Is Sumitomo Mitsui Card Gold (NL) worth it at ¥1M a year? It wins between about ¥1M and ¥2.5M — above that, a free 1.2% card is better

Sumitomo Mitsui Card Gold (NL) costs ¥5,500 a year, but if you spend ¥1M or more in a year the fee becomes free from the next year, and you get 10,000 bonus points every year. On everyday spending alone it beats the free 1.2% Recruit Card only between ¥1M and about ¥1.43M a year. If you also spend ¥10,000 a month at the eligible convenience-store and restaurant chains with the phone's contactless payment, the range stretches to about ¥2.54M.

Reproducing the issuer's own worked example

Sumitomo Mitsui's page has a simulation: ¥10,000 a month at the eligible stores, ¥1.08M a year in total, giving 13,200 points plus the 10,000-point loyalty bonus, 23,200 points a year. Splitting that into 7% on the ¥120,000 at the stores (8,400 points) and 0.5% on the other ¥960,000 (4,800 points) gives ¥13,200, plus 10,000, for ¥23,200 — matching the issuer's example. The table below uses the same mechanics.

By yearly card spend: Gold (NL) against a free 1.2% card

This puts ¥10,000 a month (¥120,000 a year) at the eligible chains and the rest as everyday spending, all on Gold (NL), against all of it on the Recruit Card. The fee is treated as free once spend reaches ¥1M.

At exactly ¥1M, Gold (NL) is ¥10,800 ahead. As spend rises the lead shrinks, because Gold (NL)'s base rate is 0.5%: the 0.7-point gap to a 1.2% card eventually outweighs the 10,000-point bonus, which happens at about ¥1.43M on everyday spending alone. The 7% at the eligible chains pushes that line out to about ¥2.54M.

Spending that does not count toward ¥1M

The issuer lists uses that do not count toward the yearly ¥1M line. It is easy to plan on money that is never counted.

• Card-funded investing (tsumitate) through SBI Securities, annual fees, cash advances, and revolving or instalment fees.
• Top-ups of transport IC and other e-money, including mobile Suica, purchases of mobile Suica commuter passes and tickets, and top-ups of ANA Pay, V Point Pay and prepaid cards.
• National pension premiums and, from 1 March 2026, top-ups of au PAY, Kyash, JAL Pay and Vandle Card.

Family-card and ETC-card spend is added together. If you commute with mobile Suica, that money does not count, so you need to clear ¥1M on other spending.

If you do not reach ¥1M

• In your first year you pay the ¥5,500 fee even if you do not reach ¥1M; it is waived from the year after a year of ¥1M or more.
• The card-funded investing rate depends on the previous year's spend: 1.0% at ¥1M or more, 0.75% at ¥100,000 or more, 0% below that (1.0% in the first year, once per card). At ¥100,000 a month, the gap between 1.0% and 0.75% is ¥3,000 a year.
• If you are close to ¥1M, put everyday spending and utilities on Gold (NL) so you clear the line. Fixed costs (phone, utilities, subscriptions) add up painlessly on a card.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It suits people who put between ¥1M and ¥2.5M a year on cards and want airport-lounge access (the issuer's page says lounges at the major domestic airports and Honolulu are free to use). It does not suit people who spend under ¥1M, or over ¥3M: above that a free 1.2% card is better, and at ¥3M in the table the gap is ¥3,200 a year.

To test your own numbers, enter your monthly spending in the credit card rewards calculator. The verdict list is in Credit card verdicts.