Eli5: Does Apple have a bank account that’s set for payments/refunds for credit card holders?
Like, do they have a line of credit that creates new lines of credit beneath the main one whenever someone gets a new Apple Credit Card?
Goldman Sachs is the bank. They provide the lines of credit. Apple is the user interface.
What was the point of this credit card again?
Better UX. Which it did. Was the primary card I have been using.
But if move to Amex that will end that. Amex is worthless if you travel and I travel 50% of the time. Mostly SEA.
Still not paying that shit off, don’t have a job (health issues) they can fuck themselves ☠️
Smart!
/s
Hopefully the Apple Card stays around, it’s my daily driver CC and I really enjoy the interface and spending breakdowns it provides.
Same.
Going to Amex I believe.
That was the rumor. BUt lets hope that does not happen. If does then I can’t use it any longer.
I live half my time in South East Asia and Amex is not taken there at 90% of places.
acceptance would be an issue. visa or mastercard issuer would be better for apple for sure.
I’ve enjoyed using my Apple Card for in-person transactions where I’ve needed to physically hand my card to someone (the primary benefit to me being the lack of sensitive numbers printed on the card). That being said, I’ve steadily reduced my usage of the card the more I’ve learned of Goldman Sach’s displeasure servicing the card and had been anticipating this headline.
Personally, this is enough for me to stop using mine altogether as I don’t like the sense of volatility I’ve gotten from it (especially as of now I don’t know who, if anyone, will back it after Goldman and what their reputation is) whereas my usual cards give me better rewards and have always felt “stable”.
My Apple Card has been a major disappointment. Even with excellent credit and other credit cards with $20k+ limits, they won’t up my spending limit much or fast. It’s at $900 a month and I signed up early.
It’s also a spending limit, not a credit limit. My other cards will allow me to buy a vacation for $20k, pay off the card immediately, and have full access to the limit again. The Apple Card limits spending to $900 a month total, making it almost useless for daily spending or large purchases.
It gives less in points benefits than other cards, too. I bought a new Mac on points from my Chase Preferred card, our daily spending card, after I couldn’t get GS to up the limit so we could buy it on the Apple Card.
I’ve already sworn off Synchrony, years ago. If that’s who takes over, the Apple Card gets canceled.
If there’s a spending limit, I’ve never hit it. I have 20k credit and every month, I charge anywhere from 1-5k and pay it off. Have never incurred interest.
It’s a spending limit, and if you have a 20k limit and only spend 1-5k, you would, in fact, never hit it.
There’s no spending limit. Maybe you just didn’t wait long enough for your payment to clear. I think it’s possible to set up a spend limit for yourself.
I was looking at applying for one in the future but if this goes to Synchrony I’m absolutely out. They are notorious for closing accounts in good standing for various and dubious reasons.
At this point Apple might as well buy a small bank and do it themselves. They’ve got cash enough to run a bank
Main issue is companies really do not want to become banks because it opens a ton of new regulations on them. That’s why square fought so hard for an industrial bank charter which allows them to skirt oversight
Funny though, because there was a time when almost every franchise chain had credit cards. The French supermarket Carrefour for example still has credit cards
I’m willing to bet this is what happens. Apple is well positioned to eliminate a large number of middlemen involved with credit card transactions.
They could potentially even become their own card company—competing with AMEX, MasterCard, etc. This has so far been impossible due to the grip everyone has on their part of the transaction chain—but if anyone has enough weight and resources to do it, it’s Apple.
Seems they are halfway there, considering you can pay for purchases using Apple Cash if the register accepts NFC payments. And considering any iPhone can act as a register using its NFC reader, they can just handle the transaction themselves if it’s between two Apple devices.
I’m know it’s more complicated than this, but I’ve suspected they’ve been playing the long game on this. Wedge themselves into how the market works currently, get their tech robust, then pull the rug out from everyone when ready.
The question is does Apple want the scrutiny that banks have over them. Part of the article already mentioned that Goldman didn’t like the increased scrutiny that came over their business once they partnered with Apple so I’m sure Apple wouldn’t want the increased scrutiny of becoming a financial institution themselves. Just being the named partner on a card and taking a fee is probably the most they want to do
Apple Cash is just a Visa Debit Card
really? Only surprising because apple card is mastercard, and it seems weird they would use two different networks?
Yeah it’s totally different. Apple Cash is operated by Green Dot Bank, originally on the Discover network, now on Visa.
So what’s the play here?
Best case is Apple keeps quiet about it, and they already have another partner lined up. Essentially a silent backend transition.
Worst case scenario is they abandon consumer credit altogether, and we lose the card and the savings account. Which would… really suck. I built a majority of my credit with the Apple Card, and have a lot savings in the savings account.
What are we projecting to happen here?
You should be building up credit with other issuers. Even if all the drama wasn’t happening here with Apple Card and GS. Not a good idea to have all your financial eggs in one basket.
Just use this, I moved all my funds from GS to here: https://www.cit.com/cit-bank/bank/savings/platinum-savings-account
Please do NOT switch to American Express. I travel a lot and AmEx is worthless in South East Asia.
Jesus. Well, I haven’t heard anything from Apple directly. Think we’d all get an email soon, no? I got the card for the cash back on practically every internet purchase using Apple Pay. Then the 0% on iPhones for two years (one year on the other devices) was sweet. I hope they can keep that with whoever they hook up with. Honestly I didn’t expect this to last long. Apple makes it really easy to pay the card before the interest piles up. I barely pay any interest on the card.
Well, time to gear up tomorrow to either buy GS or AAPL on the dip…
Personally, I hope Apple can talk Amex to taking Goldman’s place.
If they dropped GS then they already inked a deal with a new partner and will probably announce before market open tmrw.
Will existing customers be issued new physical cards after the transition?
Other than paying off my large Mac purchases over time, I’ve found very little use for this card in the wild.
Bank of America select cash back does 3% on all online purchases, including apple.
Chase freedom does 1.5% on everything. (which is a negligible difference from the 2% Apple Pay perk)
The combination really puts apple only perk as 0% APR.
I’m sure someone will vehemently tell me how wrong I am but, this is basically an in store credit card good for deferring payments only.
It’s phenomenally useful as a card programmed conveniently into all my Apple devices and I use it nearly exclusively overseas, especially in Japan.
Citi Double Cash is also a no fee card that gets flat 2% back on everything.
The Apple Card just truly isn’t a competitive product for anything other than the 0% financing and 3% cash back at Apple, and even that isn’t particularly standout, as you mentioned.
Personally - I like the UI of all the wallet and payment methods as well as how trivial it is to dispute and how smooth the process is.
It’s something all providers should strive to be.
But raw perks relative to others? It’s… standard. At best.
Amex has way better benefits for sure.
Although Apple gave me a HUGE amount on my card - like so much that if I were to max it out there’s no way I could afford to pay it back. Helps me credit though, so I’m not complaining.
edit: Oh and the auto-transfer to savings is sexy as well as how trivial it is to add or withdraw.
I got it for Uber 3% cash back. Then the pandemic happened and I stopped taking rides. Then I got the Chase Reserve which has 3% cashback on all travel (including Uber) and 10% for Lyft. So now I just use it for app purchases. For buying Apple products themselves I buy Apple gift cards from Target at a 5% discount. So that’s 5% cash back which beats what you are doing.
Love how people spin things. You say 2% is a negligible difference from 1.5%, but people will shoot you dead if you dare use the physical card to only get 1% (which is a negligible difference from 1.5%)
I say use what card works for you.
There are tons of flat 2% cards these days. Nerdwallet has some nice write ups. Apple card was always about convenience for iPhones, and 2% flat wasn’t as common when it launched
Don’t forget purchase protections, extended warranties, point transfers, all of the bonus features provided by competitors even at 1.5% CB. Some offering more CB for other categories.
Apple Card didn’t have an advantage in any category other than convenience.
The only benefits Apple Card has that others might not is no foreign transactions fees on a no AF card, wider acceptance of MC than AMEX, ease of use in the Wallet app, and 0% financing with 3% cash back on Apple products.
The no foreign charge works really well for me though. I’m not in the States anymore.
I pretty much only use it where they don’t accept my Amex because I can at least get the Apple Pay Cash back