I pity anyone coming at this thread with questions - it just gets more confusing as you go.
For how the two programs are the same:
I currently participate in the iphone upgrade program through Citizens. I have my payments set up to pay through the Apple Card monthly and I have my AppleCard set to pay the entire balance off monthly. I pay zero interest. I get 3% cash back for the phone payments.
This new program also offers zero interest and 3% cash back.
For how they are different:
The main advantage/difference would be the ability to hold $1200 for 24 months an pay off at the end - rather than paying monthly. You'd get the $36 cash back when you buy the phone, then you could invest the $1200 and if you could get 3% rate of return, another $72 on your money.
The new program appears to be an alternative that does not involve Citizens Bank and still provides the same 3% cash back. However, as others have mentioned, there is no mention of annual upgrade availability and I wonder how the program will actually work.
If I have my card set to pay the full balance every month, and I want to take advantage of the 24 months interest free loan, there are some mechanics that I'd probably need to understand.
Assuming you are a good at your personal finances, you'd want to hold on to your $1200 (price of phone) until However, you also have a bunch of other things on your card that you'll need to pay off every month to avoid interest. So, if you have Apple music, a couple of movie downloads, icloud storage (I use my card for anything Apple gives me 3% for) and have another $50 a month in charges to pay off and you have a $1200 phone purchase, how does it keep track of the payments? Say you have $25 in charges early in the month, then buy the phone, then have $25 later in the month, at the end of the month you pay off $50 - how does Apple know that you only want to pay off the $50 that will accumulate interest in the next month, vs paying down part of your phone?
The answer is simple. Say you make a purchase for 1200 for 24 months 0 percent. If you make any other purchases, then you CANNOT pay them off.
So if you charge your card for Apple Music for 15. You cannot simply pay 15 and pay that off. You’ll be paying interest on that 15 until you pay off the whole balance which includes the 1200.
When you finance something on a cc for zero percent over a time period, then you have to be careful not to purchase anything else. Same thing happens with you do a zero percent balance transfer. You basically have to leave that credit card alone as you pay off the transfer.