WILL SWAYNE ON
(VISA) CREDIT CARD DISCRIMINATION TOWARDS FOREIGNERS
AND RUDE SERVICE AT FUKUOKA BANK
FOLLOWED BY COMMUNITY MEMBER ADVICE
Courtesy of The Community Archive

From: "Will Swayne " <ws@jimos.co.jp>
Date: Thu Nov 30, 2000 6:16am
Subject: Customer Service toward foreigners

Dear All

I recently made a complaint about discriminatory customer service to the Fukuoka Bank. I realise this is very much the tip of the iceberg when it comes to issues of obtaining credit in Japan, but a brief report follows for those of you who are interested.

Will Swayne, Fukuoka

========================

Several months ago, a message appeared on our company's intranet message board, inviting applications for a combined cash and credit card, which had recently been released by the Fukuoka Bank.

I received an information pack and submitted an application. After much to-ing and fro-ing, the application was denied because I am not a permanent resident (eijyuusha). However, I was told I qualified for a regular UC Card with either Visa or Mastercard. I filled out the appropriate application and had it checked by staff at the Fukuoka Bank.

After a couple of weeks, a bank representative, "Mr Tanaka" came to my workplace and said "In the case of a gaijin, a visa card is not possible (Gaijin-sama no baai wa biza kaado ga dekimasen). He gave me the option of applying for a JCB card. I was quite offended by the gaijin call, but decided to consider my next action. After a little thought, I rang Mr Tanaka to say I would like to meet with him early the following week.

As luck would have it, David Aldwinckle happened to be in Fukuoka at the time, and I was able to meet with him for a chat. Given that this time round I have not been in Japan long (it will be one year in February), I wasn't going to get anywhere complaining about not receiving a card, and that was beside the point anyway. The issue here was one of customer service and inappropriate handling of a customer.

When I visited, the bank, I would ask to see a manager along with Mr Tanaka and make the following points

1) Bad customer service.

The bank gave me false information (i.e. I was told I could apply for a UC/Visa card when this was not possible). I was given the wrong application materials, and several hours of my time were wasted as a result.

2) Use of discriminatory language toward a customer.

The use of the word "gaijin" toward a customer is totally unacceptable. I am a customer of the bank, just like any other, and should be treated in a normal way. A better approach would have been to say that a card could not be provided because it is the policy of the credit provider to offer cards only to permanent residents, and to apologize for the initial administrative mistake made by the bank.

On the day of the meeting, the buchou of our Accounting Department told me that Mr Tanaka had called to say that he would pay a visit to the company to see me. I wouldn't be able to talk to a manager after all (unless I made a special trip to the bank afterward).

When Mr Tanaka arrived, I made the following points:

1) I was offended by the word "gaijin". It has pejorative connotations, and should not be used toward customers.

2) Fukuoka Bank's service was not up to scratch. I was given the wrong forms to fill in (i.e. the Visa card forms, when the bank already knew that I am not a permanent resident).

3) "Ware ware gaikokujin" are increasing in number in Japan, and that we must be treated with the same respect given to Japanese customers.



To his credit, Mr Tanaka apologized profusely and sincerely, and said he would pass my complaint on to his manager (yeah right!). I am satisfied with this response, and trust that Mr Tanaka at least will be more professional when dealing with non-Japanese customers in future.

Some members may wonder why all this fuss about a minor incident like this. I don't believe Mr Tanaka was being consciously discriminatory when he said, "In the case of a gaijin, a Visa card is not possible". That's precisely the point: it was not deliberate, it was a subconscious, automatic response.

If more members of the foreign community complain when treated in a way they feel is discriminatory by businesses or individuals, attitudes may start to change and life become more tolerable for those who decide to become long-term residents here.

Also, there are much more far-reaching issues at stake here--those of appropriate requirements for permanent residency, the rights of non-Japanese under the constitution, avenues of redress for discrimination and so on. Those are topics that will no doubt continue to be debated on this site and others in future.




From: "D.Walsh" <walsh@hagoromo.ac.jp>
Date: Tue Dec 5, 2000 11:27am
Subject: Re: [Community-J] Customer Service toward foreigners

Mr. Swayne:

Thank you for your post on this matter of obtaining credit cards. I don't have time now to discuss my experience in detail but I did want to offer you some words of encouragement.

///////////////////////////

I received an information pack and submitted an application. After much to-ing and fro-ing, the application was denied because I am not a permanent resident (eijyuusha). However, I was told I qualified for a regular UC Card with either Visa or Mastercard. I filled out the appropriate application and had it checked by staff at the Fukuoka Bank.

After a couple of weeks, a bank representative, "Mr Tanaka" came to my workplace and said "In the case of a gaijin, a visa card is not possible (Gaijin-sama no baai wa biza kaado ga dekimasen). He gave me the option of applying for a JCB card. I was quite offended by the gaijin call, but decided to consider my next action. After a little thought, I rang Mr Tanaka to say I would like to meet with him early the following week.



//////////////////////////////////////

OK, FYI, I got the same "song and dance" routine from Sumitomo Bank, oh, I reckon more than 10 years ago, by now.

///////////////////////////////

As luck would have it, David Aldwinckle happened to be in Fukuoka at the time, and I was able to meet with him for a chat.

///////////////////////////////

Well, I'd say that was the damnedest luck for the Fukuoka Bank.

I haven't experienced such a "coincidence" myself since August 1, 1999, when my niece and nephew -- they're white like me and all my kin -- were harrassed by "racist profiling" by Sapporo police. "As luck would have it", we were just heading out to David Aldwinckle's place! He's white, too but now Japanese. We've already heard something from him on what this entails. Anyway, as you might expect, David was an inspiration, building my confidence to act on a series of complaints to police authorities.

/////////////////////////////////////

Given that this time round I have not been in Japan long (it will be one year in February), I wasn't going to get anywhere complaining about not receiving a card, and that was beside the point anyway. The issue here was one of customer service and inappropriate handling of a customer.

/////////////////////////////

OK. Glad you are reasonable enough to understand that you might not yet be established sufficiently to get a credit card, BUT

I want you, and every other foreigner who has heard this refusal routine, to know, that as I type this out I am sitting on --- count 'em, 5 credit cards -- 1 JCB, 2 VISA, 2 MASTER ---- _____all 5 of them issued IN JAPAN_____.

No, I do not have permanent residence.

Believe me, it can be done.

How?

Well, seeing your post nudged me to recall that I had promised David Aldwinckle that I would write up my experience as a guide for getting a credit card in Japan and allow him to post it on the Community website.

Now, since it's beginning to look like I won't be able to get a flight to Thailand this New Years, I just might get that job done.

In the meantime, stay assertive.




From: Cornelia Kurz <ckurz@tokyowithkids.com>
Date: Tue Dec 5, 2000 10:47pm
Subject: [Community-J] Getting a Japanese yen credit card.

I have a VISA card issued by Japan Citibank. But Citibank is not really a Japanese company. All I had to do was open an account there.

Because there are annual fees for all cards issued in Japan, I have avoided applying for more. One is enough.



From: Kirk Masden <masden@kumagaku.ac.jp>
Date: Wed Dec 6, 2000 0:17am
Subject: Re: [Community-J] Getting a Japanese yen credit card.

Whether you are in Japan or the U.S. it seems that one key to getting a credit cards is not wanting one very badly. I've gotten tons of credit card offers in the U.S. but when I tried to apply for one at the bank where I had opened an account (this was in Montana) they were very reluctant. I also got a visa card (the one I usually use) very easily in Kumamoto when I happened to shop at Daiei where they were trying to get lots of people to sign up for one.

This is not to say that banks in Japan don't discriminate toward foreigners. I'm sure that happens. I'm just saying that, in both the U.S. and Japan, it's easiest to get a credit card when one is being promoted.

Kirk Masden
Kumamoto




From: "Steve" <sesmithjapan@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue Dec 5, 2000 3:49pm
Subject: Re: [Community-J] Customer Service toward foreigners

I also have a Japan issued Mastercard. I only applied once.....but after living here for 5 years. It was issued by Orico.......in a joint venture with Costco....at Torius Hisayama, outside of Fukuoka.

Steve Smith, Fukuoka




From: Doreen Simmons <jz8d-smmn@ASAHI-NET.OR.JP>
Date: Wed Dec 6, 2000 0:49am
Subject: Re: [Community-J] Customer Service toward foreigners

I got a hybrid Saison/Visa card through my small Post Office account that I use for paying utilities. There was no argument at all. Having always lived in cash societies I had never bothered about credit cards, until I discovered that all the potential Internet providers insisted on my having one.

This is not, however, intended in any way to diminish the legitimate grievance of a person who was invited by a bank to fill in its application form and then was refused by reason of his gaijinity.




From: "F.SASAKI" <fsasaki@hokkai.or.jp>
Date: Thu Nov 30, 2000 7:21am
Subject: Re: [Community-J] Customer Service toward foreigners

Will Swayne wrote:
> Some members may wonder why all this fuss about a minor incident like this.

I don't.

I am sure that more foreign customers making the right kind of " fuss ", as you did, about minor incidents, is the only way in the long run toward improvement when more serious issues are at stake.

Best wishes, Francoise Sasaki


ends