Neglected subscriptions and inefficient payments: Preventing losses of tens of thousands of yen per year
When reviewing your monthly household budget, rather than cutting your food expenses by a few hundred yen, it is far more effective to reconsider your fixed expense payment method, which is automatically deducted once you set it up.
Eliminate “ghost subscriptions” such as video streaming services that you haven’t used for several months, and practice these four steps to optimize the return rate on your utility bills.
Step 1: Download credit card statement CSV and visualize “monthly billing”
First, download the most recent three months’ worth of credit card statements from your web page as a CSV file.
- Sort by merchant name: Extract items that are debited in the same amount every month
- Category classification: Classified into “communication expenses”, “utility expenses (electricity, gas, water)”, “subscription”, “regular purchase”
- Annual expenditure conversion: Understand the annual total by monthly expenses x 12
Step 2: Identify the point grant rate for utility charges and taxes (halved/not eligible)
There are many cases where people intend to make a lump sum payment using their main card, but end up missing out on points.
- Electricity/Gas/Water Charges: Many general cards (Rakuten Card, etc.) have significantly reduced the return rate when paying utility bills, from 1.0% to 0.2%.
- National tax/local tax: The number of cards that are not eligible for refunds is increasing even when paying online.
Please be sure to check the “List of merchants not eligible for points” on your card.
Step 3: Transfer payment to reward card
With the low fixed costs identified, switch to a card that maintains a return of 1.0% or more even on utility charges or a carrier-specific card.
- Designate a card (Recruit Card, etc.) that does not reduce returns even on utility charges as a dedicated payment option.
- Consolidate smartphone communication costs on carrier-affiliated cards (d Card GOLD, au PAY Card, PayPay Card, etc.) to maximize benefits and benefits with up to 10% return.
Step 4: Same-day cancellation rules for “zero usage frequency” subscriptions
- Services that have not been used in the past 60 days will be canceled immediately
- If you are unsure about canceling your contract, cancel it and re-subscribe if you need it (no problem as data will be retained).
- Open the “Subscription Management Screen” on your smartphone and stop all unnecessary automatic renewal charges.
Annual fixed cost inventory checklist
- Listed all recurring charges from the last three months’ statements.
- All subscriptions that have not been used for more than 2 months have been canceled.
- I checked to see if I was using a low-return card to pay my utility bills.
- I set my smartphone bill to be debited to a carrier-optimized card.