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Apple this summer will introduce the Apple Card, a new credit card that it's offering in partnership with Goldman Sachs. Apple presented the Apple Card at its March 25 event and launched an Apple Card website, but there were still many questions about how it will work.

TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino today shared some new details on the Apple Card that were provided by Apple, giving a little more insight into how it will work and answering a few of the questions we saw from MacRumors readers.

applecardinwallet.jpg

First and foremost, Apple Card is not going to support multiple users. People who use a single account with two shared credit cards at the current time are not going to be able to do the same thing with Apple Card. It's one card per person and one card per account.

There is no cost associated with the physical Apple Card, even though it's made of laser-etched titanium. Apple isn't going to charge you for the card itself and there isn't going to be a penalty fee if you lose it and need a replacement. There is an in-app option to freeze your card in the event that it's stolen.

Speaking of the physical Apple Card, Apple has implemented a neat activation method - you'll just tap it against the iPhone when you get it, without the need to place a phone call for activation like you have to do with existing credit and debit cards. When using the physical card, no signatures will be required.

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Though it's tap to activate, the physical card itself isn't going to support contactless payments. You need your iPhone for that.

Paying your balance can be done in the Wallet app using a linked bank account or Apple Pay Cash, and while not mentioned by TechCrunch, there is an option with Apple Pay Cash to get an emailed statement, so Apple will presumably offer the same option with Apple Card. There's no word on whether transactions can be imported into financial software like Quicken as of yet.

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As for fees, there are no foreign transaction fees but the exchange rate for foreign transactions is determined by Mastercard. Making a late payment will not result in penalty rates, aka increased interest rates. You're still going to have to pay interest on the outstanding balance, and a late payment will impact credit score, but interest rates won't increase.

TechCrunch says that when it comes to interest rates, Apple will make an effort to sign you up at the lower end of the interest rate tier that you qualify for.
While Apple Card's interest rates fail to break the mold in any major way (they are roughly between 13-24%), Apple will place users who sign up at the lower end of the tier that they land in due to their credit score. This isn't some incredible re-imagining of how to offer credit or an intensely low interest option, but it could shift you to the bottom of a tier when you qualify instead of paying a few points higher at your 'exact' score.
As Apple announced on Monday, there are no credit card numbers or other information on the physical titanium Apple Card. This data is instead available in the app, leaving some questions about online purchases where you often need a number and a CVV.

Apple Card is able to generate virtual card numbers for these kinds of purchases. The Wallet app will provide a virtual card number and a virtual confirmation code, with the number being semi-permanent and able to be regenerated whenever you want. This info can be used for non-Apple Pay online purchases, over-the-phone purchases, and other similar situations.

There is not, however, support for single-use numbers or single-merchant numbers for having separate card numbers for different merchants. Purchases will be further protected by a one-time use dynamic security code, and two-factor authentication will need to be turned on for you to use Apple Card.

applecardoverview-800x614.jpg

When it comes to privacy, Apple said on stage that it won't know what you're buying or how much you spent, and its partner, Goldman Sachs, will not be selling or using data for external or internal marketing or advertising.

There's one other neat tidbit about Apple Card that's worth pointing out, which, while wasn't included in TechCrunch's details, has been circulating on Twitter. Apple Card uses different colors to categorize and code your purchases for labeling purposes, with entertainment in pink, food in orange, shopping in yellow, and so on.

It appears that when you use Apple Pay, the color of your card in the Wallet app will have a rainbow gradient based on your spending habits, so if you're buying a lot of food and purchasing a lot of movie tickets, it'll trend toward orange and pink.

Anyone else notice this? Looks like the gradient on Apple Card is directly tied to transaction categories from your spending pattern. #applecard @viticci @reneritchie @gruber #uxdesign pic.twitter.com/KR5CJW6nyh - Maksim Petriv (@talkaboutdesign) March 27, 2019
TechCrunch has some additional details on privacy and security that are well worth reading through for those interested in the Apple Card, and our own Apple Card guide also has more information on what you can expect when it launches.

Article Link: Apple Card Won't Support Multiple Users, No Cost Associated With Physical Card
 
So you can't "share accounts" meaning married couples can't have authorized users so that they can both keep track of finances?

That's kind of dumb...

This is kind of a big thing. Yeah the whole angle on taking better care of your financial awareness goes out the window - when you force private cards / accounts between spouses. Was going to try it, but this would make things harder to manage not easier. Too bad.

Was assuming Apple would kill off the Barclays Apple credit card as a result of this, but with this latest limitation, maybe they won't since it offers multiple users of a single account.
 
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Do purchases with the physics card transfer to your phone? If so, how can Apple claim the don’t know what you are buying. If not, how reliable is the use tracking and reporting?

It’s not like everyone takes Apple Pay, so I get why the card is needed, but most of the perks are tied to your iPhone.

Also, can I use my Apple Watch or iPad to make payments? How do those transfer to my iPhone if they stay on the device?
 
Still rather disturbed by this. I know Apple are sort of desperate to start exploring new sources of revenue but climbing into bed with Goldman Sachs is akin to making a pact with Satan. Credit Cards are the source of misery for literally millions and millions of people unable to escape its clutches. Shame on Tim Cook. Can’t he make money elsewhere?
 
I was looking at Credit Cards in Europe today. To see what the rewards are like. And ya know, most of them are really quite poor. Lots of them start off with an attractive looking 3 to 5% cashback on purchases. But for the ones that offer that kind of return it goes to 0.5% cash back after the initial 3 months.

I checked out the Amazon one and it offers essentially 1.5% cashback on purchases made at Amazon for Prime Members. But only 0.5% on non-Amazon purchases. The return halves if you're not a Prime member.

After doing some research I found that the main reason for these poor rewards in Europe is due to Europe changing the regulations around how much card processing companies (Mastercard, Visa etc) can charge merchants. Less profits for them at the processing level means less rewards for customers.

All of this does temper my enthusiasm for Apple Card because from what I've read around the net, Americans have access to better cards already, some having 3% cash back on all sales, not just from Apple etc

But in Europe from what I've seen we don't have those kinds of cards anymore unless you're grandfathered in on an old card. I'm wondering now if Apple ever will release this outside of North America since financially it seems unprofitable with the reward level (1-3%) they are offering.

Just my thoughts.
 
No, I don't think it is a dumb!
It is a personal credit card, not a joined one.
If you wanted a joined one, look elsewhere. Plenty of other options for that.
That is a lukewarm take that I'd be willing to bet Apple wouldn't agree with one bit. Their goal is to get people to sign up for the card. Any encumbrance to that sign up is detrimental. This will be an encumbrance for some. Your suggestion for one to look elsewhere would probably elicit the following from Apple: "Dude, shut the hell up with that nonesense. We want them to get our card"

To further that end Apple, I'd also bet will probably make the statement that the prohibition against shared accounts is temporary while they ensure the standard program is running on all cylinders. Once any unforeseen issues are ironed out, they'll open up more features to customers... shared accounts being one of them.

"Go look elsewhere" will not be in their playbook of How to Increase Customer Sign Up. :D
 
I wonder if we’ll have an online account with Goldman Sachs? If we want to increase the credit limit, what will we do?

I wonder how their fraud protection will be too.

Do I notify Apple or Goldman that I’ll be traveling or that I’m going to be spending a large amount of money.

Many questions.
 
I was looking at Credit Cards in Europe today. To see what the rewards are like. And ya know, most of them are really quite poor. Lots of them start off with an attractive looking 3 to 5% cashback on purchases. But for the ones that offer that kind of return it goes to 0.5% cash back after the initial 3 months.

I checked out the Amazon one and it offers essentially 1.5% cashback on purchases made at Amazon for Prime Members. But only 0.5% on non-Amazon purchases. The return halves if you're not a Prime member.

After doing some research I found that the main reason for these poor rewards in Europe is due to Europe changing the regulations around how much card processing companies (Mastercard, Visa etc) can charge merchants. Less profits for them at the processing level means less rewards for customers.

All of this does temper my enthusiasm for Apple Card because from what I've read around the net, Americans have access to better cards already, some having 3% cash back on all sales, not just from Apple etc

But in Europe from what I've seen we don't have those kinds of cards anymore unless you're grandfathered in on an old card. I'm wondering now if Apple ever will release this outside of North America since financially it seems unprofitable with the reward level (1-3%) they are offering.

Just my thoughts.

Good points and you are quite correct. I have the Amex Gold and while I'm not paying any annual fee for the first year, I probably won't keep it past that because the rewards are so pathetic. You get something like 20,000 reward points if you spend £2000 in the first three months. On Amazon, those points translate into a £100 gift card.

In addition, status cards like the Amex Gold and Platinum are metal in the USA, while in the UK, they are still plastic - even though the annual fees are £140 and £450 respectively. As the major draw for the Apple card is the Titanium finish, I really wonder if that will ever happen in the UK. Welcome to your new Apple card (in plastic).
 
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All of this does temper my enthusiasm for Apple Card because from what I've read around the net, Americans have access to better cards already, some having 3% cash back on all sales, not just from Apple etc

My wife and I have been thinking of getting a Costco card (VISA) as it has up to 4% for purchases at Costco, including their gas. Then I was going to instead seriously consider the Apple Card until I just read that my wife and I won’t be able to both use it. As Sasparilla said above, that really makes it difficult to have a greater awareness of your spending when you don’t have a super high percent of discretionary income.
 
Still rather disturbed by this. I know Apple are sort of desperate to start exploring new sources of revenue but climbing into bed with Goldman Sachs is akin to making a pact with Satan. Credit Cards are the source of misery for literally millions and millions of people unable to escape its clutches. Shame on Tim Cook. Can’t he make money elsewhere?

I completely agree. Not only that all their new subscription services are already out there to be had, Netflix, Hulu, etc, and for them to just make another without adding something amazing to it is incredibly disappointing. They are just following and no longer leading, and grasping at anything that can make them money, and it seems their new things is subscription services.
 
How much is the amount of titanium worth? What if I lose a card every week? By what time will I be able to afford AirPods from the amount of „lost“ titanium?

So many questions. :D
 
I completely agree. Not only that all their new subscription services are already out there to be had, Netflix, Hulu, etc, and for them to just make another without adding something amazing to it is incredibly disappointing. They are just following and no longer leading, and grasping at anything that can make them money, and it seems their new things is subscription services.

Apple's long term plan is a Netflix clone and a credit card, apparently.
 
I wonder if we’ll have an online account with Goldman Sachs? If we want to increase the credit limit, what will we do?

I wonder how their fraud protection will be too.

Do I notify Apple or Goldman that I’ll be traveling or that I’m going to be spending a large amount of money.

Many questions.

You can probably message Apple Card’s customer service through iMessage.
 
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