Apple Announces Its Own Credit Card: the Apple Card

Apple is entering the finance market with a new credit card called Apple Card. The card is integrated into the iPhone, and it’s based on Mastercard.

You can simply sign-up from the Wallet app on iOS and get instant access to your Apple Card without waiting for it to actually arrive. The card can be used to make payments worldwide as well. Apple is improving the Wallet app to add additional functionalities that help you manage your card.

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In fact, the integration is so nicely done that you can simply message Apple to manage your Apple Card. You can simply do things like message Apple to change your address or check something about your card, for example.

Apple Card also uses machine learning to display actual, useful details about your transactions. It shows your spending trends, as well as letting you categorise your spending, etc. The service comes with rewards too — it’s called Daily Cash. Instead of giving you points, Apple will simply give you money every day you spend money. “It’s cash, like real cash” You get 2% of your purchase amount every day in Daily Cash with payments made with Apple Pay. And when you purchase things directly from Apple, you get 3% daily cash on your spending. There is no limit on how much Daily Cash you can receive, either.

There are a bunch of different features that help you spend wisely based on your spending and track your existing spending.

Apple Card also doesn’t come with any fees — no late fees, no annual fees, no international fees, or any other fees at all. The company says it wants to offer the lowest interest rates in the industry, and so it partnered with Goldman Sachs for the issuing bank of the Apple Card.

And yes, there is a physical card. It’s made out of  Titanium, and it’s the most secure card with no card number, no CVV code at the back, no signature, or no expiry date. Apple Card will be available later this Summer in the United States:

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Conversation 45 comments

  • jgraebner

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 1:55 pm

    <p>Only Apple would spend that much time in a big product announcement event to introduce their own branded MasterCard…</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415240">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>Only Apple would integrate something like a credit card into their system like that. There are a few aspects that this does that no other credit card does.</p>

  • skane2600

    25 March, 2019 - 2:02 pm

    <p>Yes, the card is so secure that most of the places online you shop at won't be able to accept it.</p>

    • dontbe evil

      25 March, 2019 - 2:33 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415241">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>amazing</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 3:21 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415241">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm guessing that there will be quite a few physical stores that won't accept a card with no information printed on the card and no signature panel. It will be an interesting testament to Apple's influence if they can convince a lot of places to accept this.</p>

      • skane2600

        25 March, 2019 - 3:32 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415274">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes, and there's still a lot of places that don't support Apple Pay despite it being around for 4 years.</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2019 - 7:37 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415274">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>Most stores these days don't even look at your credit card. You just stick it in the machine and take it out when the machine is done with it.</p>

        • jgraebner

          Premium Member
          26 March, 2019 - 1:21 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#415388">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>Chip card certainly is becoming more common, but there are still a lot of places that have older readers or have the chip reader disabled. Gas stations, in particular, rarely use chip or contactless payments. If the Apple card has a mag stripe, this will be a smaller problem, but it wasn't clear from the presentation if it does or not.</p><p><br></p><p>Restaurants might be the biggest issue. The majority of table service places still take the card away to process it and bring back a signature slip.</p>

    • provision l-3

      25 March, 2019 - 7:57 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415241">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Per the keynote, the card number, expiration and CVV are all in the wallet app so you would still be able to use the card online even when a retailer doesn't accept Apple Pay. </p>

    • minke

      25 March, 2019 - 7:59 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415241">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've tried Google Pay a few times and it has failed every time. I could almost hear the audible groans from the cashier when I tried it. I really don't see any "convenience" over using my card, which is faster and doesn't involve me having to fiddle with anything on my phone.</p>

      • evox81

        Premium Member
        25 March, 2019 - 10:02 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415397">In reply to Minke:</a></em></blockquote><p>Contactless payment is almost always faster than chip-based transactions. And if you're getting failures with Google Pay, something is wrong. The first few times I used it I had to get the biometric authentication right (trick is to unlock with bio before touching the phone to the terminal) but after that… It's been flawless. </p>

        • skane2600

          27 March, 2019 - 7:41 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#415417">In reply to evox81:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think the difference is negligible. I've also seen people fumble their phone while attempting to pay and needing help from the staff to get it to work. </p>

      • jgraebner

        Premium Member
        26 March, 2019 - 1:18 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415397">In reply to Minke:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is definitely something wrong with your phone or the configuration of Google Play. I use it all the time on my Pixel 3 XL and rarely have any trouble with it.</p>

    • locust infested orchard inc

      25 March, 2019 - 9:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415241">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Indeed. Without a signature on the back of the card, I'd simply sign transactions as Steve Jobs. The sales assistant wouldn't be any the wiser.</p>

  • Mark from CO

    25 March, 2019 - 2:26 pm

    <p><strong style="color: rgb(13, 68, 99); background-color: transparent;">Mehedi:</strong></p><p><br></p><p><strong style="color: rgb(13, 68, 99); background-color: transparent;">A bit too much gushing on this. Though I know millions will flock to this, I don't know any good reasons why someone would tie themselves so closely to one company that is trying to touch (control) as many aspects of your life as possible. Apple will fleece you on the price of the goods it sells you, while saying, what a great deal you have on the financing side. You will be paying for all these niceties! I'm curious as well, regarding the Goldman tie-in. I'm assuming Goldman will be doing all the heaving lifting for Apple on the credit side. Don't you want to know how much Apple will be paying Goldman?</strong></p>

  • bluvg

    25 March, 2019 - 2:29 pm

    <p>Interesting. But why titanium??</p>

    • skane2600

      25 March, 2019 - 3:02 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415254">In reply to bluvg:</a></em></blockquote><p>For the same reason there was a precision Mac cube – form over function has been an Apple core principle ever since Woz was out of the loop.</p>

      • bluvg

        25 March, 2019 - 3:28 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415265">In reply to skane2600:</a></em></blockquote><p>Round mouse! </p>

    • AnOldAmigaUser

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 3:24 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415254">In reply to bluvg:</a></em></blockquote><p>Because someone else got black stainless steel first?</p>

    • locust infested orchard inc

      25 March, 2019 - 9:26 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415254">In reply to bluvg:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Titanium ? Is that the best Apple can do ? The iSheeple are dismayed the physical card isn't made from platinum.</p>

      • Greg Green

        28 March, 2019 - 9:42 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415410">In reply to locust infested orchard inc:</a></em></blockquote><p>You were talking about professionalisms on the web a few days ago, but apparently you don’t apply those standards to yourself. Or do you share your login with someone much more mature than you?</p>

  • Yaggs

    25 March, 2019 - 2:52 pm

    <p>Apple just figured they should get a cut of the rest of the money you spend everywhere. Not a bad idea for them… </p>

  • AnOldAmigaUser

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 3:23 pm

    <p><em>"…</em><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the most secure card with no card number, no CVV code at the back, no signature, or no expiry date."</em></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Wonder how this is going to work at the point of sale. If this is a PIN and Chip card, there are not many (any?) vendors in the US that can accept it. If it is just a Chip card, it is no more or less secure than the existing ones. If it eschews the mag strip, devices that require that, like gas pumps, and several commuter rail systems I know of are out. That leaves one to use Apple Pay, which is OK where it is accepted, but that is not a universal thing.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I like the idea, but it is probably a bit ahead of the curve given the slow adoption of new payment methods by most retailers.</span></p>

    • stvbnsn

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 5:04 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415276">In reply to AnOldAmigaUser:</a></em></blockquote><p>Where are you at a place taking a chip card that doesn't have a keypad? I preferred the swipe and go that Visa had going and I like the ones that just chip press enter and go, but I haven't come across a gas pump or retailer that had a chip reader that didn't have a keypad integrated into it. </p>

      • jgraebner

        Premium Member
        26 March, 2019 - 1:05 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415328">In reply to stvbnsn:</a></em></blockquote><p>Having a keypad doesn't necessarily mean that it is capable of using chip &amp; pin. That feature still has to be turned on and, so far, it isn't widely used in the US.</p>

      • Patrick3D

        27 March, 2019 - 11:38 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415328">In reply to stvbnsn:</a></em></blockquote><p>The gas station I go to has chip readers with keypads but they taped over the chip slot and wrote a message "No pin, please swipe". I've been to a single gas station that had Apple Pay support at the pump and that was it. As it is, I've had problems with my primary card not being read by chip readers. The surface of the chips are not very durable and are wearing off in my wallet.</p>

  • mestiphal

    25 March, 2019 - 4:22 pm

    <p>45% interest rate cause Apple?</p>

  • jatinder37

    25 March, 2019 - 5:21 pm

    <p>The problem here is apple fan boys will flock to this regardless if it's actually any good. This is what frustrates me about apple mediocre to half decent services and products but yet they are the pinnacle of society. Personally I want apple to have that major failure that every big tech company has had and that includes Microsoft Google and Amazon </p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:32 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415333">In reply to jatinder37:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's sad that you are rooting for people to fail.</p>

      • jatinder37

        25 March, 2019 - 8:06 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#415386">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm not rooting for people to fall but a company who is almost a dictatorship in a modern day era. Apple decide what is best for you and not you as the end user. I'm not rooting but saying companies only grow when they understand failure and that is natural consequence of life. Looking at your comments you are clearly a apple fan boy and not a tech fan boy</p>

        • jecouch66

          Premium Member
          28 March, 2019 - 1:41 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#415398">In reply to jatinder37:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>What frustrates me is the irony of you calling someone out as a 'fanboy' when you are doing what was pointed out.&nbsp;'Apple decide what is best for you and not you as the end user.'&nbsp;Well, if Apple's customers don't like that, how did they become this tech giant at whose windmills you now so earnestly tilt?&nbsp;Apple doesn't decide anything for the end user.&nbsp;Apple builds hardware and provides services and sets a price for them that maximizes profit while making it affordable for the market they are in.&nbsp;The end user simply finds value in the products and services offered and buys it – or not.&nbsp;There are plenty of cheaper, quality products one can buy, so there is no force here, no monopoly.&nbsp;It's an open market, and the market says "hey, we like these products and services enough to pay extra for it."&nbsp;Is some of that for prestige points?&nbsp;Sure, but Apple isn't the only product bought for that reason.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>What happened when Apple started pricing its phones too high?&nbsp;Demand began to fall (circa 2015) and continues to do so.&nbsp;Apple thought too highly of its products, and the market responded.&nbsp;Apple will do like every other company; it will deny the inevitable for a few years, then it will begin to market those products differently, invest in new markets, and most likely it will begin to lower prices to increase volume.&nbsp; There is no need for you to wish it a major failure and the layoffs that would come with it.&nbsp;The market will punish arrogance; but what you call 'fanboyism,' most economists call brand loyalty.&nbsp;Brands have that loyalty for a reason.&nbsp;In any case, no one is forcing you to buy Apple devices or services.&nbsp;So your vitriol seems unwarranted.&nbsp;But hey, you have every right to the opinion, and I'm not suggesting otherwise.&nbsp;But maybe with a little more information, you might change it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>I would be quite interested in their credit card. Not because it's an Apple credit card, but because 'The company says it wants to offer the lowest interest rates in the industry.' Why would I not want the card with the lowest rate in the industry? That seems like its just an excellent business decision (depending on one's view of credit, of course).</p>

  • IanYates82

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 7:19 pm

    <p>This cash you get back, is it actual cash (albeit paid back as a deduction off your owings on the card) that you can spend on anything? </p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      25 March, 2019 - 7:32 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415368">In reply to IanYates82:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yes. I think it gets applied as Apple Pay Cash which you can transfer to your bank account if you want. Or you can just apply it to the bill.</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 7:39 pm

    <p>I think I'll get it and just use it when I buy Apple stuff (App Store, Apple Music, and most likely Apple TV+). One way to track all these subscriptions is to use one card for that purpose.</p>

  • Lordbaal

    25 March, 2019 - 8:45 pm

    <p>It says <span style="background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">Variable APRs range from 13.24% to 24.24% based on creditworthiness.</span></p><p>Late or missed payments will result in additional interest accumulating toward your balance. I'd call the a late fee.</p><p><br></p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      26 March, 2019 - 11:53 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415401">In reply to Lordbaal:</a></em></blockquote><p>That's how all credit cards work. If you don't pay the balance you get hit with more interest.</p>

  • RonV42

    Premium Member
    25 March, 2019 - 10:01 pm

    <p>I guess all the Apple Card folks will be going into the gas station to pay since most pumps don't have chip readers.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      26 March, 2019 - 11:50 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415416">In reply to RonV42:</a></em></blockquote><p>I used one recently that had Apple Pay. I actually think that makes the most sense since it won't get all dirty in the card slot. Also do we know it doesn't have a mag stripe on the back. They never showed the back of the card.</p>

  • codymesh

    25 March, 2019 - 10:14 pm

    <p>This looks like it's locked to Apple Pay…if there's no number on the card, how can it be used in non-Apple Pay sites? </p><p>The card settles offline payments (in the case of tap to pay not working), but now we have an awkward problem of this card making online payments less compatible.</p>

    • provision l-3

      25 March, 2019 - 10:47 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#415420">In reply to codymesh:</a></em></blockquote><p>This was answered during the presentation. The information you would normally get off the card (number, expiration and CVV) are in the the wallet app. So you would use those for a non-Apple Pay site.</p>

      • pecosbob04

        25 March, 2019 - 11:35 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#415436"><em>In reply to provision l-3:</em></a><em> Doesn't the card have a chip? I would think it would work in any newer generation card reader.</em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><em><span class="ql-cursor"></span> </em></blockquote><p><br></p>

        • provision l-3

          26 March, 2019 - 7:56 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#415440">In reply to pecosbob04:</a></em></blockquote><p>The question, as I understood it, wasn't about about physical retail but websites that don't currently accept Apple Pay like Amazon. For those you would still need the card number and cvv.</p>

          • pecosbob04

            26 March, 2019 - 9:03 am

            <blockquote><a href="#415504"><em>In reply to provision l-3:</em></a><em>Gotcha, I wasn't thinking about that.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • bsd107

    Premium Member
    28 March, 2019 - 3:28 am

    <p>No late fees?</p>

  • Jorge Garcia

    29 March, 2019 - 3:19 am

    <p>I really don't understand how so many people are so willing to give up so much of themselves to ONE electronics company, all for the inherent desire to "fit in" and be cool, really. I hope his blows up in their face, but I know it won't.</p>

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