I previously mentioned how enjoyable the experience was of opening an account at Shinsei Bank. I recently found three more reasons to love the place.

1) Their exchange rates are better than anywhere else. Other places will charge you at least 1%, and some places will charge you 3% or more to change your money. If you have an account at Shinsei Bank, even if you don’t have a single yen in the account, they charge just .125%. I wish I had known this yesterday. I changed money at the post office yesterday. Had I done so at Shinsei Bank, like I will next time, I would have an extra 3,000 yen in my pocket today.
2) I can make deposits or withdrawals for free at any 7-Eleven.
3) Resona Bank (りそな銀行) wanted to charge me 600 yen a month to pay my rent at their bank. 600 yen a month may not sound like much but that adds up to almost $100 for the year we will be here. The only way around the fee is to open an account at Resona. Resona Bank requires a special bank hanko which I would have had to special order. Outside of the hassle, I’d have to wait for it to arrive and pay more than 1,000 yen. Then I’d have to take it back to the bank and wait an hour or more for my account to be opened just so I could give them money without a fee. Instead, Shinsei will allow me to pay this bill (and four more a month) for free, online, anytime I want. No more trips to Resona; no more fees; no more hassles.

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Posted on November 5th, 2009 under Japan • Tags: getting the best rate to change convert USD into yen. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed