A reader asked if I could write a post about Suica card refunds. First of all there are different kinds of refunds: Green Seat Purchase, Commute Plans and Stored Fare (SF). All of these are handled in Suica App and require a Mobile Suica account login but they are refunded in different ways.
Commute Plans and Green Seat Purchases are refunded directly to the credit card used for the purchase, either the Suica App registered credit card or the Apple Pay credit card.
A withdrawal SF refund of the Apple Pay Suica card Stored Fare (SF) balance is a cash refund and covered below, but beware: a SF refund withdraws the Suica card from the Apple Pay and Mobile Suica system forever. You can never use the Suica card again. It’s also a pain in the ass.
JR East recommends using up the balance instead of a withdrawal SF refund. This is far easier to do. Just use the balance, remove Suica from Wallet and forget about it. Apple Pay iCloud stores it for you in case you ever need to use it again.
Suica withdrawal SF refund requirements are:
- A Japanese bank account
- A Mobile Suica account: this is free but registration can only be done via the Japanese language only Suica App
- Suica App
- A refund processing fee of ¥220 for each Suica card refund
- Once you refund a Suica card in Suica App it cannot be used again and has to be manually deleted from Wallet, your Mobile Suica account is also automatically deleted
- No refunds of Suica balance when the card has not been used for 10 years
If you already have a Mobile Suica account and a Japanese bank account, the process is straight forward. Open Suica App, if you have multiple Suica cards choose the one you want to refund, tap on Ticket Purchase•Manage Suica, scroll to the bottom of the list and tap “Refund this Suica”.
Scroll to the bottom of Terms and Conditions and tap Agree. In the next screen confirm the SF refund amount of the Suica card then tap next.
In the next few screens you enter your bank account information so have the information ready. In the first screen enter the first 3 katakana of the bank name and tap search, select bank name, enter the first katakana of the bank branch name and tap search, select the bank branch name, enter the bank account type, account number and account name and tap next. In the final screen confirm your information then tap Suica Refund.
Once completed Mobile Suica sends an email to your registered address, the bank transfer from JR East takes 2~4 weeks to process. You can also run down the SF balance to zero then apply for a withdrawal SF refund. This does not require bank account entry or the ¥220 processing fee.
Once you have applied for the withdrawal SF refund, the Suica card remains in Wallet but can no longer be used. Remove the card from Wallet. The deleted Suica will appear in Previous Cards for up to 24 hours and is removed automatically.
UPDATE
Follow the same process to withdrawal refund a PASMO card using PASMO App.
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