RResidents in Japan

Apple Pay PASMO recharging problems with non-Japanese credit card again

  • August 9, 2022

So sometime this past Friday, PASMO stopped being able to be charged using US credit cards on Apple Pay (not sure about other non-Japanese cards). The problem lasted throughout Saturday and Sunday, but resolved itself yesterday, Monday.

Unfortunately as of Tuesday morning and continuing still now, it has resurfaced.

Trying to gather some data. If people can answer yes or no to any of the following it will help:

1. Can you charge with a US Visa card?
2. Can you charge with a US MasterCard?
3. Can you charge with a US AMEX card?
4. Can you charge with a non-US but non-Japanese credit card? (what type and what country)

From my experience:
1. No. I have 3 US Chase issued Visa cards. None of them work anymore though they have for years, and they did yesterday for a brief time.

Seems like Suica is OK through Apple Pay, however Pasmo is preferable for those who collect points for “travel” bonuses on their cards. Suica codes as “shopping” which usually doesn’t have any bonus on US cards

7 comments

  1. I use Suica. Just tried charging now with Chase Sapphire and Hyatt, neither worked. Did charge successfully once with Sapphire on April 30.

    I charge everyday with Amex (3x points with Green card), which is working fine today.

  2. According to [this site](https://atadistance.net)

    > Some users report manually entering the recharge amount instead of using the pre-select buttons (1,000-5,000-10,000) works for them. Updates will be posted here.

    Maybe try that?

  3. I’ve been recharging my Apple Pay PASMO with a chase sapphire credit card for almost 3 months straight and never had an issue. Make sure the billing address in the cards settings (tap the Chase card, then the 3 dots, scroll to billing address) is still whatever your US address is on the Chase website. I switched all my cards to my parents address in the US when I moved here and every single one has worked.

    Considering you this problem started recently for you, I’d also recommend calling Chase and making sure there’s no potential fraud warnings on your account that are causing issues.

    Edit: look at other recent posts in the subreddit, looks like there’s an ongoing issue that started over the weekend.

  4. EU-issued Wise debit card. Doesn’t work, regardless of using a pre-selected amount or manually typing it in.

  5. I charged my Suica with Apple Pay yesterday at about 11:45pm (Chase Sapphire) and it worked. I tried it just now to see if I would experience the same issue and it wouldn’t work. I hope this is temporary.

    Also I had no idea Pasmo coded as travel. I might look into switching if it gets resolved.

    Edit: I tried with my Amex, also through Apple Pay, and that worked.

  6. just a heads up if you don’t know, if you’re in a pinch and have cash you can charge your mobile pasmo at the machines with the touch style card reader, or at the little station attendant window at the gate. might be able to give them your credit card but idk?

  7. 1. My US-issued VISA, which used to work for topping up via Apple Pay, does not currently process payments… as recently as 10 minutes ago. It’s strange because my husband tried the same for his PASMO (when mine bugged out 2 days ago) and it also didn’t work, but yesterday it did. Same bank and everything. They are Visa “debit” cards so maybe that has something to do with it?

    3. My AmEx, which I just added to my wallet thanks to this thread… worked! I was able to add money to my PASMO.

    Thanks for starting this thread and for the help. Hoping these issues get resolved soon.

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