Which Credit Saison card should you get? All 21 compared

Which one to get

If you want one answer, start with the Likeme by Saison Card — no annual fee and a 1% published base rate. If you already know what you want the card for, take the matching row instead.

Each row is selected from the recorded data by rule — cheapest fee, a stated waiver, the highest published rate within a grade — not by editorial preference. Nothing here reflects how likely you are to be approved.

How to decide inside this lineup

4 rules apply to this lineup. Work down them in order — the first one usually settles it.

1. Start with the strongest no-fee card, and move up only when a paid tier has a waiver you will actually reach, a milestone bonus you would hit anyway, or a recurring benefit worth more than its fee.
2. These cards do not all earn the same currency: the lineup spans Cashback, JR Kyushu Q points / Permanent Points, nimoca points, Permanent Points and 5 more. A higher rate in a programme you cannot redeem well is worth less than a lower rate in one you can.
3. This lineup has more than one grade, so an upgrade is an arithmetic question: divide the extra annual fee by the extra published rate to get the spend that repays it, then add only the benefits and milestones you expect to use.
4. 2 products here are business-focused and should be compared on their own terms — expense controls, employee cards, accounting integration and who is liable — not against consumer lifestyle perks.

Each rule is triggered by the recorded fees, grades, programmes and payment types rather than written per provider, so it changes when the lineup does.

Annual fees and what they really cost

8 of the 19 personal cards you can choose between here have no annual fee. The fee is the only cost you pay whether or not you use the card, so it is the first column to read.

A waiver or a free first year still means you pay the fee until the condition is met. Family cards, ETC cards and optional programmes can carry their own charges, which are not in this column — check the issuer page. All amounts include tax.

Earning rates and what they earn into

These cards earn into 9 different programmes. Rates in different currencies are not comparable until you fix what a point is worth to you.

The base rate is the figure the issuer publishes; where none is published the cell is blank rather than estimated. The comparison-site range is calculated by Kakaku.com under its own assumptions about redemption value and bonus conditions — it is a secondary signal, not an issuer claim.

Every card compared

All 21 cards, ordered by grade and then by fee, with what each is for and what to watch on it.

The last three columns are the English research record for each card. Signup campaigns are deliberately excluded — they are not standing value.

How the points actually work

Most of this lineup earns under one rule — Permanent Points. What you actually receive is decided less by the headline rate than by the excluded transactions and the expiry below.

How it is earned

1 point per ¥1,000 of monthly eligible spend on standard cards; Saison Amex/tier multipliers vary

Bonus earning

Saison Point Mall up to advertised multipliers; card-specific domestic/overseas multipliers; eligible cards may use SAISON MILE CLUB

Eligible spend

Eligible shopping aggregated monthly

Excluded or reduced spend

Cash advances, interest/fees and designated transactions; some payments earn at reduced/no rate

Caps

Mall, QUICPay and mileage programs can have enrollment fees, caps or card restrictions

Expiry

No expiry while account remains eligible

Best redemption route

A 5-yen-equivalent reward or an eligible JAL-mile route; bill credit is simpler but lower value

What a point is worth

Up to about ¥5 per point; bill credit is commonly 200 points→¥900

This block is shown only when most of the lineup really does earn under the same rule, so one card’s terms are never presented as the provider’s.

Benefits, and what switches them on

21 of these cards have a recorded insurance, lounge, family-card or eligibility term. What decides a benefit’s value is not whether it exists but what switches it on.

A blank cell means nothing was recorded, not that the benefit is absent. Travel insurance in Japan is often conditional on paying for part of the trip with the card, and lounge access usually caps visits and charges for guests — the activation rule is on the issuer page.

Upgrade maths: what a higher tier has to return

The cheapest rung here pays for itself at ¥440,000 of eligible spend a year. 3 of the rungs do not raise the rate at all, so those can never be repaid by earning.

Reward-only break-even spend

incremental annual fee ÷ incremental effective reward rateThe eligible spend at which the higher tier’s extra earning covers its extra fee, and nothing more.

Upgrade net value

incremental rewards + used credits + used benefits + family-card savings − incremental annual feeCount a credit or benefit only at the value you would actually redeem, not at its advertised value.

Milestone expected value

milestone benefit value × probability you reach the threshold without changing how you spendIf reaching the threshold requires new spending, the milestone is a cost, not a benefit.

These figures use the published base rate only — no merchant multipliers, milestones, insurance, lounge access or family-card savings. Adding spending you would not otherwise do always breaks the arithmetic.

Check these on the issuer page before applying

The tables above narrow the choice; only the issuer can settle it. Check these four things on the official page before you apply.

Important cautions

This page is a comparison, not advice. These hold whichever card you pick.

• This is a comparison guide, not approval advice. Issuers decide eligibility and credit limits, and nothing here predicts either.
• Never increase spending to reach a points threshold or a fee waiver. Interest and unnecessary purchases overwhelm rewards quickly.
• Use a conservative point value. The same point is worth different amounts as a statement credit, as merchant spend, as miles or as a limited campaign reward.
• Invitation, campaign, insurance and lounge terms change. Re-check the official terms immediately before applying.
• If you are a foreign resident, confirm accepted identification, name and address matching, Japanese-language requirements and any bank-account condition directly with the issuer.

Common questions

Sources and freshness

Everything on this page comes from the issuer’s own product and lineup pages, and from the points programme’s official pages, as checked on 2026-08-16.

• www.saisoncard.co.jp/creditcard/lineup
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/platinum
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/creditcard/lineup/?options=normal
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/pearl
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/gold
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/rose
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/creditcard/lineup/?options=gold
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/mileage/ua-gold
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/mileage/ua-platinum
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/platinumbusiness
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/amex/cobalt
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/lineup/ca150.html
• www.saisoncard.co.jp/aqf-point

Report a correction

Card facts are from the research database as of 2026-08-16; the points and benefit records are from the 2026-08-17 pass. Fees, benefits, campaigns and application rules change without notice. If something here is wrong, tell us on the corrections page.