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Apple Card Owners Will be Able to Purchase an iPhone and Pay Over 24 Months With No Interest Starting Later This Year

waquzy said:
Ouch!!! That hurts.

lol, not really.
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It is the truth though, all these benefits and Apple's push comes from from the fact that credit card companies can charge merchants roughly 1.5-2% in the US versus the 0.2-0.3% rate the EU has set. Also business uncertainty surrounding Brexit isn't helping, i.e. does a new bank need to comply with EU regulations then a few months later change over to a whole different set?

WingsAndBeer said:
I'd rather buy it with a card that extends the warranty by a year....worked out well for me in the past with iPhone 6 repair (Discover).
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ActionableMango said:
You better switch cards for next time, because Discover no longer has that benefit.
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I think that benefit is dead industry wide, especially on cards that don't charge an annual fee.
 
konqerror said:
I think that benefit is dead industry wide, especially on cards that don't charge an annual fee.
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All VISA Signature cards have warranty extension, and there are at least a dozen banks offering VISA Signature cards with no annual fee. Famous ones would be Chase and Capitol One.

For MC it depends on the card. Mine still has the benefit and no annual fee.

Of all my cards, none have annual fees, and only Discover card dropped the benefit. In fact, I'm starting to wonder why I'm keeping the Discover card.
 
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ApplelD said:
So this is paying the iPhone off over 24 months at 0% interest though it'll not involve Citizens One or Barclaycard anymore... is the "Apple iPhone Payments" identical to this except no Citizens One? Because they have not mentioned being able to upgrade every year like this or whether you're also getting Applecare+ added on too as part of the financing? If it had either of those it would be more like the iPhone Upgrade Program... another thing I hope they allow with this would be letting you pay off the entire remaining amount you owe at any time rather than them forcing you to pay it off over 24 months with no exceptions or else... If anything this feels like the "Apple iPhone Payments" option simply dumping Citizens One and moving to the Wallet App...

I wonder if Apple will allow this for SIM-FREE iPhones so that you're not required to have an account with one of the big 4 phone service companies to qualify... that way people who use Prepaid phone companies like Cricket Wireless or Boost Mobile join unlike the iPhone Upgrade Program or Apple iPhone Payments require
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My understanding, buy an iPhone from Apple comes unlocked and not attachment to any carrier. Take it anywhere you want. This option for payment only. A good deal for Apple Card users. Note, works on the military discount store also. 🖐to Apple.
 
npmacuser5 said:
It already comes with free interest....pay it off every month!👏
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I don’t believe you get it. If you pay off the credit card bill at the end of the month, then you are not spreading out the entire amount over 24 installments. You are paying the entire amount upfront (just delayed by one month). If you are going to decide the entire amount by 24 and pay one i stalest per month, you are going to pay interest on the remaining balance.
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I’ll start a new eBay business. I will buy 100 iPhones on this deal and sell them on eBay to third-world countries at a premium. This is a leverage of 24 to 1. I can then buy 2,000 phones within a month or two and do this all over again. This can be a very lucrative business indeed.

Will Apple limit the number of phones that one can buy on this deal?

/s
 
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Until it’s been clarified that there is still an option to upgrade or not (im assuming no, or they would have mentioned it. Plus there isn’t a “loan”) it’s still worth it to me to deal with citizens one
 
newyorksole said:
Yeah but with this new option you won’t have to deal with Citizens Bank. This also might not be the same as the iPhone Upgrade Program where you have an annual upgrade. iUP also does a hard credit check, this new option likely doesn’t need to.
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What do you mean pay it off monthly? If you carry a balance, you pay interest. If you “pay it off” you’re not paying for it monthly.

Just trying to figure out exactly what you mean. This new option means no interest. If you do it your way without this new method you’d be paying interest.
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I wouldn't buy the phone outright, I'd opt for the monthly payment plan using my card. The first option, attached.

I'd then pay the $30 per month.
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turbineseaplane said:
giphy.gif


Excellent response from @newyorksole though..
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Yeah...I wouldn't carry a balance, I'd pay the $30 off each month.
It's pretty clearly stated in the attached file.
 

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gugy said:
If you pay your bills on time and take advantage of 0% interest. It's a win-win. You can invest your money. It takes discipline. I get your feeling of hating to owe money but if you play it right, it is advantageous to you.
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Thanks MOM
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Meanwhile, I'm still stuck in 'Unable to verify your identity' on my Apple Card application. Anyone else still having the same issue?
 
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The downside to this route (as opposed to iUP) is that carrying a balance negatively affects your credit score, as it is counted on a per card basis as well as overall. Given that these phones are $1-2k at this point, to maintain good credit usage you’d need to have a $3500k+ limit, excellent would require $5-10k+. Carrying over 30% on a single card will affect your credit to a notable tune.

iUP doesn’t count toward your credit usage and so long as you maintain the program and avoid the hard hits in this case it seems to still be the better option. Minus the lack of 3% cashback and necessity for AppleCare+, obviously.
 
I'm clearly missing something:

Old Way - IUP - no interest over 24 months - pay w/credit card which in turn is paid by auto draft - get 1 (or 2) miles/points per dollar - upgrade after 12 months

New Way - pay with Apple Card - get 3% off - not forced to buy AppleCare - no 12 month upgrade

If you're going to get AppleCare anyway, using the Apple Card nets you probably less than $20 (3% vs 1-2 points) for which you give up the right to upgrade. How is this not a rotten deal?

If you don't plan on AppleCare it's a different matter but I always get it.
 
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Those who are asking about the yearly upgrades (iUP), I ask you this: Isn't that the same as selling back your iPhone via the trade-in program? So for example, take the iPhone 11 Pro Max 512GB. ~$60 x 24 months = $1440. After one year, you have paid $720. You pay off the remaining balance, and then you sell the device for approximately $720 back. The trade-in negates what you paid in the remaining balance, and then buy a new phone with the 24 months no interest. Rinse & repeat yearly. It works the same right?

So in short, with this new plan, there is absolutely no need for the iUP via Citizens One loan. Unless I am missing something?
 
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tothemoonsands said:
Those who are asking about the yearly upgrades (iUP), I ask you this: Isn't that the same as selling back your iPhone via the trade-in program? So for example, take the iPhone 11 Pro Max 512GB. ~$60 x 24 months = $1440. After one year, you have paid $720. You then sell the device for approximately $720 back, and then buy a new with the 24 months no interest. It works the same right?

So in short, with this new plan, there is absolutely no need for the iUP via Citizens One loan. Unless I am missing something?
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You're assuming that you'll be able to sell it for a $720 or more. Maybe that's a safe assumption but I've never investigated.
 
Chimala said:
Thanks MOM
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Meanwhile, I'm still stuck in 'Unable to verify your identity' on my Apple Card application. Anyone else still having the same issue?
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Well he’s right you know. That’s why the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.
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tothemoonsands said:
Those who are asking about the yearly upgrades (iUP), I ask you this: Isn't that the same as selling back your iPhone via the trade-in program? So for example, take the iPhone 11 Pro Max 512GB. ~$60 x 24 months = $1440. After one year, you have paid $720. You pay off the remaining balance, and then you sell the device for approximately $720 back. The trade-in negates what you paid in the remaining balance, and then buy a new phone with the 24 months no interest. Rinse & repeat yearly. It works the same right?

So in short, with this new plan, there is absolutely no need for the iUP via Citizens One loan. Unless I am missing something?
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You are not missing anything. You are correct.
 
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