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The story
A thread titled “Tell me what credit cards you guys use” popped up on 5ch’s “Whatever Live” board (なんでも実況G), and it turned into everyone showing off their favorite cards. Staple cards like Rakuten, Mercari’s “Mercard,” the Mitsui Sumitomo Card (NL) Gold, and the JCB W came up one after another, while someone pointed out that if you added up the credit limits several posters had revealed, the total came to around ¥15 million — sparking a side debate about which card companies hand out credit the most easily. The thread mixed practical talk about picking a no-annual-fee, high-cashback card with what amounted to a bragging contest over who’s holding what.
What people said
Used to have a bunch of these
If it's about points, Rakuten's the only real choice
If a guy like this added up all his limits, wouldn't it come to like ¥15 million?
I keep turning down all the invitations, and mine are mostly capped around ¥200k
Tried applying for the Mitsubishi UFJ Platinum just to see, and got approved instantly lol
Mine are all trash cards anyway
Add it all up and it's like ¥3 million
How do you split usage between them?
Once I spend ¥1 million on one and lock in the 10,000 points, I switch to the other and rack up another 10,000 points
Ah I see
So it works out to an effective 1.5% back or something like that?
Epos is done for now. Back when it supported Suica, it was the strongest sub-card for gas, electricity, and Suica top-ups
Yeah, they hit it with a big nerf
My mistake, I meant add up ALL the limits
Wouldn't that come to around ¥15 million?
Yeah, probably would
Mine's never swung around like that
That's insane…
Way too rich…
If you own a detached house in Tokyo, any card will approve you. I made separate cards for work, leisure, transit, Amazon, movies, Mercari, etc. to make things easier for my accountant, and it just ended up like this
Aren't you like a construction-company exec or something?
SAISON VISA: ¥2M
Amex: ¥2M
Amazon Mastercard: ¥1.5M
Rakuten VISA: ¥2M
Rakuten Mastercard: ¥2M
What's the vibe?
A squad of total bottom-tier cards
I always make sure to say "I'll pay with American Express" at checkout
You gotta say "I'll pay with Gold Preferred," properly
Though Mercard Gold does charge you a ¥5,000 fee in the first year
Jealous of Oka's Waseda card, CIC flex 💳 (CIC = Japan's major credit bureau)
The Mitsui Sumitomo Gold NL has an annual fee, but if you spend ¥1 million in a single year even once, the fee's waived for life after that
Here's roughly where each one gives high cashback, there's more too
Mitsui Sumitomo NL
JCB W
The JCB W is like the worst card for suckers lmaooo
It gets advertised all over the place, but anyone who actually knows what they're doing would never touch it lmaooo
Oh, that's so G-board of you
Yeah, I'm in construction too — though specifically scaffolding work
"To make things easier for my accountant"
Wait, doesn't that mean YOU'RE the accountant?
I couldn't parse that sentence at all
lol
You don't even need to experiment with it — unbeatable cost and time efficiency
If you're really into doing all that fiddling, use the NL Gold — you could get up to like 5% back
Is there anything I should think about when choosing one?
I don't want to end up with a bunch of cards I don't need
Just apply for Rakuten for now. Canceling is just one phone call, so don't overthink it
More important than that is building up your credit history
Shop at your local AEON a lot → AEON Card
Always at convenience stores → Mitsui Sumitomo
Drive the highways constantly → NEXCO card
Fly a lot → a mileage card
That's how it used to be, but these days you can just get the Mizuho Rakuten Card and call it done
This is seriously tacky
Looks like something a delinquent driving a slammed car out in the countryside would pick
What even is this lineup
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
In the ongoing competition among credit card cashback rates, companies have repeatedly rolled out benefit downgrades in recent years, and the thread touched on both the Epos Card’s changes and the fluctuating credit limits on Mercard. Schemes like the Mitsui Sumitomo Card (NL) Gold’s offer — where spending ¥1 million in a year gets your annual fee waived for life from the following year on — are a classic tactic companies use to lock in loyal customers, and the thread got lively calculating the “effective cashback rate” under that kind of deal. At one point, posters added up the credit limits they’d shared with each other and were stunned to hit roughly ¥15 million combined, but a large credit limit doesn’t necessarily track with someone’s assets or income — as one poster in the thread pointed out, “building your credit history matters more,” since it largely comes down to each company’s underwriting policy and a track record built up over time.
※This article is adapted and summarized from the 5ch (Whatever Live) thread “Tell me what credit cards you guys use.”
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