I’m having some issues buying things online. Sometimes a window will pop up asking me to sign in to my Yucho account, which then allows me to purchase things. Other times a website will just straight up reject me. Sometimes the website will then charge me a 1 yen fee and other times it won’t. I tried enrolling for the Rakuten card, but got mail asking for a US address and my SSN. I don’t have a US address so I’m confused about what they’re asking for. I will call Rakuten today to see what they need.
I have gone and talked with staff at my post office, and they were helpful but unable to give me a solid answer, other than to apply for the credit card, which I will do since I want ETC. Any advice or insight would be great.
9 comments
they do not properly support 3D secure. if you want a card that works internationally sign up for Sony bank and get their debit card.
Sony Bank is what I’m gonna say
https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/wbuu11/sony_bank_migration_from_jp_post_yuucho_bank_an/
Even my (big three) debit card almost never works online. It works fine for in-store card purchases (up to a certain amount and then it’ll reject me and I have to embarrassingly go to the ATM to get money out or pay by credit card).
For Amazon the temporary workaround is to use the conbini payment option but other than that yeah get a different card. Their mijica card worked (most of the time but was annoying).
Honestly just glad I stopped using Yucho. Pretty much no benefit to using them for the average consumer.
If I’ve learned anything from this sub it is that Yucho Ginko anything is absolute dog shit.
Just wait until you get a credit card.
The Yuucho debit card is quite compromised, can’t use it to pay for a full tank of gas (Eneos, JA-SS tested) for example.
Side note, banks asking for an SSN is them making sure accounts held by US citizens are tracked in case of FATCA requests. They’ll all need it. It’s reasonable to not have a US address (though if you have a relative’s address, I’d recommend that), but you’ll need to provide the SSN at the very least.
Rakuten Debit Card (previously known as E-bank) are the best and one of the pioneers of debit card in Japan.
I would also recommend, Paypay (formerly Japannet Bank). SMBC and SBI debit ain’t so bad either. I never had issues with them.
I don’t get why a lot of gaijin have Yuucho. They are the shadiest of all and has no respect for your privacy. They give government direct access to your bank balances.
Is the error coming up only when the site uses Visa Secure?
Or also on sites that don’t use VS?
For VS, the password is the exact same as the PW for your JP Debit Web login.
Unfortunately I don’t have a way to fix it but this I’d what BS I’m getting when calling Yuucho.
Called them 4 times now, 3 by myself and 1 with a Japanese coworker in case they were trying to just pull some BS on the gaijin (has happened with Yuucho before 😒).
1st time staff basically told me it’s a you problem and to “be more careful when entering my password”. 😡
2nd time dude told me that their security/e-biz team would fix it on their end within 24hrs but wouldn’t notify me of it being fixed. Would have to do a purchase on a VS retailer to see if ti worked or not. Spoilers: it did not.
3rd time was to attempt the English general Yuucho Banking line and that was utterly useless.
4th time with JP coworker was almost exactly as #2… they deflected this time to say that it’s the merchant’s fault and not Yuucho’s. That we have to call Yuucho each time with date/amount/retailer of when we attempted it to get them to fix it “for next time”. 🙃🙃 Said that the latest issues would be resolved “within 1 hr” and of course it did NOT work still.
Getting real tired of this BS and not looking forward to the next call.
Planning on looking into another banking finally after 10 years with Yuucho cause this is BS.