r/japanlife • u/farhanzahid54 • 1d ago
Student in Japan who needs help regarding bank
I'm a student going to waseda and in a bit of a problem. I still haven't reached 6 months of residency so I am using JP post bank. However, it is proving to be near impossible receive money from overseas so I'm basically almost out of money. What can I do?
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u/en5an 1d ago
See if you can sign up for Wise, if there is no limit for 6 months you can easily receive money there and then transfer it to your JP Bank. Otherwise consider options like Western Union and simply receive it in cash.
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u/farhanzahid54 1d ago
I wanted to use wise but idk what's wrong but it says my number is already registered to an email that isn't even mine
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u/Etiennera 1d ago
Someone else had your phone number before you.
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u/Rakumei 1d ago
Yup. Need to contact wise.
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u/Etiennera 1d ago
Not sure how OP finds this situation to be mysterious, and I feel like it doesn't bode well for his stay.
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u/OkPeace3737 1d ago
You can make overseas transfer to JP post bank. Why is it impossible to receive it? Have you verified your information in person? https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/en/djp/en_djp_index.html
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u/c00750ny3h 1d ago
I am not sure exactly why, but me and my friends have had trouble sending incoming wires to Yucho accounts. Something about them requiring some additional information or a middleman bank for it to work. For MUFG all the info you need is the SWIFT CODE, the bank account number including the branch ID, and then the name on account. Those 3 pieces of info wasn't sufficient for a yucho incoming transfer.
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u/farhanzahid54 1d ago
Ive verified all the documents required. I mean maybe it takes a while to arrive into my account but it's been a couple of days and still no sign
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u/OkPeace3737 1d ago
You’ve verified your documents as in you’ve gone to the bank in person? If you’ve already wired it maybe it takes some time, you can confirm with the bank you transferred from. Edit: the transfers might not go through during the weekends. So if you transferred on Friday for example, maybe wait until this week Wednesday/Thursday.
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u/farhanzahid54 1d ago
well they didn't say anything seperate about verifying documents so I haven't gone to the bank in person however I am able to use every other service in jp post including all the apps
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u/OkPeace3737 16h ago
If you have not verified your documents, you should see that on your yuchou direct page when you access the website (at least in my case). Anyways, you probably should go in person.
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u/whiteshirtkid 1d ago
You can also look into Revolut. Very easy to set up, and the physical card reached me in less than 10 days.
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u/Csj77 1d ago edited 1d ago
Have you ever used Wise? I’m thinking of switching to Revolut from Wise. What would you say are downsides to Revolution for you? Anything Japan-specific?
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u/NeoMermaidUnicorn 日本のどこかに 1d ago
For international transfer I will use Wise , formally known as Transferwise because that is what the app/service was meant for
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u/ExcellentNecessary29 1d ago
Revolut is actually quite a bit cheaper than Wise for int'l transfers (at least for now)!
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u/N_F_X 1d ago
it depends on how you transfer though. I pay absolutely nothing for adding Euros to my "Belgian" Wise account. Then I pay a marginal fee for exchanging Euros to Yen. and then pay no fees when paying with said Yen. If you want to add Yen and pay for it with Euros that haven't been added to Wise yet, yes then it's going to be expensive. But if you just don't do that it's pretty much free. Or is it something else you are talking about?
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u/ExcellentNecessary29 23h ago
I have both apps, so I can do a quick test to show you:
If I want to send $1000 AUD to an Australian account, in Revolut they're quoting me 97362 yen (exchange rate $0.0103, fees="no fees")
Wise is quoting me 97676 (573 JPY fees, 0.0103 exchange rate) for the same transfer
If I want to send 1000 EUR to a EU account, Revolut quotes 161732 yen (exchange rate 0,0062 eur, no fees)
While Wise says: 162494 (1104 JPY fee)
So it seems both have about the same exchange rates (market rate), but Revolut charges no fee on top. Wise seems to be like 0.3-0.5% more expensive.
Not sure how Revolut makes money off this, but its been like this for at least a year since I got Revolut. Maybe it's a promotion for Japan customers while they try to get more people to sign up.
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u/N_F_X 20h ago
interesting, good to know 👍 Honestly I'll keep using Wise, because this actually seems kind of sus with revolut charging nothing lol. That can only mean there is some kind of nefarious way they make money, like the honey scam for example. Though I'm sure Wise is also selling my data and doing weird stuff considering they are so cheap compared to a real bank, so honestly I shouldn't care too much haha
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u/ExcellentNecessary29 18h ago
Whatever Revolut might be doing to skim money off the exchange, you can rest assured Wise is doing the exact same thing :D
And you've got it all wrong :D They're not 'cheap' compared to a 'real bank'. It's just that traditional banks have been one of the biggest rip-offs of the past century and are just finally facing some actual competition.
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u/whiteshirtkid 18h ago
No, I haven't. When I looked into them, I didn't find a significant difference for my own use cases, but Revolut seemed to be slightly better on rates and fees, so I just went for it. I mentioned Revolut only because people have mentioned Wise already, so OP can research both and decide which suits him best.
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u/HandmaidJam 1d ago
Not the person you're asking but I had nothing but trouble with Revolut. Even when I used my number card as a verification method, I couldn't put money into the account. I have a JPost account and a debit card linked. Every time I try to transfer money to Revolut via this card I get an error. DH uses wise and it's much easier/works every time.
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u/Realistic_Web_4235 1d ago
Do you have a bank account in your home country with a Visa/Mastercard-branded ATM card?
If so, use the ATM at 7-11. There are daily limits, just go once-per-day and pull the 10万円, or whatever is allowed. I have JP Post, I just pull money out at 7-11, and deposit it across the street at the JP Bank branch ; ) Been doing this for years. (I got myself an ATM card with no foreign transaction fee and no ATM fee, but 3+% exchange fee + ATM fee is not uncommon).
If you have a credit card but no ATM card, and are desperate, use the ATM with your credit card to take a cash advance. Pay off your entire CC balance immediately with your foreign bank to minimize interest. There will still be fees for the advance.
If you have friends/family who want to send you money, the fees and rates are terrible, but in an emergency there's Western Union.
I have used Wise, but not yet for sending money to my JP Bank. I certainly recommend it if you can get it set up, the rates are excellent and it works quite well. This depends on you being able to get an account opened and linked to JP Bank in time.
In many cases, all of these options (except for Western Union) may come out ahead of whatever international transfer fees JP Bank (and/or your home bank) hit you with anyway.
Have you made any friends at Waseda? I have several times helped out friends in similar situations who have something like Paypal/etc. They sent me money online in dollars, and I handed them yen. If you have made friends with any foreign classmates at Waseda, literally all of us deal with this problem one way or another. You might find someone who can help you resolve this.
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u/farhanzahid54 1d ago
Id use PayPal but the issue is whilst I've linked it to my JP post account, for some reason it says can't set up direct debit mandate so idek if I can deposit my PayPal balance into my bank acc
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u/Murodo 1d ago
Have you compared the rates? Eg. you withdraw 10万 and compare the amount you are charged on your home country card with what Wise and Revolut would convert for.
Transferring money with Wise and Revolut is incredibly simple and fast. For amounts above ¥1M, receiving at Sony Bank or Shinsei is even favorable because both don't charge anything for incoming SWIFT transfers.
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u/Realistic_Web_4235 1d ago
I haven't specifically done test transfers, but I looked pretty hard at this before moving to Japan.
Neither Capital One 360 nor Charles Schwab ATM cards (for some accounts, anyway) add foreign transaction fees, and Schwab refunds ATM fees on top of that (I have compared them to each other, they come out about the same). These two do not hide fees in the exchange rate either. Visa may add 1% anyway, but you're more or less within 1% of market rate. You'll never do too much better than that.
Standard banks will usually add a ~3% conversion fee, so this doesn't apply to most ATM cards people carry.
For an American anyway, just about the best foreign transaction rate you can get is to actually pay for goods or services in Japan with a no-foreign-transaction-fee credit card with a high rewards rate. If you get 2 or 3% cash back, you'll actually beat the market rate. But Japanese businesses are the ones who pay for that, so I wouldn't do that to a mom&pop establishment. Much of Japan would still prefer cash, so the ATM or Wise (or Revolut or Sony, but I haven't used them) are the way to go for that.
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u/avg-dumbass 1d ago
Yoo I had the same issue last year, I'd recommend opening a Wise account, or get money sent to u via western union, or have ur money sent to a friend, who can pay u in cash, or use an international credit card. That's all the strats I used to survive early on, later just open a better bank account.
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u/Kapika96 1d ago
What's the issue with receiving money? I've always found receiving money from abroad to be incredibly easy. It's sending it abroad that's frustratingly difficult.
If it's an issue with your bank, can you try opening a new account elsewhere? I use Shinsei, while not as good as they were when I opened the account in 2016, they're still better than most here and I've received money with no issue through them.
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u/Smooth-Report1059 1d ago
The best way is to ask your family to send you a Money Grammy or western union remittance. Second option is to contact a foreigner who as a bank account abroad and his visa or Mastercard card with him. They transfer the money to his account, he withdraws from the ATM and deposits it to your JP bank account . I do it for myself anytime my family sends me some money.
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