Apple and Goldman Sachs Expected to Launch Credit Card Later This Year With Unique Features in Wallet App

[69Mustang]

He knew how to interpret your post. Your use of the word was still incorrect.

Sure it was incorrect. That was the intent. It was incorrect on purpose.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Will the card have a notch?

 

[iGeek2014]

Again I suspect this will limited to the U.S.

If it launched in Europe I suspect any features would be limited given the cap on Interchange fees?

 

[Steve.P.JobsFan]

https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/financing

Apple has had an arrangement with Barclay for a long time. I don't know if it actually says Apple on the card itself though.

It does.

Personally, I think the card is trash for anything that ISN'T a purchase at Apple. 16, 22, or 28% interest (!!) on regular purchases, charges a foreign transaction fee, a balance transfer fee, etc.

The ONLY reason I have this card is that Apple purchases are financed at 0% on this card. Buying a new iPhone or Mac? You get 0% interest for 18 months. Their website says this only applies on purchases in the first 30 days, but I've had this card since 2013 and have always received 0% at Apple.

Not that I advise buying things on credit when you can't afford to pay for them, but if you can pay it off within the 0% promotional period, then I suppose it isn't the worst you could do.

 

[ksec]

This is odd...Goldman Sachs, at least in the US, doesn't have a large credit card business. That's a lot of overhead to create, unless Apple is taking that on.

2% cash back on most purchases is good.

However....how do all the other benefits match up? My Citi 2-year extended warranty has been money for me.

Is not that they don't have a "large" Credit Card Business. They had NO Credit Card business. And that is why they are willing to work with Apple. They have no legacy infrastructure to concern with.

 

[Vjosullivan]

----- -----

 

[tmiw]

Anyone recommend a good cash back card that has 2% or more on all purchases? I have excellent credit.

Citi Double Cash seems to be what people go with, or Fidelity's card.

 

[brian3uk]

Interesting idea. The Marcus/GS savings account is nice, and they also own the Clarity Money app which is popular and I also like. Apple's partnership with Barclays has always been lackluster and financing promotions are unpredictable. Best Buy's credit card has much better financing plans so I usually use that to buy Apple stuff instead of my Barclays Apple card. Hopefully they convert Barclays cardholders to the new product.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Gross.
Really Apple?

This is the sort of business you want to be involved with?

"Teaming up with Goldman Sachs" is gross just on its face quite honestly.

 

[bgalakazam]

0% APR financing from Apple store and apple.com ?

 

[AngstyKylo]

Goldman Sach's has terrible optics - at least in the U.S. (they were actively playing both sides of the field knowingly helping to drive the U.S. housing market over the cliff and betting to profit off the crash, 5crew the country, that caused the financial crisis back in 2008 or so). When it comes to taking care of the customer or not doing something illegal - history has shown they actively choose the 3rd option which is do what makes the most money if they think they can get away with it (if that includes actively misguiding customers so be it).

http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/

Having Apple team with them is very disappointing - its almost like having Apple partner with the mob on a credit card - especially since Goldman is not a normal bank and doesn't normally do credit cards (that I know of). There must be something special in it for Goldman, for them to be doing this....I'd much rather have Apple stick with Barclay.

Apple is pretty much a status brand, so this is a smart move for them. Their surface ethics are on point, but you don't get to be the biggest without having bendy morals when it suits.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

i'm guessing goldman sachs was the fallback plan, once magnises was no longer an option.

 

[macguru212]

I have to wonder whether by 'spending goals' they mean 'spend at least £X,000 per month in credit' (preferably on Apple products and services) gotta close those rings

It's a disgrace what Apple has evolved into. I know Steve wanted Apple to be the American Sony, but FFS not this.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Mint app does exactly that by giving you a full dashboard of all your accounts and bills with no need to get a special credit card...nice try Apple, Next!

 

[Rigby]

Good catch, “Marcus” is their pilot program and test vehicle for devs working on the new services platform.

I just remembered that they also acquired a credit card startup last year:

https://www.fastcompany.com/40523758/goldman-sachs-buys-credit-card-startup-final

Sounds like it could be the basis of this new Apple co-branded card:

"Final, founded in 2014, offered consumers a credit card with digital features designed to protect against fraud and theft. For example, the company could generate unique virtual cards specific to each consumer-merchant relationship. It also sent push notifications for purchase receipts, allowing consumers to carefully monitor their spending."

 

[mattopotamus]

If it truly offers 2%CB plus a little extra for Apple purchases, I'd switch over from my Citi DoubleCash as my primary card in a heart beat. Let's hope Apple can get us that good of a deal.

I've been eyeing Goldman Sach's online savings account (Marcus) anyway. Who knows, they might make me a full fledged GS customer. I assume that would be the goal for GS.

Now all they need in the mix is a high-interest or rewards checking account with check deposit and bill pay.

As tempting as cash back is, if you do any bit of traveling the points offered by hotel cards, airline cards, or the high annual fee cards trump the 2% CB by a large margin.

 

[Gasu E.]

Well it makes sense that they would get into the credit card business given that you'll need to borrow all the money you can get your hands on to afford the latest iPhone/ device these days...!

"The more you spend, the more you save."

 

[randian]

Anyone recommend a good cash back card that has 2% or more on all purchases? I have excellent credit.

PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa: 2% cash back, no foreign transaction fees
Barclays Uber Visa: 4% cb on dining, 3% cb on airfare and hotels

 

[odin]

Not thrilled with Goldman here. Would have preferred Amex since I pump crazy amounts through them for points and benefits each year. Maybe it’ll be a pilot program others can join as well.

Some of you need to get down off that high horse too. There are lots of people like me who pump every single thing possible through a card and still do not carry a balance ever. So those extra points or cents for movies, bass, dining, or groceries is super helpful. Getting 15% off insurance billed to it for a few months was awesome. There are tons of things like this that are valuable.

 

[0924487]

How about expanding Pay Cash to countries other than the US?

They need to register as a financial institution in those regions first. In Canada here, it’s not easy. Local big banks don’t want them here.
[doublepost=1550826361][/doublepost]

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Innovation can differentiate You, neither hw nor ‚service‘. Service is copyable much easier than hw.
We need some good hw companies too, it’s a thinking failure to expect every company a service company.
Apple was never good at Services, and will not be, probably. They were great in integrating hardware in an inferior service structure - but they left that track. Now they are just inferior in everything except airPods, which are mainly hw.

You don’t understand the concept of IRR, or more simply profit in time-valued dollar per uncertainty-adjusted dollar invested. Apple is losing pricing power in hardware, that means the profit margins will drop below 38% redline. That means shares will not grow as faster, or even as fast, that means valuation will decrease because speculative future earn will be adjusted down, that means multipliers will decreases. That’s disaster for shareholders and Tim the CEO.
[doublepost=1550827466][/doublepost]

These businesses don't really have high margins, I wonder how Apple expects to have higher margins and offer an attractive business proposition.

And Goldman Sachs is not really an expert partner. They are an investment bank not a retail bank (and shouldn't ever be allowed to be both but that is another issue...).

Apple will be the retail bank, and GS will be the bulk insurer and clearinghouse for MasterCard on Apple’s behalf in bulk with randomized transaction tokens, not individual cards, and Apple will handle the merchant and the user, can’t you see it? So who handles the bulk processing really doesn’t matter because it would be like what your credit company sees when you use PayPal but with everything showing up as Apple Financial Hx9rcne82jncjsoe84h. It doesn’t matter... GS will take the hit when a user defaults or filed a chargeback, etc., since they are the bulk insurer, but that’s their job as a investment bank anyway. They will likely handle insurance contracts like purchase security and extended warranty, etc..

 

[truthertech]

This is odd...Goldman Sachs, at least in the US, doesn't have a large credit card business. That's a lot of overhead to create, unless Apple is taking that on.

2% cash back on most purchases is good.

However....how do all the other benefits match up? My Citi 2-year extended warranty has been money for me.

Actually not a lot of overhead on a relative basis, limited mainly to incremental support, and advertising which Apple should be able to push much of through it's own existing network. With 99% of all transactions automated, the marginal cost per new customer for GS is extremely low, and is largely limited to customer service adds to assist with some needing assistance with initial sign ups, and some increase in already established customer support centers. When considered on a per transaction cost of likely billions of annual transactions, nearly zero.

 

[enc0re]

As tempting as cash back is, if you do any bit of traveling the points offered by hotel cards, airline cards, or the high annual fee cards trump the 2% CB by a large margin.

Of course you use a separate card for traveling, dining, gas, and sometimes entertainment.

But for a bread and butter everyday spending card, 2% is about as good as it gets at the moment.

Gods I miss the early 2000s and their straight 5% CB on everything cards.

 

[Abazigal]

Money is in services. All the big companies are making money in services.
Apple is the oddball out making their billions on hardware, but signs point to that not lasting. Hardware can become a mass produced race to the bottom commodity when you can't differentiate yourself from the competition.

Apple isn’t a hardware company. It does what it does best - take an emerging product category with a frustrating user experience and deliver a polished product made possible by its control over both the hardware and software.

That’s why Apple products are much less prone to commoditisation compared to the competition. They can copy the hardware, but not the software.

In this regard, it would be more accurate to state that Apple sells you an experience.

 

[prasand]

Honestly, despite the negatives about Goldman Sachs, I’ve been looking forward to this for awhile. Was hoping it would’ve happened when the last iPhone flagships dropped, oh well. *shrugs*

Aside the cash management vehicle of the frequent 0% balance transfer offers and blank checks Barclay sends in the mail to facilitate said transfers (which you can use those checks as a loan, fully rounding it out as a cash management vehicle), there’s little reason to actually use a Barclay card for Apple purchases. Unlike Chase Sapphire and AMEX, there’s no extended warranty, no purchase protection, and the purchase APR is ridiculous (surpassing even the premium cards, as AMEX Platinum’s Pay Over Time is 20.49%, Chase Sapphire is 22.24%, but Barclays is 28.8% with nothing premium about that silver looking plastic card justifying it). Periodic Apple store gift cards from Barclays are nice, but transferable points would be more useable and cash back more worthwhile.

Hopefully the incentives on Apple’s card are more fitting of a real Apple card (which the Barclay card is not, it’s an Apple Rewards card in the form of Apple Store gift cards, not an actual credit card from Apple). If so, I’ll stop doing the AMEX/Chase point / cash back purchase protection to Barclay balance transfer dance, and straight-up use it for all Apple-related purchases. Even an Apple Care incentive would make it significantly more worthwhile (premium care for Apple products purchased using Apple’s card makes sense).

Granted, I’ll probably get the card regardless (hopefully it’s metal or they have an annual fee metal version), despite my strong 1980’s anti-MasterCard / pro-Visa bias, lol. *sighs* (seriously though Apple, MasterCard?? smh, Visa to Visa Signature is a better upgrade path for brand identity)

 

[Tapiture]

Goldman Sachs? Of all the companies to partner with. Goldman Sachs.

/walks away slowly shaking head in disappointment

Goldman Sachs is a literal hot garbage organization.

Yeah the decision to go with Goldman left me scratching my head. Apple is supposed to be about artists and professionals, Goldman just seems contrary to their mission. I would have liked to see them partner up with American Express or Capital One. I might've gotten the card if that was the case.