Paying paper bills with credit card in Japan

Pay bills conveniently and earn points too!

Author

Michael Wu
November 08, 2023

Often, bills in Japan will come by mail, and you would take them to the convenience store and pay with cash. These could be anything from utility bills, tax bills, health insurance, and pension bills. Well, what if you don’t want to go to the convenience store? A number of options have sprung up in recent years to pay these bills, including using credit cards via digital payment methods so you can earn points!

Table of Contents

Sample paper bill by mail

All the options to pay your bills digitally!

Local government tax bills are slightly different. These use a special QR code called elQR as well as include an eL番号 with the bill in case the QR code cannot be read.

Here’s a list of common digital payment methods allowing you to pay digitally. Note that often many Japanese credit cards don’t give you points for paying through digital wallets, so you should check your credit card, otherwise it might not justify the fee. Foreign credit cards usually do, but you need to balance out the exchange fees and any foreign transaction fees, as well as keep in mind paying with a foreign currency that has appreciated since you earned it could be considered a taxable FX event for Japanese taxes.

F-Regi

F-Regi seems to be payment service supporting multiple payment methods as well as the most common method to pay. Fees are outlined on this page for credit cards, and are as follows:

  • 1 to 10,000 yen: 40 yen

  • 10,001 to 20,000 yen: 123 yen

  • 20,001 to 30,000 yen: 205 yen

  • 30,001 to 40,000: 288 yen

  • 40,001 - 50,000: 370 yen

  • Every 10,000 yen above that is charged 82 to 83 yen

This is less than 1.2% in credit card fees, and averaging around 0.7-0.9%, which is not bad! F-Regi does not have a points system.

✅ Can use all credit cards

✅ Can register international cards

❌ Credit card fees are charged, and no points earned

Credit cards are only accepted for local tax and pension payments. Unfortunately, PayB started to charge fees for credit card payments recently, which are outlined as follows:

  • 1 to 10,000 yen: 44 yen

  • 10,001 to 20,000 yen: 132 yen

  • 20,001 to 30,000 yen: 220 yen

  • 30,001 to 40,000: 408 yen

  • 40,001 - 50,000: 396 yen

  • Every 10,000 yen above that is charged 88 yen

This is about the same as F-Regi but more expensive. I’ve been able to register all my international cards.

✅ Can use all credit cards

✅ Can register international cards

❌ Credit card fees are charged, and no points earned

au pay is a digital wallet from au, one of the largest phone carriers in Japan. There are no fees to pay with au pay, and you pay by first loading your balance. With credit card, you are limited to loading 50,000 yen at a time. There is a 50,000 yen limit per month with non-au pay credit cards, and 250,000 yen limit with au pay credit card (see limits). You do not earn points for loading with non-au pay credit cards, and you do not earn points for paying bills.

This is a good option for international credit cards for bills up to 50,000 yen a month! I’ve had trouble with some international credit cards, like I couldn’t register my CapitalOne Venture X but could register Amex cards.

✅ Can use credit cards

❌ Some international credit cards may not work

❌ No points are earned for non au pay credit cards

FamiPay is a digital wallet from FamilyMart. Again, you first load the digital wallet balance then pay. FamiPay can only be loaded with Family Mart T Card Brand JCB Cards (see documentation on how to charge). There are no fees with FamiPay. Some FamiPay bill payments give 10 yen in points back.

❌ Only Family Mart T Card Brand JCB Cards can load balance

✅ No fees, and earn some points for bill payments

Rakuten Pay is a digital wallet from Rakuten. You can can link credit cards to Rakuten Pay but it seems like they can’t be used for bill payments. Instead, you have to load your balance first, but it seems like you can only use Rakuten credit cards to charge. You earn 0.5 points per 100 yen loading using your Rakuten credit card. There are no fees to pay with Rakuten Pay.

❌ Only Rakuten credit cards can load

❌ No points are earned for bill payments

✅ Rakuten credit cards earn points when loading balance

✅ No fees to pay

PayPay is a digital wallet from a joint venture with SoftBank and Yahoo. Only PayPay credit card when linked via Pay Later can be used for bill payments (see documentation). It is unclear if you can charge to your SoftBank phone bill, but seems unlikely. You can link outside credit cards to PayPay, but they can’t be used for bill payments, only for payments when your balance is insufficient, and outside credit cards can’t be used to charge your balance. You don’t earn PayPay points on bill payments. There are no fees to pay bills with PayPay.

❌ Only Pay Later via PayPay credit card can be used

❌ No points are earned for bill payments

✅ No fees to pay

LINE Pay is a digital wallet from LINE. You can link any credit card for normal payments, however only LINE Pay credit cards can be used for bill payments (see documentation).

❌ Only LINE Pay credit cards can load balance

❌ No points are earned for bill payments

✅ LINE Pay credit cards earn points when loading balance

✅ No fees to pay

d barai (d払い)

d barai (d払い) is a digital wallet from docomo. For normal payments, d barai credit cards as well as other credit cards can be linked, though there is a limit on how much non-d barai credit cards can be used a month (see documentation). You cannot use credit cards to load your balance. However, for bill payments you can only use your d barai balance and no points are earned (see documentation).

❌ Credit cards cannot be used to load your balance

❌ No points are earned for bill payments

✅ No fees to pay

Conclusion

Above is an overview of the common payment methods in Japan for paying bills and if credit cards can be used. F-Regi and au pay seem to be the best options if you want to use any credit card to pay bills. If you have specific company associated credit cards, you can also use them to load your balance / pay bills with some payment methods as well.

I will update this article as new information comes along, or if you notice any mistakes, you can always reach out to me at [email protected]. You can support this publication by becoming a paid subscriber or becoming a Patreon!

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