/ a second SIM slot in your current phone, you can probably get the +1 SPU here pretty easily. I haven't confirmed this but read it in an article. If it's the case, it's a pretty nice +1.
• Always use the app for purchasing from ichiba as it's an additional +0.5 SPU.
• +1 SPU for spending at least 500 yen (including points) on funds in Rakuten shouken. Won't go into details on this as I assume if you're on this site you probably are doing this anyway.

If I missed any let me know. I'll probably make a thread at some point with a collation of Rakuten tips.

EDIT: I did some checking into the games - since the campaign has run, all 3 teams have only ever won on the same day once, on 2018/10/20. 2 teams have won on the same day a little more frequently, close to once per month.

When I can be bothered I'll maybe make a chart of fixtures for all 3 teams over the year to see if there are any days coming up with potential bigger earnings

You are doing kamisama's work! I am a power Rakuten user and I confirm everything above is correct. A minor footnote is that you only need to make one purchase with your Rakuten App and the points apply to all purchases that month (I think) so you do not need to use the app for all purchases. Also, kaimawari purchases under 1000 yen do not count towards the 10 store total so it must be 10 shops where you spend a minimum of 1000 yen.

[TBS]

I have 9k points right now so should probably find a way of using it lol. They're all time-limited, and I don't really know where to use them haha.

Stock answer: download the Rakuten Pay app then spend them at the combini.
In fact using Rakuten Pay for high street shopping wherever possible is a good idea, as by preloading it with Rakuten Cash from a Rakuten Card you effectively get 1.5% cashback.

A minor footnote is that you only need to make one purchase with your Rakuten App and the points apply to all purchases that month (I think) so you do not need to use the app for all purchases.

All purchases rather than just one have to be via the App in order to continually get the +0.5, I believe.

[Viralriver]

You are doing kamisama's work! I am a power Rakuten user and I confirm everything above is correct. A minor footnote is that you only need to make one purchase with your Rakuten App and the points apply to all purchases that month (I think) so you do not need to use the app for all purchases. Also, kaimawari purchases under 1000 yen do not count towards the 10 store total so it must be 10 shops where you spend a minimum of 1000 yen.

Thanks for confirming! I'm 99% sure all purchases have to be made in the app though, I definitely saw a footnote today pointing that out, but don't have it to hand right now. Thanks for the note on the 1000 yen, completely forgot about that.

Stock answer: download the Rakuten Pay app then spend them at the combini.
In fact using Rakuten Pay for high street shopping wherever possible is a good idea, as by preloading it with Rakuten Cash from a Rakuten Card you effectively get 1.5% cashback.

Yeah... I've had terrible luck with Rakuten Pay unfortunately. My maximum usage on it is 5 yen (a bag), anything else is rejected and having called Rakuten for hours on end they won't tell me why. I even put over 10k to Rakuten Cash to buy something with Pay for some additional points, it got rejected and I was then stuck with that Cash and couldn't send it back. To say I was fuming would be an understatement.

[eyeswideshut]

All purchases rather than just one have to be via the App in order to continually get the +0.5, I believe.

D'oh! You are right... I confused this with the Rakuten Mobile campaign + Android App which is similar.