TLDR: I’m interested in getting an Ahamo phone contract. Is the SMBC card worth getting to support it?
Been in Japan over 8 months and have a shinsei bank account and limited Japanese skills (working on getting better at that). I want to switch Ahamo for my phone contract.
Someone on this page bypassing the difficulties of the online application by just signing up with Docomo in the branch and then switching online. I tried to do this but they wouldn’t accept direct deposit or my Shinsei cash card (not a surprise at the latter but OP said they were able to do this).
I’ve ordered a Shinsei Gaica card, however I have heard from this reddit it is not very good either and I don’t think it’s going to work for Ahamo.
I noticed Ahamo accepts the SMBC card. Several questions:
1) By SMBC, do they mean the green Visa card that collects V-points? Does anyone have this and is it a good card? And it is definitely just a debit card, no hidden fees or anything? Is it easy to set up with SMBC? (English support etc.)
2) I get paid into my Shinsei account. Is it going to be financially stupid to transfer money from Shinsei to SMBC regularly. I’m also worried about losing my gold status from Shinsei if my funds go down in it, although I suppose I could just go cashless.
3) Lastly, has anyone been able to be signed up with Ahamo through their Shinsei account? Or does anyone recommend any of the other supported cards or banks.
I apologize that I am not very financially literate and if any of these questions seem a bit dumb.
1 comment
Since gaica is prepaid, most likely it will not work.
Actually, shinsei used to be on [the list of banks](https://ndsim.com/ahamo-payment) supported for automatic withdrawal for ahamo last year, but is no longer on the current list: https://ahamo.com/support/billing/payment-method/index.html#bank-account
have you actually tried calling or stopping by a docomo shop and asking this question directly?
Surely shinsei bank has a visa/mc credit card that you can get from them, tied to your bank account there? Then you can just pay for ahamo with that cc. [or any other card you can get, paid from your shinsei account]