NTT Docomo announced on September 1st that it will revise the point redemption conditions for the d Card series of credit cards all at once. The return rate for regular payments will be halved from 1.0% to 0.5%, and if the card is not used, an annual fee of 1,650 yen will be charged.
Even for the top card “d Card PLATINUM”, the period during which you can receive up to 20% return will be shortened from 1 year to 2 months after joining. This will also affect people who are registered with Apple Pay and pay with their iPhones, so it is important to reconsider how you use it before it applies.
Normal return rate is halved from 1.0% to 0.5%
For regular d Card payments, d Points are currently awarded with a return rate of 1.0% on the amount used. With this revision, this will be reduced to 0.5%, and the points you can receive will be halved. According to Mobile Watch, the new return rate will be applied sequentially from usage in January 2027.
On the other hand, usage is expected to remain at the current 1.0% within 2026. There is a grace period of about four months until the revision, so there is no need to rush to cancel, but it is worth thinking about what to do with your main card in the meantime.
If not used, an annual membership fee of 1,650 yen will be charged.
Up until now, the annual fee for d Card was free forever, but after the revision, an annual fee of 1,650 yen will be charged if the card is not used. Those who continue to use the card will be able to continue holding it for free, but cards that are “created but not used” will be subject to a burden.
For detailed information on how to determine the usage conditions for which the annual fee will be waived, please check the official information you will receive from DoCoMo in the future. If you have an unused d-card in your wallet or iPhone, take this opportunity to take inventory.
Will Apple Pay iD payments be halved?
If you register your d Card with Apple Pay, you can use your iPhone or Apple Watch to pay as electronic money “iD” at stores, and also use it for touch payments with Visa or Mastercard. In both cases, d Points are earned when paying with a d Card, so the return on payments made via Apple Pay is expected to be 0.5%.
For example, the points you can receive for a purchase of 10,000 yen will be reduced from 100 points to 50 points. The impact will be greater for users who consolidate their ID payments at convenience stores and supermarkets onto d Cards, and details of how Apple Pay will be granted will need to be confirmed in a future announcement.
PLATINUM offers up to 20% return for 2 months
d Card PLATINUM is a top-level card that will begin accepting applications in November 2024, and the annual fee is 29,700 yen (tax included). A major feature was the d Points reward of up to 20% on mobile phone/docomo Hikari usage charges.
Previously, the maximum return was applied for one year after joining, but after the revision, it will be significantly shortened to two months after joining. Furthermore, for Docomo Hikari, the upper limit of the return rate itself will be lowered from 20% to 12%.
If your Docomo Hikari charge is 5,000 yen per month, a simple calculation would give you 1,000 points per month with a 20% return, but with a 12% return, you would get 600 points per month. The difference is 400 points per month, or 4,800 points per year.
Applicable from usage in October and December
The timing when the new d CARD PLATINUM presentation conditions will be applied is divided by service as follows.
- Docomo Denki Green: From October usage
- Mobile phone (Docomo mobile phone charges): From December usage
- Docomo Hikari: From December usage
- Monex Securities’ “d Card Reserve”: From December usage
The grace period is only about one month for electric cars and about three months for others. Those who are accumulating points with the premise of high returns need to check the relationship between their enrollment period and the application start month as early as possible. Please note that the regular d card will be revised starting from January 2027.
Reduction following the d payment revision in 2022
Regarding DoCoMo’s point policy, iPhone Mania reported that in 2022, the return rate when paying for d Payment using a d Card will be lowered from 1.5% to 1.0%. The latest series of revisions can also be seen as a movement that is connected to this trend of revising returns.
At the same time, it has also been reported that the reward points for rate plans such as Docomo Poikatsu MAX, which feature point rewards, will be lowered.
Reviews that should be made before application
It would be a good idea to check the following three points while you still have time until the application starts.
- People who consolidate their daily payments, including Apple Pay, on dCard should reconsider whether to continue using their main card based on the 0.5% return rate.
- If you have a d card that you hardly use, decide whether to continue using it or cancel it before the annual fee of 1,650 yen is incurred.
- For details on the annual fee conditions and application period, check the official guidance from Docomo and the latest information on the d Card official website.
Since the d Card is used by many people in Japan for daily payments, this revision has a direct impact on household finances. Be sure to organize your payments early, including using your iPhone as a payment method.
Source: Mobile Watch (d card) / Mobile Watch (d card PLATINUM)
Source: iPhone Mania
