Japanese Loyalty Point, Credit Card, and Mobile

[vapid]

I was wondering if this would be a topic of interest for folks here at RetireJapan.

I know that Aeon has a Waon charge card and a credit card, but early last year they introduced a Smartcard that earns points, but you can then use a different payment method. This meant that I could earn loyalty points with Aeon, but also use a credit card and earn points (like AMEX MR). This was a nice feature.

Rakuten/Edy also had something similar where you could charge you Edy with a Rakuten credit card and earn Rakuten points, though I have heard from my friend at Rakuten Finance that charging will no longer earn points.

Are there similar systems people use to double dip? I am intrigued by the new iPhone 8 + Apple Pay. I read they expanded the cards accepted and that one can now charge their mobile Suica with Apply Pay. Interested to hear from others.

[adamu]

As far as I can see there are two common systems:

• A store-specific point-card that gets you up to 1% of purchase value in points, which can later be used for cashback.
• Payment cards that give you points for the system from step 1 as a reward for using that card as opposed to another one (thus earning the card company a small commission).

Personally I use Line Pay which pays 2% cashback on all purchases. This beats the cards from step 2 most of the time, except sometimes using them in their own store. For example my JR Kyushu card gives 3-10% off if I use it in the station, so I'll use that instead in that case. Then I add a step 1 point card if I have it. To be optimal you need to carry a bunch of different payment cards and store-specific point cards. I currently carry arount a seperate point-card wallet but it's starting to get a bit ridiculous.

There's a local drug store that lets you pay by card, also use their point card, and also get IC Card points. Tripple bonus! But you can save even more by going to a cheaper supermarket anyway...