We don't use the word fortnightly in the US.
You can already purchase Apple products on Apple.com and get that same deal through Paypal's "Pay in 4" Same thing. Just choose PayPal when you check out and set it up.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Pay Later Will Let You Pay for Purchases Through an Installment Plan With No Interest or Fees
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You can already purchase Apple products on Apple.com and get that same deal through Paypal's "Pay in 4" Same thing. Just choose PayPal when you check out and set it up.
FWIW, I wasn't referring to paying cash.
In fact I rarely pay cash. Why would I when I get interest-free multi-week loans and 2% (or more) effective discount on everything I buy via Apple Card, Citi DoubleCash Mastercard, or others where that have a higher cash back % (e.g. 5% on fuel purchases with Sam's Club credit card). Trick is to spend less than I can pay off every month.
I think you're right, except I think we all know the only reason this is offered is because a bank has sniffed out yet another way to catch people not paying their full balance on-time. Right? I don't see enough details from Apple yet to know exactly how it works, but banks aren't happy with JUST transaction/merchant fees. They want the late fees and the compounding interest at 18% at higher from the consumer. How that implemented will be very interesting, and it's not surprising that info wasn't included in the happy happy joy joy announcement at WWDC. Also, with a 2-week turnover for each payment, that's basically an unheard-of duration right now in the US. CC are more like a month to almost 2 depending on timing. ApplePay Later has way more opportunity to forget you owe money, and that bank just needs you to slip up one time and then they've got you.
I don't see the great advantage of this when it is only 6 weeks. You can sometimes exceed that time if you were to make a purchase at the start of your billing period and then wait to pay off the bill right up until the due date. You'd incur no fees or interest doing that and it could be 7 weeks or so. Even if you're not at the start of the billing period, it is still easy to get 6 weeks this way or close to it.
If this was 3 months or more, I'd see more of an appeal.
If this was 3 months or more, I'd see more of an appeal.
Buy now, pay later is becoming popular again as our age's version of rent to own sort of. Apple would rather people stick with Apple's solution rather than deciding against it in order to do installment payments. It's very enticing for those that want to use this option, since it's no interest or fees. Obviously you can't skip payments, but at least there is a more trustworthy alternative solution to what other people are using anyway. Honestly, I would probably choose this solution too simply because it's a short-term 0% interest loan allowing someone else to hold my debt while my money earns a little more interest (at a crappy rate), but I won't be buying anything I can't afford to pay off 100% but choose not to.
Article: As buy now, pay later services have grown more popular, there remains virtually no oversight
Article: As buy now, pay later services have grown more popular, there remains virtually no oversight
How is Apple financing this? Does the merchant receive the whole payment immediately? Who is floating the rest of it?
With so many references to fortnights in this thread I feel like I’m reading The Lord of the Rings.
Free interest for now, later stage Apple will start generate commission as profitable business model.
Maybe in the US but definitely not where I live.
I can’t emphasize this enough: with the exception of big-ticket items like cars and houses, don’t buy stuff you can’t pay off immediately.
I think a part is increasing options to attract more user adoption. If the buyer makes payments on-time, and doesn't default, Apple has another user who is likely satisfied and will reuse the system. Whether the buyer pays for their purchase in full or not, Apple still gets some cut by virtue of the vendor using Apple Pay regardless.
People in the US can be paid at a lot of different frequencies. I’ve had jobs that pay weekly, every 2 weeks, twice a month, and once a month.
I think most of the people that would use this are paid every week or every 2 weeks.
I think it would be ok if they would only allow one “pay later” purchase at a time, such that you could not make a new pay later purchase until your existing one is paid off. I think some people could quickly get overwhelmed by stacking up a lot of small payments until they are too much to cover.
I think most of the people that would use this are paid every week or every 2 weeks.
I think it would be ok if they would only allow one “pay later” purchase at a time, such that you could not make a new pay later purchase until your existing one is paid off. I think some people could quickly get overwhelmed by stacking up a lot of small payments until they are too much to cover.
I doubt that Apple will do it that way. With current Apple Card installment payments for their own products, they divide the purchase by 12 and then charge you that amount each month...but they decrease your available credit by the total purchase price at the beginning. Each month, they increase your available credit by the 1/12th amount they charge your Apple Card.
I assume that they will do the same thing for Apple PayLater: you won't be able to finance over six weeks unless you have enough credit for the entire purchase...and then Apple will reserve that credit as if you'd paid for the entire purchase all at once.
I don't see the appeal of either one of these approaches.
Last edited:
If they want to be comparable to the other common pay later options here (paypal, klarna, afterpay. no experience w/ affirm & others) then the fees have to be pretty minimal from my knowledge. I've extended a payment on klarna for two weeks before and it still offers me the option to - there's also a ten day grace period to start. Site says they only charge a late fee of $7 and only one late fee per transaction. Afterpay is a bit harsher with $10 fee + $7 if you don't pay in ten days after that, with a 25% of purchase max. Of course I'm sure some people manage to do some damage anyway, but it's not like you're going deeply in debt if you for some reason can't pay for a few weeks.
Pay in 4 from Paypal, Klarna, & Afterpay are all 4 payments / every 2 weeks as well, so not a new concept.
I find it helpful... I guess some people on macrumors think I'm a fiscally unresponsible entitled American with Amazon Prime induced brain rot, but I'll have to live with that as sometimes I enjoy being able to get something before it sells out even if I get paid the next week ☺️
I mean, I generally agree, but I could see financing a phone this way. I could probably buy a new Apple Watch outright or put aside some money each paycheck to get a new iPhone, I make enough. But it would take up most of my discretionary spending to buy a new Apple Watch. With this, I could space it out across three paychecks and reduce the impact on any one pay check. Basically, since it’s a 0% interest loan, it’s essentially the same as saving the amount of the payment from each pay check, but you get the item at the beginning of the period instead of the end. That could be useful when buying something that may be supply constrained when you have the money saved up, like this year’s model of iPhone. (And once it’s reported to the credit reporting agencies in the future, that means it’ll build your credit score, making it easier to take out loans on cars and homes.)
Also, I want to clarify that the big ticket exception doesn’t mean you’re free to buy more car or more home than you need or can afford. That’s generally as much of a mistake as (if not more than) the over use of consumer credit.
Also, another caveat: if you have financial discipline enough to never outspend your earnings and to pay them off regularly, credit cards can be a great way to build credit worthiness (and take advantage of credit card companies’ incentives, like cash back and free extended warranties or free travel insurance).
If you’re lacking in financial discipline, though, you should really only borrow money to increase your earning potential. Student loans are a good example, but try to make sure you don’t buy more education than you need (ie a higher degree or more prestigious school than you need to get a job in your field) for the line of work you’re going into, and try to make sure you’re going into a field where it’s realistic to pay off those debts*. Borrowing money to start or expand a business is generally a good idea, assuming you can afford to pay the terms back using the money from the business.
* For instance, it’s probably not a great idea to go into over $100k of debt to get a bachelors degree and a Library Science master’s degree if, realistically, you’re going to end up earning $30k as a librarian in a small city’s library.
BNPL is the Facebook of financial products.
It's not being done for you, it's being done for the good of the producer. Like social media. It doesn't exist for you, it exists to make you a product.
Just save your money to buy the stuff you "want".
It's not being done for you, it's being done for the good of the producer. Like social media. It doesn't exist for you, it exists to make you a product.
Just save your money to buy the stuff you "want".
I'm not sure about the US, but in Canada it's pretty standard for people to be paid either every 2 weeks or twice a month.
I’d argue that, much like Facebook, it’s a useful tool in some contexts, it’s just that you have to have the discipline to control it instead of letting it control you. It’s easy to begin to abuse Facebook (FOMO, seeking social validation, getting envious of other people, abusing people on platform), but having the discipline to use it well also likely minimizes how much data Facebook can glean from you, while overusing it lets them have the keys to the house.
Same in the US. In fact, it strikes me as weird that the UK is mostly every month. Sure, you get the same amount of money every month, and expenses like housing are typically monthly, but monthly pay is annoying for expenses like food (especially if you’re either not good with money or have low income), since you either have to buy your groceries all at once or struggle to extend your money through the whole month to buy groceries each week. I’m convinced that government benefits being monthly in the US is part of why there’s so much food stamp fraud and a contributing factor to why people on social assistance programs find it hard to get off of them.