NTT DoCoMo to Launch DCMX Mobile Credit Services

The company announced today they will launch ‘DCMX’ consumer credit services via iD, DoCoMo’s brand and platform for mobile credit cards. Users of Osaifu-Keitai (Felica e-wallet phones) phones will be able to choose from two plans to make highly secure purchases from small to large amounts using their phones as DoCoMo-issued credit cards. 

DCMX mini?, to be launched on April 28, will offer a monthly credit line of 10,000 yen. Making a purchase will be as simple as waving one’s phone in front of a dedicated iD reader/writer in a store, with no signature required. Payments will be billed together with the user’s monthly DoCoMo phone charges. There will be no membership fee to use the service. Customers from age 12 will be able to start using the service immediately after applying through the DCMX i-mode? site.

Credit lines from 200,000 yen, as well as cash advances, will be available under a separate service, also called DCMX, which will be launched after DCMX mini. Purchases costing over 10,000 yen will require the customer to enter a four-digit password. The user can choose to pay in full, or in fixed installments or on a revolving-credit basis. There will be no membership fee during the first year, but in subsequent years a fee of 1,312 yen (including tax) will accrue if no transaction has taken place within 12 months. Customers from age 18 will be able to apply either via the DCMX i-mode site or in writing, after which they will be screened. Applications for the DCMX service will be accepted from the end of May. Payments made via DCMX will earn points that can be redeemed for discounts on products and services from DoCoMo and other participating establishments. Users will also be issued either a Visa or MasterCard plastic card to make purchases at stores overseas, as well as at stores in Japan that do not have iD reader/writers.

Users under age 20 will require a guardian’s consent, and must apply at a DoCoMo Shop, accompanied by a guardian.

Customers will be able to use their mobile phones to confirm remaining credit balances. For security, DoCoMo Osaifu-Keitai phones can be locked remotely if misplaced or stolen. The user will merely need to call their misplaced/stolen phone from a registered phone number. Or, using the Omakase Lock? service, which will be introduced later, the user will be able to call DoCoMo to request their phone be locked. Users can also set their phones to require a password each time before the DCMX service is used.

The DCMX SITE showroom will open in Tokyo at the end of May to present demonstrations and information about the concept of mobile credit cards, and also accept written applications to use the DCMX service.

DoCoMo also plans to offer premium a DCMX GOLD mobile credit-card service in the future.