I know this topic comes up every so often, so apologies for the repetition. I just haven’t been able to figure out a good direction to go based on the other comments I’ve read so far.
Here’s a rundown of my situation:
* I moved to Japan in September
* Employed full-time
* Have a 5 year visa
* Opened an account with Prestia, transferred a bunch of money over from the US for cushion
My main issue:
* Prestia / its “Global Pass” debit card are rarely on the list of banks accepted for services ranging from Paypay to Tokyo Gas, making it very difficult or at least annoying to participate with systems here, at least in ways that are meant to be the straightforward/convenient ways
* E.g. I ended up adding my US credit card to my Tokyo Gas account because Prestia isn’t accepted for bank transfer/furikomi, and the debit card wasn’t being accepted (possibly because their online form doesn’t have enough space for my English name? Hard to say.)
* Another example, I can pay at Muji and in their online store with my debit card, but I can’t add it to the Muji app’s wallet / Muji Pay thing – weird inconsistencies like that
* Side note, I lived in Japan as an eikaiwa teacher for a little over a year 14 years ago and had a Shinsei bank account, but from what I’ve read, its quality has decreased significantly since then, with much less free ATM withdrawal allowances, and a similar lack of ability to Prestia when it comes to using it for various services. So, my impression is that Shinsei’s probably not what I’m looking for?
What I’m looking for:
* I’d like to transfer to a new bank that can be used widely for normal things like Paypay and my utilities bills.
* Preferably on the more lenient side (fewer fees) for ATM withdrawals and bank transfers – I’m not worried about needing to maintain a minimum balance, but the banks with the complicated multi-tier level system can be really difficult to follow
Here are some reasons I’ve seen people recommending banks that ***don’t*** apply to me:
* Ability to maintain multiple accounts/currencies/auto-transfer/investments
* I’m not looking for a Japanese bank to hold USD or other currencies
* I’m not looking to buy, sell, or regularly transfer foreign currencies
* I’m not looking for auto-investment features
* I just want to be able to direct deposit and withdraw yen, please and thank you
* Ability to get home loans as a foreigner
* I have no plans to buy property in Japan in the near-to-midterm future; if that changes, I can open a new bank account at that point
It would be nice to have an account somewhere with good English support, but from what I’ve seen with Prestia, as soon as you want to do anything but the most basic stuff (e.g. bank transfer via ATM), English menu options disappear, so you have to use it in Japanese anyway. I think as long as there’s some form of support contact that can deal with English when needed, I think that should be more than enough for me; I can use the websites and stuff in Japanese without much issue.
I’ve seen Sony Bank recommended a bunch, and it seems like it might be a good option, but can it be used for various services, or is it generally excluded, like Prestia?
Any recommendations are appreciated!
3 comments
AFAIK, what you want doesn’t exist. Good English support and widely accepted. If you want widely accepted you need to learn Kanji at least the common chars so you can use ATMs comfortably and some communication skills to talk to customer support.
I like UFJ.and it’s widely used and often can easily setup. Depends on how much money you maintain and eco options, you might not get much free ATM withdrawals from non UFJ atms. But there are many branches so finding UFJ ATM is not hard.
Shinsei Bank (soon to be SBI Shinsei Bank) or Sony Bank. Check out their websites and come to your own conclusions.
Sony bank is pretty good, I use it a lot with various services locally.