Sad News: Notice of IDARE Overseas Fee Revision and Epos Charge Weakening. I am restructuring my overseas payment routes.

I have been recommending IDARE quite positively as a card for overseas payments.

The reason is simple.
There are no overseas transaction fees, and there is also a bonus on the balance. It was very easy to use as a payment method when traveling abroad.
However, the premise will change slightly from the summer of 2026 onwards.

A rank system will be introduced for IDARE, and the bonus interest rate and overseas transaction fees will change depending on the average balance of the previous month.

Following this change, my conclusion is as follows.
I will consider not using the route that makes IDARE my main method for overseas payments for the time being.
Instead, from now on,I will develop an overseas payment route centered on Revolut. (I will introduce this in a separate article.)

And one more thing.
Regarding the charge route via Epos Card, the 0.5% regular points will no longer be awarded from August 2026 onwards, so that part is clearly being weakened.

Therefore, if possible,my policy is to charge as much as I can in advance by August.However, charging via Epos Card will not end completely.

Even after August, it will continue to be counted towards the annual usage amount for the Epos Gold/Platinum annual bonus points. In other words, although the 0.5% regular return will be removed, it still remains alive as a route to accumulate annual usage amounts.

I will keep this as a promising charge route.

First, the conclusion. My policy consists of these three points.

Following this change, my policy consists of the following three points.

First.
I will basically consider not using the route that makes IDARE my main method for overseas payments in the future.

Second.
Instead, I will develop an overseas payment route centered on Revolut.

Third.
For charges via Epos Card, I will charge as much as I can in advance by August 2026. However, it will not end completely after August, and I will keep it as a promising route, albeit weakened by 0.5%.

This is basically what I want to say in this article.
It's not so much that IDARE has become bad, but rather that it no longer fits my usage style.

IDARE will become stricter for 'people who only use it when traveling abroad'

A rank system will be introduced for IDARE starting in July 2026.
The rank is determined by the average balance of the previous month.

Roughly speaking, if you have an average balance of 700,000 yen or more, you will be Platinum rank. Overseas transaction fees will be free, and the bonus interest rate will be equivalent to 2.2% per annum.
This is quite strong.

For people who usually keep a substantial balance in IDARE, it might actually become better than it was before.

But my usage style is different.
In my case, IDARE is basically for overseas travel.

Rather than keeping 700,000 yen in it all the time, I assumed I would charge and use only the amount necessary when going on an overseas trip. That is the kind of usage I had in mind.
In this case, the average balance for the judgment month is likely to be low.

If your average balance is less than 50,000 yen, you will be in the Bronze rank, and the overseas transaction fee will be 3.0%. This is quite significant.

If a 3.0% fee is charged for overseas payments, it becomes difficult to say "IDARE is fine for overseas payments" as I did before.
Of course, even at the Bronze rank, the bonus interest rate is equivalent to 1.0% per annum.

However, if a 3.0% overseas transaction fee is applied, the benefit of using it for overseas payments becomes quite thin.
At the very least, for my usage pattern of "using it only when traveling abroad," the reason to make IDARE my main card has weakened.

It is not that IDARE is bad. The target audience has changed.

I want to write this so it is not misunderstood, but this is not a story about IDARE itself becoming bad.
Rather, for those who can keep a solid balance, it can be said that it has changed in a quite positive direction.

If you can keep 700,000 yen or more, the overseas transaction fee remains free.
Furthermore, the bonus interest rate becomes equivalent to 2.2% per annum.
This is genuinely strong.

In other words, this change is not a "deterioration for everyone," but a change where the evaluation depends on how you use it.

For those who usually keep a balance in IDARE, it is actually an enhancement.
For those who charge and use it only right before traveling abroad, it is quite harsh.

I am the latter.
Therefore, in my operations, I will remove IDARE from being my main overseas payment method.

Next, I will explore the Revolut route.

So, what will I do if I don't use IDARE?
The next thing I am looking at is Revolut.
Revolut is also not necessarily high-reward for everything if you just use it as is.

However, if you put a little effort into the charging method and how you use it, there is a possibility of running it at a net positive.
For overseas payments, you need to look at exchange rates, charging methods, card-side rewards, fees, and usage timing.

You need to assemble it while looking at all of these aspects.

Honestly, it is a hassle.
But this is also the interesting part.
The overseas payment route I had built with IDARE will be reviewed for now.

Next, I will try to build a route centered on Revolut.
I intend to write about this in detail in a separate article.

There are also changes to the charge via Epos Card.

Another important thing is the charge route via Epos Card.
Until now, I have introduced a route where you charge from an Epos Card to JAL Pay and then flow it to ANA Pay.

This route was quite convenient.

The Epos Card's standard 0.5% points are earned, and for Gold cards and the like, it also counts toward the annual bonus point calculation.

In short, it was a route that allowed you to aim for both standard rewards and annual bonuses.

However, from August 1, 2026, standard point accrual will end for charges to payment services such as JAL Pay.

This is clearly a negative change.

Since the 0.5% standard points that were previously awarded will no longer be given, the reward rate will decrease.
In terms of mile conversion, it is safe to view this as an approximate 0.25% drop.

It may seem minor, but it has a significant impact when looking at the route as a whole.

However, the Epos route is not completely over.

The important thing here is that charging via Epos Card is not ending entirely.

The 0.5% standard points will no longer be awarded.

However, it will continue to be counted toward the annual usage amount for Epos Gold and Platinum annual bonus points.

This is a saving grace.
In other words, even after August 2026, charging via Epos Card can still be used as a means to accumulate annual usage amounts.

Of course, the reward rate will be lower than before.

But if charge usage remains eligible for counting toward goals like 1 million yen in annual spending, it still has plenty of utility.

Therefore, my decision is as follows.
I will charge as much as I can in advance before August 2026.
From August onwards, I will recalculate based on the premise that the 0.5% standard points are gone.

However, since it remains eligible for annual bonus counting, I will still use the Epos Card charging route itself.
In other words, the Epos route is not ending.

It is just being weakened.

Not 'over,' but 'restructuring'

When changes like this happen, one tends to want to say it's a 'deterioration' or that it's 'over.'
In fact, for those who only used IDARE when traveling abroad, this is a quite severe change.

I, too, will stop using my current IDARE-based overseas payment route for the time being.

But these kinds of routes are not meant to be used under the same conditions forever.
When conditions change, you just restructure them.
If IDARE no longer fits, I'll look at Revolut.

If Epos standard points are stripped away, I will re-evaluate its value as a target for annual bonus counting.
If a charging route becomes weak, I will look for other entry and exit points.
In the end, what I am doing is always the same.

Check the rules and restructure the routes.
That is all.

Summary

Following these changes, I will be reviewing my overseas payment routes.
First, using IDARE as my main method for overseas payments is, for the way I use it, effectively over for now.

For those who can keep over 700,000 yen in IDARE at all times, this might actually be a positive change since the overseas transaction fee remains free and the bonus interest rate increases.
However, for someone like me who only uses it when traveling abroad, there is a possibility that a 3.0% overseas transaction fee will be applied, making it quite difficult to use.

Therefore, I will be exploring overseas payment routes centered on Revolut from now on.

On the other hand, the charge route via Epos Card will no longer earn the standard 0.5% points starting in August 2026.
This is a weakening.

So, my policy is to charge as much as I can in advance before August.

However, since it will still be counted toward the annual usage amount for annual bonus points, the Epos route is not completely finished.

It drops by 0.5%, but it is still promising.
This is my conclusion.

The routes will change.

But the rabbit hole never ends.
When the conditions change, I will just restructure them again.