When I inquired about this in April for an iPad Pro, magic keyboard and pencil purchase, I was told No that program only applies to new phones. So I waited and saved up, and ordered the bundle May 1. Now, they are going to put this program in place. Too bad I have to make the whole payment later this month.
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Apple Planning Interest-Free Apple Card Payment Plans for Macs, AirPods, iPads and More
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When I inquired about this in April for an iPad Pro, magic keyboard and pencil purchase, I was told No that program only applies to new phones. So I waited and saved up, and ordered the bundle May 1. Now, they are going to put this program in place. Too bad I have to make the whole payment later this month.
It'd be nice if Apple started allowing trade-ins on refurb purchases too.Usually I have to do a trade-in separately then use the gift card to offset part of the refurb purchase price. 1 transaction would be simpler solution.
He's being sarcastic, and it works because the products are mostly so overpriced. I've bought countless Apple products since buying my first two Macs in 1984. But I'm tired of hermetically sealed Macs that are sold with overpriced memory and storage and are hardly modifiable by consumers.
Consumers are not as dumb as you think they are. The problems arises when government creates harmful incentives, such as pushing vast sums of money into college loans that drive up the cost of education, or when agencies insist that lenders offer mortgages to high-risk individuals so they aren't accused of being racist.
Great, thats the main reason to get the Apple Card for me, which is why I use the Barclays card anyway!
Maybe it's the time to get the Apple Card!
Maybe it's the time to get the Apple Card!
You spotted it - the underlying signal here is the company has run out of ideas for creating customer value.
To sell products like this, is means it wants to keep holding product prices up or raising them, while it cannot create new technical reasons , not marketing rationale, for target customers to perceive higher value....and yet the management insists on those price points....most likely because it wants to hit sales growth and margin growth expectations of stock market analysts
This sort of financing of a fast-depreciating item, is going to attract mainly consumers who cannot afford the pricing and are not savvy enough to understand the full implications here.
Whomever is holding the underlying credit is carrying a slowly ticking time bomb.
Did we already go through this lesson in the 2007 crisis when banks starting disguising junk debt as “home mortgages?
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They are actually. Studies show that the average person is not knowledgeable in these areas, such as pensions, insurance and financing of consumables. They are sitting ducks for tricks like this.
That lack of knowledge and insight, is why governments actually need to regulate financial institutions and financing products MORE.
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I doubt they will give you 0% interest and 3% back. It’ll be one or the other.
I feel like this is worrying too much about the wrong thing. Apple is (finally) joining the financing game that everyone else plays. We've basically hit market saturation point for laptops, smartphones, and tablets. The buyers who want these things already have them. The only opportunities left are going really cheap to complete with cheap android devices, the SE2 and $199 Apple Watch sort-of do that but I doubt Apple really wants to dive headlong into the cut throat ultra affordable realm.
Instead along comes zero interest financing so existing customers can aim higher. Apple might even capture some market share from PC/Android buyers who only buy those devices as part of financing/sale promos. I was discussing this topic with a friend last night who bought the Galaxy S20 with the Samsung zero interest financing, his response to the Apple news was "what the fork I should have waited!"
Anecdotal case I know; but speaking from experience I've made many non-Apple decisions based on the best available sale/financing deals. This could be a significant move by Apple to steal some market share from competitors.
Actually, you’re quite wrong.
Tim openly said installments were coming for other products on the most recent earnings call. This info has been out there for well over a month, just not the specifics.
Even before that, I was already in the market for a new CC and a new Mac. I’d never open a new card just to buy a computer, but figured I’d take advantage of a decent intro offer on a card since I was in the market for both anyway.
When shopping for a CC, I was being mindful of long-term benefits and features. Apple Card had checked a few boxes, but some of the intro offers out there still made other cards stand out more when considering them from every angle. When the potential for 24 month Mac installments came up, it made Apple Card more appealing to me.
I was already waiting out WWDC to make a decision on a Mac, am in no rush for the new CC, and expected the official Apple Card announcement around WWDC too. I opted to check my Apple Card offer and time it so it would be good through June, and I’d be ready to make a move if I liked what I saw. It has 0 impact on credit until you tap Accept, so no harm no foul.
And at 12 months instead of 24, I simply feel the benefits and value of other cards I looked at may be stronger overall. It’s really that simple.
We’ll see what happens when the announcement comes
Im sure the entire sum is deducted from your credit. So if an iPhone is $1000 and your limit is $1000, you'll have $0 from the start but as you make payments you'll have $XPAYMENT added per month.
Discover hasn’t offered cashback at individual stores for a long time.
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This is a natural direction for Apple Card. If it’s possible to finance a new Mac with no interest for 12 months without a hard credit pull, why not go that direction? Anybody who’s savvy with money knows that the opportunity cost of that money is higher than spending $1k-$2k all at once.
It’s also better for the average consumer (as well as Apple) that the financing terms are shorter since people won’t be financing expensive products over long periods. A 24-month financing term for AirPods Pro would be attractive to consumers financing a new iPhone at the same time, but it‘s too long for an essentially disposable accessory.
That being said I’m not sure I would buy my next Mac directly through Apple when it’s possible to purchase it discounted from other retailers tax-free.
A trained machine learning model can't be audited or understood at all. Best you can do is look at how it was trained, which is still very difficult.
Edit: Nvm, I saw your response above, makes sense.
FYI...... If you use Experian and you chose Credit Lock,you need to unlock your file on their website before applying for credit.
It’s not like Apple is inventing 0% financing here. This has been around for a while. I use it all the time at Best Buy because why not.
Tha MacRumors article suggested both, but it's not really completely clear. We'll see. I think it will both, otherwise it won't give enough incentive for card holders to take advantage of. With the real cost of money so low right now, it's not costing Apple very much to offer this (on top of the cash back that has applied to all purchases using the card since it was first introduced, and is one of the key attractions of the card).
The main reason I like Best Buy. I wish I can get a 2020 MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM though, and I can’t. I can only get the 2019 with 16GB of RAM.
Actually not sure,but if they’re doing some sort of auto check on our FICO score then I’m guessing Experian comes in to play.In any case,if applying for a credit card I would for sure temporarily remove the block.It might be the cause for rejection.
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Same here... I’ve used the card for several purchases thru the years.But I learned early on that you don’t have to wait for promo periods.I just call them up and give them the $ amount of the purchase,they will approve the amount,flip the switch, and I make the buy.Don’t know what’s going to happen going forward and people will make their own buying decisions but I would rather go 24 months (no interest)on a MBP than 12 months and 3% cash back.
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I don't use Experian or have any of my cards locked. It's just an anomaly that makes no sense. I also have a MasterCard Black that has no credit limit, which is a very hard card to get, but still ... no Apple Card. I just thought it would be a nice addition, but I really don't need it that badly. I'm just baffled why I was turned down lol. I've not been turned down for anything related to finances since like high school.