Credit card comparisons
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 2:53 am
Hi all, this is going to be a really general thread so willing to hear anecdotes and cards I might have missed.
Right now I own the following 2 credit cards:
SMBC also have a "Platinum preferred" card which isn't free for the first year unfortunately, and costs a whopping 33k annually. But, they have a campaign which gives you 40k points if you spend 400k in the first 3 months (which I could hit if I stop using Rakuten completely for a bit), triple points for usage abroad, an extra 10k points per 1m JPY spent annually (40k points max) which would essentially make the card free if I could hit that number - I won't lol. Plus it gives 1% points in general, whereas the Gold and below is 0.5% (pretty bad, I know). They do say up to 9% points in "preferred stores" but not looked into this too much.
SMBC's travel insurance also seems to be great (5000万円 for the above cards).
Rakuten's Gold card is 2,200 JPY and I can probably waive this via one of their campaigns, I get +3x points in their marketplace and get to use the airport lounge twice per year (SMBC is unlimited). No domestic travel insurance.
Rakuten's Premium card is 11,000 JPY, again I probably get a decent number of points if I switch, and I'll get +5x points in their marketplace. Can use the airport lounges with no restriction, and also get domestic travel insurance. For me, the 5x points is what makes it appealing, but I don't want to get shafted by any upper limits they have, as I did in my first year of furusato when I maxed out on the 買い回り campaign, thought I had 40k points but got about half of that because I hit all their upper limits lol.
Rakuten also offers 1% points in general, which is nice.
I feel like I've just ranted about benefits of gold and plat/premium for SMBC and Rakuten, and didn't offer much of a comparison, but really I just want to start a conversation here - maybe I've missed something really obvious that someone will point out, who knows
.
Right now I own the following 2 credit cards:
- SMBC Prime Gold: 5,500 JPY annual fee, 1,000,000 credit limit. Reduces to 2,750 JPY annual fee with a minimum spend (which I will always hit).
- Rakuten standard: free, 1,000,000 credit limit
SMBC also have a "Platinum preferred" card which isn't free for the first year unfortunately, and costs a whopping 33k annually. But, they have a campaign which gives you 40k points if you spend 400k in the first 3 months (which I could hit if I stop using Rakuten completely for a bit), triple points for usage abroad, an extra 10k points per 1m JPY spent annually (40k points max) which would essentially make the card free if I could hit that number - I won't lol. Plus it gives 1% points in general, whereas the Gold and below is 0.5% (pretty bad, I know). They do say up to 9% points in "preferred stores" but not looked into this too much.
SMBC's travel insurance also seems to be great (5000万円 for the above cards).
Rakuten's Gold card is 2,200 JPY and I can probably waive this via one of their campaigns, I get +3x points in their marketplace and get to use the airport lounge twice per year (SMBC is unlimited). No domestic travel insurance.
Rakuten's Premium card is 11,000 JPY, again I probably get a decent number of points if I switch, and I'll get +5x points in their marketplace. Can use the airport lounges with no restriction, and also get domestic travel insurance. For me, the 5x points is what makes it appealing, but I don't want to get shafted by any upper limits they have, as I did in my first year of furusato when I maxed out on the 買い回り campaign, thought I had 40k points but got about half of that because I hit all their upper limits lol.
Rakuten also offers 1% points in general, which is nice.
I feel like I've just ranted about benefits of gold and plat/premium for SMBC and Rakuten, and didn't offer much of a comparison, but really I just want to start a conversation here - maybe I've missed something really obvious that someone will point out, who knows
.