Rakuten Ecosystem

[Kanto]

I prefer Amazon, so I went with Amazon Gold, and the Free Rakuten card following them nerfing the Amazon Gold card.

Since last month, can set up SBI tsumitate since with the Amazon Mastercard.

Re Rakuten point ecosystem, I use the points we get to pay our CC - but taking part in the promotions and using Rakuten Ichiba feels like hard work to me.

Do you have a source for that? It seems that Amazon Gold card and Amazon Cards do not allow you to accumulate V-points. The literature also does not mention Amazon cards.

[Yossarian]

I prefer Amazon, so I went with Amazon Gold, and the Free Rakuten card following them nerfing the Amazon Gold card.

Since last month, can set up SBI tsumitate since with the Amazon Mastercard.

Re Rakuten point ecosystem, I use the points we get to pay our CC - but taking part in the promotions and using Rakuten Ichiba feels like hard work to me.

Do you have a source for that? It seems that Amazon Gold card and Amazon Cards do not allow you to accumulate V-points. The literature also does not mention Amazon cards.

I set it up last night - the card was accepted. It might not accrue V points but should still be eligible for the Amazon points? I may be wrong though. We'll find out after the long weekend, I might get an email saying it's a no-go.

[zeroshiki]

the best recommendation for usage of Rakuten Points is to use it to pay off your credit card bill. The reason being that its the only place you won't earn points. Everything else, you could theoretically earn points on those purchases so its better not to use points on them (using points reduces your points earning for that purchase)

T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶t̶r̶u̶e̶ (edit: see below)

For example, with Rakuten Energy, I get 5% points on the subtotal (before points are used), not on the final bill (after points are applied).

Personally my philosophy is to use them all as soon as possible, so I set up point payment on everything. Yes, it may miss out on a few points, but 1) that's better than the points expiring / becoming invalid /going unused and 2) The effort spent working out how to maximise the points is better spent elsewhere

edit: If you pay with Rakuten Card, then you also get 1% points on the full payment amount... so I guess there are a few extra points for *not* using points to pay. If you have time-limited points, waiting for the monthly card payment to use your points might be too long though? I'm getting too drawn into this...

You can't use time limited points to pay off your credit card bill so its moot. The idea is when your bill is finalized for the month (on the 12th I think, you go onto the Rakuten Card site and pay off your bill using the points you have). And yeah, with Energy you can pay it using the card so you've lost the possible earnings there.

I'm not exactly recommending doing all of this since each person's tolerance for mendokusai is different but if you're looking for the maximum bang for your buck then this is what is considered most "efficient"

[fools_gold]

For example, with Rakuten Energy, I get 5% points on the subtotal (before points are used), not on the final bill (after points are applied).

How did you get 5% points? Was it some sort of campaign? I looked into different providers when I changed plans recently and Rakuten seemed to be offering 0.5% points plus 1% credit card points. 5% would be very nice.

I usually use the "hard" points to buy mutual funds. The other points I use at Konan to buy washing powder and stuff, or at a local supermarket chain that accepts Rakuten points. They only give 1% points on purchases anyway so it's no big loss.

[adamu]

How did you get 5% points? Was it some sort of campaign? I looked into different providers when I changed plans recently and Rakuten seemed to be offering 0.5% points plus 1% credit card points. 5% would be very nice.

Seems like almost everything I've said here is wrong, sorry. You're right, it's 0.5%, not 5%.

zeroshiki has it worked out - I will probably turn off point payments for Energy / Mobile / Securities in order to maximise the cashback from the card payments (even though it only works out to a few 100 yen a year probably). Seems like you have to just remember to burn off any time-limited points by other means (like paying for stuff with the point card / Rakuten pay). Although I think I read somewhere that time limited points *can* be used for some services, but I don't remember which ones. I want to keep it as simple as possible, though.

So... Tried to turn off point payments for Rakuten Securities, can't due to system maintenance, come back at 9AM. Tried to turn on point payments for Rakuten Card, can't due to only being able to do that between the 12th and 24th of the month. Come back on August 12th.

[TJKansai]

I use Rakuten Travel a fair bit for domestic stays, but have avoided going all-in with Rakuten as it seems too complicated with too many shifting categories.

With 20+ bank accounts for the family (SBI for NISA/iDECO) and our utilities tied to Mineo, switching would be a pain.

I am tempted to get the Rakuten card for future Priority Pass lounge access, but that is only because I dumped my Chase Sapphire Reserve on account of COVID. Most domestic card spending goes on my Saison, earning United Airlines miles which we find pretty useful.

[zeroshiki]

I use Rakuten Travel a fair bit for domestic stays, but have avoided going all-in with Rakuten as it seems too complicated with too many shifting categories.

With 20+ bank accounts for the family (SBI for NISA/iDECO) and our utilities tied to Mineo, switching would be a pain.

I am tempted to get the Rakuten card for future Priority Pass lounge access, but that is only because I dumped my Chase Sapphire Reserve on account of COVID. Most domestic card spending goes on my Saison, earning United Airlines miles which we find pretty useful.

Rakuten Card (from Premium up I think) also has lounge access in domestic airports and Honolulu I think, outside of Priority Pass. Before covid when I would travel alot, Priority Pass was amazing to make those airport waits just a little bit more bearable.

[adamu]

Looking into points for Rakuten Securities.

It turns out, *enabling* purchasing with points gives you 1倍 for Rakuten SPU if you use at least 500 points a month. But *disabling* it means the full purchase amount goes onto the Rakuten Credit Card, earning you 1% points. Seems there is no clear best choice, it seems to depend on how much shopping you do on Rakuten Ichiba.

It looks like the best thing would be to hedge your bets by capping the monthly points used at 500. That gives you the SPU entitlement each month. It'll cost you 60 credit card points for the year (if you use 500 points every month), but you'll probably more than make that back if you do a single Rakuten Ichiba purchase. Just make sure the thing you're buying on Rakuten Ichiba isn't cheaper elsewhere.

This appears to be a campaign though, so I'm not sure how long it'll last.

[zeroshiki]

Looking into points for Rakuten Securities.

It turns out, *enabling* purchasing with points gives you 1倍 for Rakuten SPU if you use at least 500 points a month. But *disabling* it means the full purchase amount goes onto the Rakuten Credit Card, earning you 1% points. Seems there is no clear best choice, it seems to depend on how much shopping you do on Rakuten Ichiba.

It looks like the best thing would be to hedge your bets by capping the monthly points used at 500. That gives you the SPU entitlement each month. It'll cost you 60 credit card points for the year (if you use 500 points every month), but you'll probably more than make that back if you do a single Rakuten Ichiba purchase. Just make sure the thing you're buying on Rakuten Ichiba isn't cheaper elsewhere.

This appears to be a campaign though, so I'm not sure how long it'll last.

Its not 500 points, its use at least 1 point for at least a 500 yen MF purchase. What the points experts recommend is setting your point usage maximum (its somewhere in the points settings on Rakuten Securities) to 1 point. This will take care of it. You buy 50,000 using Rakuten Card Tsumitate but only actually spend 49,999 with the 1 coming from points.

[adamu]

It turns out, *enabling* purchasing with points gives you 1倍 for Rakuten SPU if you use at least 500 points a month.

Its not 500 points, its use at least 1 point for at least a 500 yen MF purchase. What the points experts recommend is setting your point usage maximum (its somewhere in the points settings on Rakuten Securities) to 1 point. This will take care of it. You buy 50,000 using Rakuten Card Tsumitate but only actually spend 49,999 with the 1 coming from points.

I see, thanks for the clarification. I hadn't read the examples and made the incorrect assumption that a "500 yen point purchase" on their campaign info meant making a purchase with 500 points.