RetireJapan

It looks like Revolut has finally launched in Japan. I was pretty high up on the wait list, and when they told me my account was ready, I had forgotten my passcode and had no way to recover it. So I had to re-apply again, and am currently at around 6000 on the wait list.

Did anyone get in? Thoughts? To be honest I don't remember why I signed up ... but I did and I'll see what it's like.

Yes, I got the email to say I’d reached the top of the list .. it asked if I’d changed my phone number, which I had, so followed the instructions to inform them of this, but this ends up going nowhere and I’m back down around 6000. Maybe could call the phone number to push them on this ... but Revolut doesn’t seem that relevant at the moment. Also, some rather irritating limitations of the Japanese service by the looks of it.

So that is why TransferWise just contacted me offering to double their commission -a competitor is here

Here is the reason I signed up for Revolut when i was back in Europe a few months ago ...
If you travel overseas, you can use the Revolut credit card to make purchases, and not get screwed on the exchange rate. This is very significant, as you are usually losing around 3-4% if not more when you spend money overseas, whether it is from your regular credit card, or cash you exchanged at the airport. I have made several payments with my Revolut Visa card (which is based in Euro) in foreign currencies (USD/JPY) and was charged the mid-rate, which basically amounts to paying zero commission on foreign exchange. I don't know if the Jp version will work like this but if it does, it's a game changer for foreign travel.

Relevant: https://simplelivingsomerset.wordpress. ... fishy-fun/

Does anyone have any thoughts on this VS the new Sony Online Banking app?

I signed up for the Revolut waitinglist a long time back, though I don't exactly remember why. Dissatisfaction with Shinsei probably.
But, on the surface, the new Sony one seems to offer a lot of similar features. (Phone banking, multi-currency account, multi-currency international debit card).
I've been trying to compare the charges, but it depends a lot on what exchange rate you get, and also which 'level' you are in Sony bank.

It seems like the Sony debit card will charge you 1.7% to do payments in a currency you don't have, but if you exchange the currency in advance then it'll depend on the commission they charge you, and their exchange rate.
Revolut appears like ti might have better rates, but I'm not sure.

The other big advantage for revolut would be that it seems to have some budgeting/tracking features so you can keep track of your spending. Oh, and it also has saving features like Rounding Up and stashing the small change.

But Sony has cashback, although only 0.5% on the standard tier.

I think Revolut had free withdrawls up to a cash limit per month, and maybe free transfers.
But I think Sony had up to 4(?) free atm withdrawls and maybe 2 free transfers a month. (Depending on level. Kinda like Shinsei, but a bit more generous).

Neither seem to have much in the way of investment options at the moment. I think Revolut overseas does, and maybe Sony does in Japanese.
Given Revolut's function to stash rounded amounts from payments, it'd be nice to have some kind of Robin Hood style microinvestment option to put them into.

My other worry about Sony is that they'll do a Shinsei and lower all the limits after they get people to sign up.

Any thoughts on which is best?

I also applied to Revolut a while back. But I found Sony Bank and I like it very much. You can purchase several currencies and pay with your card even in ecommerce in that currency. I found it very convenient for me so far.
I have not tried to withdraw cash abroad yet which is the other reasons I subscribed to Sony Bank since now we cannot travel anymore...
Anyway after looking for so many alternatives, it is the cheapest solution to withdraw cash in you go abroad. Not cheap but the cheapest i found so far.

I have had an overall very negative experience with REVOLUT.
See here for more details:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1353

So Revolut's bank is through JP Morgan. I was trying to send a 900k payment to which my debit transaction was (unsurpisingly) rejected. Went for the bank transfer, but SMBC does not have ジィーピーモルガン as an option for financial institution, and searching doesn't bring anything up. I ended up just sending through TransferWise, but lost a good 60 GBP with this option... has anyone had any success sending to Revolut via bank transfer?

My Revolut account is in the UK so might not be the same as for Japan, but I have successfully had money sent to that account via bank transfer from Hong Kong (SMBC). My account comes with an IBAN and BIC which is all that is needed to receive the transfer. Took the usual couple of days.