Apple Card 0% Financing Now Available for Mac, iPad, and More

[compwiz1202]

I’m not sure what you’re talking about. You incur a cost as soon as something is charged to your card. Apple is trying to play a little game by conflating the charge with required payments. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t need to use such confusing wording because what they’re offering is nothing new - it is the standard “no interest for X months.”

The biggest trap with those is that you need to watch the promo like a hawk and not even miss a cent, or they will hit you with all the accrued interest. Other less common trick I've seen is when they don't apply payments to the promo until the minimum is met.
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I’m really torn whether I’d rather pay for something all at once or a little at a time. Pros and cons to each.

I’m leaning toward getting the payment over with and moving on, but paying a little at a time with no interest is appealing no doubt.

The cash back part is a decent perk, and you can always put the money you didn't spend now somewhere to gain interest; although, the rates on more liquid investments aren't like they used to be decades ago. Guess you have those half decent online only savings accounts.
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Yep same here. I don't have that much of a credit line.

Do they give any valid reasons? I guess the only valid one I could accept for sure would be not six months since opening or whatever. Can get other cards, but AC/GS denies me with lying reasons like severe delinquency. Haven't been late on anything in years. At least put true stuff like too much credit used or such.
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Who here has socked away $14,000 into their savings account over the years to plop it all down on one Mac Pro?

I didn't think so

FTFY

 

[PickUrPoison]

I’m not sure what you’re talking about. You incur a cost as soon as something is charged to your card. Apple is trying to play a little game by conflating the charge with required payments. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t need to use such confusing wording because what they’re offering is nothing new - it is the standard “no interest for X months.”

I’m not sure what you’re talking about. If you pay 0, your cost is 0. It’s only the credit limit that gets hit for the full amount. It costs you $100/month for 12 months, not $1,200 on day one. As Apple clearly states, however, the full amount is deducted from your credit limi

Just admit you mis-read the original post and didn’t realize the first part of the sentence referred to the credit limit 🙄

Your original post, where you claim that the sentence is self-contradictory, makes no sense unless you in fact didn’t realize the first part of the sentence referred to the credit limit.

Everything you‘ve written since then is just a pathetic—and transparent—attempt to save face. The more you insist on trying to justify your initial mis-read of the sentence, the more ridiculous this gets.

You say “Apple is trying to play a little game by conflating the charge with required payments.” What’s the game? That statement makes zero sense.

Stop digging. It’s really getting quite embarrassing. As Apple says, the cost is deducted from the credit limit, but spread over time. You can keep trying to look for ways that it’s possible to misinterpret that, but why?

 

[PickUrPoison]

<snip>
But it’s not a situation I would choose to put myself into, such as worshippers of Ramsey foolishly do.

Agreed. Ramsey throws the baby out with the bath water. Deliberately trying to live without a credit score is a fool’s errand.

Try renting a house or apt with no credit score and you’ll see just how limited your options will be. Apartment managers don’t do “manual underwriting”; at a complex of any size, decisioning is done by a third party due to fair housing concerns. They’ve get other applicants with great credit, why take a chance on you?

Without good credit, consumers are also stuck paying the highest rates for things like car insurance, and one can easily get turned down for a job, especially those involving finance.

You don’t need to go into debt to have great credit. Get a few cards, even with low limits, charge $20 on them every few months and pay it off when the bill comes. Simple. 720+ credit score in less than a year.

If you want the best rates on insurance or a mortgage; if you want to be able to rent a car, a hotel room or apartment; if you don’t want to be needlessly turned down for jobs or housing, US consumers NEED NEED NEED good credit. Period.

 

[goonie4life9]

You’re right and that makes it even worse. I think some people are going to be surprised when the full amount hits their card immediately, because Apple says the cost will be “spread over time.” Alternatively, I can see a good number of people with the automatic “pay my balance” accidentally paying it all off in the first month.

The biggest trap with those is that you need to watch the promo like a hawk and not even miss a cent, or they will hit you with all the accrued interest. Other less common trick I've seen is when they don't apply payments to the promo until the minimum is met.
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[damphoose]

You’re right and that makes it even worse. I think some people are going to be surprised when the full amount hits their card immediately, because Apple says the cost will be “spread over time.” Alternatively, I can see a good number of people with the automatic “pay my balance” accidentally paying it all off in the first month.

That is not how it works. The poster above has a more detailed explanation but in short, the purchase is deducted from your limit but not added to your balance. The taxes are added to your balance immediately but the monthly installment only hit your balance monthly.
I know because I just did it.

 

[SocialKonstruct]

I will see how this works if Apple has something cool that I want to toss onto my Apple Card

 

[goonie4life9]

No, that’s exactly the issue. Apple claims the cost is “spread over time” but you are, in fact, charged the full cost right away (for credit cards, cost = any charge that reduces your available credit). At best, Apple may have just been sloppy in their wording but surely we can expect them to be more clear and transparent.

That is not how it works. The poster above has a more detailed explanation but in short, the purchase is deducted from your limit but not added to your balance. The taxes are added to your balance immediately but the monthly installment only hit your balance monthly.
I know because I just did it.

 

[damphoose]

No, that’s exactly the issue. Apple claims the cost is “spread over time” but you are, in fact, charged the full cost right away (for credit cards, cost = any charge that reduces your available credit). At best, Apple may have just been sloppy in their wording but surely we can expect them to be more clear and transparent.

Other than posting pictures of my personal information I don’t know how to make it any more clear. Again I made this purchase so I am not basing this on the theoretical but on what actually happened. I have my macbook in hand and the info in my wallet app.

My balance is only the taxes. NOT the whole amount of the purchase. The monthly payment nor the total purchase was added to my balance. Again, not added. So my total balance show ~$125 (This is the tax), not ~$1,500. My total IS deducted from my total available credit. This I think is the source of the confusion. Your limit is decreased by the total value of the macbook but the balance is not increased by the total value. The first installment will hit my balance on the next billing cycle which is 6/30.

If Apple did not reduce your limit by total purchase someone could essentially turn a $1,000 limit into a $10,000 limit. You could buy 10 macbooks for a total of $10,000 only using a $1,000 limit since only need enough limit to cover the monthly installment. There would be widespread abuse if Apple did it this way.

 

[goonie4life9]

I’m not disagreeing with what you said, I’m disagreeing with how Apple framed it. You incur the full cost right away (your limit is decreased) but Apple falsely claimed the is cost is “spread over time.” What you’ve experienced is the standard “no interest for X.” Apple could have just said that but they didn’t, which raises suspicion about their motives.

Other than posting pictures of my personal information I don’t know how to make it any more clear. Again I made this purchase so I am not basing this on the theoretical but on what actually happened. I have my macbook in hand and the info in my wallet app.

My balance is only the taxes. NOT the whole amount of the purchase. The monthly payment nor the total purchase was added to my balance. Again, not added. So my total balance show ~$125 (This is the tax), not ~$1,500. My total IS deducted from my total available credit. This I think is the source of the confusion. Your limit is decreased by the total value of the macbook but the balance is not increased by the total value. The first installment will hit my balance on the next billing cycle which is 6/30.

If Apple did not reduce your limit by total purchase someone could essentially turn a $1,000 limit into a $10,000 limit. You could buy 10 macbooks for a total of $10,000 only using a $1,000 limit since only need enough limit to cover the monthly installment. There would be widespread abuse if Apple did it this way.

 

[Imory]

Not sure how much time value there is in this era of zero / negative interest rates.

Also, if you don’t have the money to buy in full at time of purchase, then you’ll have additional stress until it’s paid off.

Personally, I won’t go into debt over anything that isn’t a house or primary vehicle. I like having zero credit card debt. Saved $100/month for 3 years to buy my last MBP in 2017. I still used a credit card in order to get cash back and double the factory warranty though.

The concept of time value of money applies to everything that can be considered an investment. Investing in equities would a pretty big one and they certainly benefit from the low interest rates.

Why are you projecting the stress you would feel? Using credit and interest fee loans is solely beneficial if you know how to use it. Clearly, you missed my point entirely and don’t understand the meaning of time value of money at all.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

The concept of time value of money applies to everything that can be considered an investment. Investing in equities would a pretty big one and they certainly benefit from the low interest rates.

Why are you projecting the stress you would feel? Using credit and interest fee loans is solely beneficial if you know how to use it. Clearly, you missed my point entirely and don’t understand the meaning of time value of money at all.

Note the copyright date on the attached image. I’ve understood FV / PV for a very long time. This table has lived in my desk since my accounting 201 class.

 

[TonyC28]

I like the 0% financing but I hate how the amount financed is not reflected in my balance.

 

[compwiz1202]

Generally speaking, most people don't have the means to fully pay off a purchase above a few hundred bucks. That's the whole point of credit- it makes paying for items less stressful, not more. Paying $100/mo for 12 months is a lot easier than having to lay out $1200 at the time of purchase. Not to mention, you incur less volatile swings in your personal finances.

Yea it depends if you are reasonably charging within your income, or you just charge everything and max everything out. I honestly think credit checks are too lenient on debt to income ratio. If I would go out today and max out every single credit account, I'd have absolutely no change of affording to pay the payments. But then they will deny for things that around even true like serious delinquency; although, I haven't been late in years.

 

[compwiz1202]

I always use a credit card. But THIS is the ultimate problem with credit cards. If someone doesn’t have the money to cover what they are buying, they are playing with fire. Everyone does their own thing, I understand that. But then I have NO sympathy when they are crying about being $20,000 in debt. Credit cards are a business to make money off people with no money.

Some say this is a “service” to poor people to provide them with luxuries they otherwise couldn’t afford. I think it’s predatory.

Maybe I’m a hypocrite, I use them for every purchase I make, but if you don’t use them intelligently, they own you and become the worst thing you could do if you only have a couple hundred bucks. ESPECIALLY when talking Apple2020 prices.

Credit is part of why prices are so high. People don't just have the cash on hand anymore, and won't be able to buy stuff without having the cash or wanting to save, so businesses would need to lower prices to sell things. Also doesn't help that some people have so much $$$, they don't care how much stuff is. That drives up prices also.

 

[compwiz1202]

I have a Best Buy card, and make occasional purchases with it. Always with zero financing and sale. Of all the cards I've owned, none have made it as transparent and easy to log in and see exactly which promotional purchases you have made, and exactly when the period ends. Makes it very easy to plan payment amounts to make sure you pay off before the promotion period ends. Very helpful.
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Not just semantic hair splitting. When I read the article that part was unclear to me as well. By how it's written it is saying that the full cost is immediately reflected in a reduced available balance, and then payments are applied over time.

Yes BB was our only choice for the 0% for GPS only, since Apple doesn't offer it outside of using their card, and carriers only sell cellular which is $100 more plus monthly for a plan.

 

[compwiz1202]

I like the 0% financing but I hate how the amount financed is not reflected in my balance.

Weird any other card with the 0% shows it in the balance, and then on the statement It should when the promos end, and how much is left. Does Apple up the minimum payment so you are paying equally, or can you pay the regular minimum until the end and the lump sum pay the rest off?

 

[compwiz1202]

Yeah but that’s how the BarclaysCard and other cards work too. You buy an Apple product and your balance goes up and your available credit goes down. What Apple is doing is actually helpful. It’s annoying that someone’s whole limit will be used up depending on the purchase, but it is what it is.

Also, people signing up for this card specifically for this promo will likely only want to use it for a purchase like this and not use it again until it’s paid off.

Plus I don't believe there is any early pay penalty. You could just pay it off right after you buy the item and still get the cash back.

 

[compwiz1202]

Would like to use it but for some reason GS only gave me a $3,000 credit limit when I applied last August although all my other cards have $12,000 or more. I like to use my Apple Card for my daily purchases and pay it off every month so if I were to get a $2,800 MBP with this, that would mean I would be left with a whopping $200 on my Apple Card to spend, a little more every month obviously but not at all sufficiently to cover my spending so then I’d have to use another card which I don’t want to do.

They appear to have a very tight approval process. Read about your situation where the limit is unusually low. Read about people with stellar credit get outright denied. I'm not the greatest but get denied for reasons that aren't even correct like severe delinquency but haven't been late even a day in years.