Hello everyone, I have encountered issue with topping up my digital Suica card. I moved here just a few days ago and it was possible for me to top up my Suica card before my departure. I put 1,000 yen and charged it via my VISA card. However, when I’m here now, it says that the payment cannot be completed. I tried my VISA and Mastercard cards and none of them work. Have you had similar issue?
I’ll get my commuter pass tomorrow, but I am not sure if it’s possible to top it up and use it outside of the dedicated route. Could you advise me on that as well? Thanks in advance. 😀
8 comments
May I ask if you are directly trying to top it up within your phone wallet or through the Suica app?
Because I have issues doing it through my iPhone wallet app. It use to work but stopped working a while ago.
Swapped over to the Suica app for top ups and all problems resolved.
They have a daily maintenance schedule for charging at midnight, you should try again after 4 AM.
I had the same issue with Suica but absolutely no issues with Pasmo using my Mastercard.
I tried to troubleshoot with no such luck, including trying after 4 AM. It’s worth a try loading a Pasmo if you’re concerned it’s your Visa/Mastercard vs. Suica itself.
I’m an iPhone user, in case you’re wondering.
Are you using a Japanese card or foreign card? The Suica app is ver finicky but works great with local cards. May be worth it just to get your bank account set up asap and plug your new debit card into it. I have a visa-branded UFG debit card I use for the app on my iPhone and never had issues.
Suica works fine with (foreign) Wise card. Does have a Yen balance, if that matters. I use both in Apple Wallet. It would also work with Icoca, until a month or two ago..
This is very frustrating. Since last year I can’t get it to load money from my American phone using Visa or ApplePay.
Can’t add American cards to my Japanese iPhone either.
Just take my money!
You can load it with cash, some ticket machines have a tray instead of a slot for the card and you can put the phone in it. Can also charge at the convenience store.
This has been an issue for more than a year now. Foreign Visa credit cards never work for charging Suica through Apple Pay. Mastercard sometimes works but not always.
Long thread about it here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/wzj3hz/foreign_credit_cardpasmosuicaapple_pay_recharge/](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/wzj3hz/foreign_credit_cardpasmosuicaapple_pay_recharge/)