Any Japan issued card with 1.25% or higher cashback?

[regular]

Hi!

I am looking to dump my MileagePlus Saison MasterCard (expect unsatisfactory return going forward) to another card that will let me earn cashback (or point back) at 1.25% or higher rate for general spending, excluding spending for a specific store/brand.

Rakuten and PayPay cards return 1% and they do not charge annual fee. So I am trying to narrow down on cards with 7700 yen or less annual fee.

I have charged 625万円 during the last 3 years to the MileagePlus card and expect to continue to charge at similar pace. Not looking for any teaser, or promotion or time-limited campaign. Just steady charging and earning (whether miles, point or cash), going forward.

I do not have access to US credit cards, so please suggest only Japan-issued cards if you have used or is currently using any with 1.25% or higher cash or point back.

Even debit card is okay, if you know of one.

R

[beanhead]

Sony Bank debit card, up to 2% depending on your rank there:

https://moneykit.net/visitor/fx/fx23.html

[regular]

Thanks, beanhead for the debit card suggestion.

Is there any credit card with 1.25% or higher cash or point back?

R

[beanhead]

Maybe.
Kakaku has a comparison here:

https://kakaku.com/card/menu/point/

I see some big numbers for points returns there, but many of them will be in the form of campaigns or bonuses, I bet.

[zeroshiki]

It's not campaigns per se but more so specific stores. The top of that list, JCB W card (I think this is women only?) gives 5% back for Starbucks, for example. The regular SMBC card gives 5% for McDonalds, Family Mart etc

Rakuten is actually good if you buy the occasional stuff on Rakuten. Paypay is good if you want to charge your Paypay with a cc.

There's so many cards and there's not really a Chase Sapphire type good % return on any purchase card here. You should choose an ecosystem you like and get the card for that.

[TJKansai]

The Amex Marriott card has a decent point earnings and the opportunity to get platinum status. I moved to that when I dropped the Saison UA card.

On the other hand, cash is king and hotel and airline points are always losing value. The UA sweet spots are pretty much gone now.

One thing to watch out for the FX fees a lot of J cards have for overseas purchases.

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Look at this. 21 years using VISA Gold, looked into my points. There were 200,100 Yen of points. After 21 years, spent probably 25 million Yen using the card.
Goes down to 1% of whatever you spend. Worthless, even gets you out of your way or into something you would not even consider byuing. Let alone rubbish airline points.
Collected 1.6 million miles on Qantas Frequent Flyer, while going on busines (class) from Australia to America.
To use them? Had to pay Australian tax 200 dollars per flight. Worse, the flights were not on days and times i wanted.
Or, Thai Airways. Points will expire unless I use them. The hotel, Dusit Thani, Hua Hin, Thailand, accepted the points but we had to pay 10,000 Yen per night. The regular price was 4 times that but the real price was what we had to pay using those worthless points. And what? We would not even think of that (excellent 5* hotel) unless the points led us to there.

Points systems like Vpoint and Rpoint are the best of the lot. They are basically cash and can be used to payoff your credit card or even directly invested. JRE points are also a close second to these two. With JRE points I simply get them for free by using a view credit card and Suica to travel to work. I cannot complain about that!

Amazon points, are not bad. It is worth the free card. If you buy you purchase during their campaigns you'll earn quite a few extra points. Handy at Christmas.

All the above are useful to during Furusato Nozei season.

I cannot really be bothered with the others. My wife swears by paypay/paypaycard and Waon.

...

COVID taught us all to be weary of hotel/airline points. Leave those to the business travelers who have spreadsheets devoted to the stuff.

[adamu]

Is there any credit card with 1.25% or higher cash or point back?

SMBC Platinum Preferred is 2% for annual spending up to ¥4M. But half of it is paid as ¥10k chunks for each ¥1M and only paid on annual renewal. And it costs ¥30k/year from the 2nd year onwards. And it doesn't include payments to 年会費（クレジットカード、ETCカード、PiTaPaカード）、キャッシングリボ、海外キャッシュサービス、その他のローンの返済金、リボ払い・分割払い手数料、交通系およびその他電子マネーへのチャージ（Edy、WAON、nanaco、モバイルSuica※1、モバイルPASMO、モバイルICOCA※2など）、ANA Payへのチャージご利用分、ミャクペ！へのチャージご利用分、弊社発行プリペイドカードへのチャージ、VポイントPayアプリへのチャージ、三井住友カードつみたて投資（SBI証券）、国民年金保険料 . So it probably works out at about 1.25% anyway...

There's no free lunch. If they give you more cut of their profits in one place, they'll earn it back in another (unless it's a loss leader, in which case it won't last long, like Line Pay paying 2% back in the day).

[Tsumitate Wrestler]

Is there any credit card with 1.25% or higher cash or point back?

SMBC Platinum Preferred is 2% for annual spending up to ¥4M. But half of it is paid as ¥10k chunks for each ¥1M and only paid on annual renewal. And it costs ¥30k/year from the 2nd year onwards. And it doesn't include payments to 年会費（クレジットカード、ETCカード、PiTaPaカード）、キャッシングリボ、海外キャッシュサービス、その他のローンの返済金、リボ払い・分割払い手数料、交通系およびその他電子マネーへのチャージ（Edy、WAON、nanaco、モバイルSuica※1、モバイルPASMO、モバイルICOCA※2など）、ANA Payへのチャージご利用分、ミャクペ！へのチャージご利用分、弊社発行プリペイドカードへのチャージ、VポイントPayアプリへのチャージ、三井住友カードつみたて投資（SBI証券）、国民年金保険料 . So it probably works out at about 1.25% anyway...

There's no free lunch. If they give you more cut of their profits in one place, they'll earn it back in another (unless it's a loss leader, in which case it won't last long, like Line Pay paying 2% back in the day).

Gold NL is a better bet for moderate spenders.

only .5% base. But 7-10% at konbinis and Doutor etc.

The card is free after 1million annually, along with a bonus of 10,000 points.

Platinum Preferred was an excellent deal when SBI was giving 5% back, now it only makes sense if you spend over 3 million yen annually. That is a lot of spending in my opinion. There are much better "free lunches" on the margins. {Suica/View card, Rakuten, etc}

[adamu]

Platinum Preferred was an excellent deal when SBI was giving 5% back, now it only makes sense if you spend over 3 million yen annually.

Yes, another bait and switch. Worse because you have to spend ¥5M on the card to get the max points on SBI now, but the bonus points stop at ¥4M. I did OK with it this year, though I'm wondering if downgrading will make me ineligible for the bonus points withheld until renewal, though...

Anyway, I think the real answer to the OP's question is: no. But I'd like to hear otherwise.