Re: [tlug] [OT] Japan and 海外 credit cards

[Graham Iphone <grbriggs@example.com>]

--
Sent from my phone as I'm on the move.


On 2009/08/03, at 11:51, Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com> wrote:

> On 2009-08-02 22:45 +0900 (Sun), Edward Middleton wrote:
>
> > Shinsei is OK, when they first came out they were the only bank  
> > offering
> > this sort of low cost banking service.  Shinsei concerns me  
> > because, I
> > presume they are running the banking services at a loss and the
> > investment products[1], that I presume is their intended revenue  
> > stream,
> > weren't very competitive.
>
> They may not be competitive, but various individual products I've seen
> are certainly very profitable for Shinsei. For many of their foreign
> investments I've noticed that they take any upside on currency  
> changes,
> but leave the customer with any downside. Needless to say, I'd not
> invest with them unless you are capable of doing a proper risk  
> analysis
> of the investment or can find someone to do this for you.
>
> > Hanko's don't need to be approved and most banks will even accept the
> > 100 yen shop verity (which is totally ridiculous).  Getting a  
> > properly
> > made Hanko is trivial so it is easier to just get one made.
>
> Note that this is true for some things, such as bank accounts (where
> companies traditionally use a different hanko than their official  
> one),
> but there are other things, such as company incorporation, where you
> must have a hanko and it must

I've been at Shinsei and Citibank for a quite a few years, and both  
are Ok (Citibank do test your patience sometimes).

Like most banks, Shinsei will let you use a signiture or a hanko. The  
only time I needed a registered hanko/inkan was for my house loan,  
perhaps understandably. Citibank much the same.

From earlier in the thread, I got a Citibank Japan Visa card no  
problem years ago but I know a lot of friends who struggle to get  
cards after many years of being nice and paying taxes. I still don't  
know what the differentiator is here any more than in the UK.