Apple Savings Account Lists Longer 5 Day Fund Transfer Time in iOS 17

[MacRumors]

Apple in the iOS 17 beta has changed the text that provides details on the Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfer time for Apple Savings account holders.

In iOS 17 beta 2, it now reads "Funds are typically available for withdrawal by the 5th business day" when a transfer is made. Prior to the beta, it said that transfers "typically take 1-3 business days to complete." The 1-3 day wording still exists in iOS 16.

The transfer time clarification comes after a number of complaints from Apple Card owners who opted into the Savings account when it became available. Apple Savings account users have had issues with long wait times when attempting to withdraw funds.

A June report from The Wall Street Journal shared stories from several customers who faced unexplained delays when making a withdrawal from an Apple Savings account. One customer even experienced a shocking 17-day delay before receiving their funds, with Goldman Sachs citing anti-fraud efforts.

The Apple Savings account initially launched in April as an extension of the Apple Card, in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The account promised a high-yield 4.15% savings option to customers, attracting many who wanted to capitalize on earning interest while staying in the Apple ecosystem. The account is managed through the Apple Wallet app, offering seamless integration with other Apple services.

It's unclear whether the extended transfer time is a permanent change or a temporary measure while Apple and Goldman Sachs work on resolving the issues behind the scenes.

Article Link: Apple Savings Account Lists Longer 5 Day Fund Transfer Time in iOS 17

 

[Apple_Robert]

Not a big deal for me. If I need some cash quicker, I can transfer some to Apple Cash to my bank.

 

[Velin]

If you have funds deposited in this account, pay attention to Apple's next partner. As the WSJ reports, Goldman Sachs wants out of the arrangement. Apple is not the custodian for your funds; GS -- and a future new partner -- is:

The Wall Street firm is in talks with American Express to take over its Apple credit card and other ventures with the tech giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

Goldman went public with plans to scale back its consumer business late last year, but it appeared committed to the Apple relationship. The bank recently extended the partnership through the end of the decade, agreed to support Apple's "buy now, pay later" offering and launched a bank account with the tech company.

Now it is in talks to offload those businesses and its credit-card partnership to Amex, according to people familiar with the discussions. Goldman has also discussed transferring its card partnership with General Motors to Amex or another issuer, some of the people said.

 

[patrickdunn]

ACH transfer times are based on batch processing and can take 1-3 business days. Most companies credit the cash before arrival, but they don’t know if a deposit is rejected for up to 3-5 days. Errors can be flagged and take up to 10 business days to resolve.

This should improve as companies change transfer rails from the ACH to Fednow.

 

[ItsGavinC]

If you have funds deposited in this account, pay attention to Apple's next partner. As the WSJ reports, Goldman Sachs wants out of the arrangement. Apple is not the custodian for your funds; GS -- and a future new partner -- is:

Makes nearly no difference to anybody. Transfer times aren't based on individual organizations. It isn't like Goldman Sachs or Amex is some unheard of entity.

 

[Robert.Walter]

We mistakenly entered two transfers to Goldman from our credit union yesterday (on in morning and another in evening) and realized we did not have enough money in CU account this AM, so we issued a withdraw back to CU in the Apple app this morning. By this afternoon the 500$ was in the CU account.

There are 3 of us moving money from CU at end of month as investment income trickles in from different sources, we then keep a 200$ float, which we beef up around the 20th of each month to pay bills scheduled for the 27th.

We had seen slowish 3+ day transfers to the CU before the WSJ article, since then it’s like 1 day.

So I’m skeptical that they will stretch it to 5 days because that should only be the worst case if you scheduled the pull just before a 5 day weekend etc.

 

[Robert.Walter]

If you have funds deposited in this account, pay attention to Apple's next partner. As the WSJ reports, Goldman Sachs wants out of the arrangement. Apple is not the custodian for your funds; GS -- and a future new partner -- is:

This is not a significant issue TBH.

 

[ikramerica]

It takes one day for credits between my various banks I work with. Also one day or same day for payments pulled from accounts. If Apple needs 5 days it’s because other institutions are having issues with GS.

 

[bommai]

Not a big deal for me. If I need some cash quicker, I can transfer some to Apple Cash to my bank.

My last 3 Apple Cash transfers have been declined. I called GS and they did not have a reason. 😡. So I had to transfer to my bank. Bank transfer happens in a day. So I can’t complain. Yet!!

 

[danpass]

I was excited about the Apple Savings account. Then it took too long to implement. Now this.

I'm sticking with my self-directed brokerage account and VMFXX that pays similar but with no conditions and no delays.


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[Mr. Dee]

I'm still watching this, but I've yet to also upgrade from iOS 15.7 to iOS 16. I've never had a reason to pull money from my savings account, so this is unlikely to be a problem for me. Savings in my view should be that unless you need it for some uncontrollable emergency. I feel some were hoping to get some quick cash without knowing how this works, which is you have to wait one year to release the gain.

 

[sevoneone]

I'd really like to see Apple compete with or acquire a solution like ONE Finance. The App and concept of A checking account and "Pocket" savings accounts, each which can be shared independently with other people, is pretty awesome. I signed up back when they first launched as a startup, but have not been as excited since they were bought by Walmart. They did just raise their Savings APR to 5% though...

 

[svish]

Good to see disclaimer regarding longer time period. Also would like to see Apple expand savings account to other countries.

 

[Velin]

Makes nearly no difference to anybody. Transfer times aren't based on individual organizations. It isn't like Goldman Sachs or Amex is some unheard of entity.

Tell that to depositors and creditors of Lehman Brothers or Silicon Valley Bank. And there is no certainty Amex will step in to the role. Hence, you best know exactly who you are depositing funds with.

If you don't think it makes a difference, proceed as you wish.

 

[mike...]

How awful. I can move money between my bank accounts, even with different banks, in seconds

 

[newmacxc]

Payment systems in US seems stuck in 19th century

 

[Skyscraperfan]

5 business days is at least a week. Isn't it fascinating how long it still takes to transfer money, although that money basically is only data? I know that each transaction has to be verified in the banking system, but shouldn't that also be possible in seconds with modern cryptography? Are there still laws that require a printed out copy of every transaction for the event that computers crash?

 

[akashagrawal]

Isn't it fascinating how long it still takes to transfer money, although that money basically is only data?

It's not fascinating. I'd imagine it's irritating and plain laziness on the part of law makers and banks. Not sure why US has such an archaic payments system, when it's at the front of innovation on most things.

My country (India) has its fair share of problems, but the money transfer is absolutely cutting edge. Free, instant and direct transfers between bank accounts (including inter-bank transfers) using QR codes or phone numbers. Additionally, it's so common and pervasive that street vendors have QR codes on their little make shift carriages. Cash is still pretty common, but UPI has really boosted the cashless story here. NPCI (government body responsible for this) keeps banks on a pretty tight leash regarding adherence to standards.

 

[arkitect]

Does it really take at least 1 day to transfer money between accounts or different banks in the USA?

How awful. I can move money between my bank accounts, even with different banks, in seconds

Exactly.

Most of my banking here in the UK is done on my iPhone nowadays and (apart from setting up a new payee) it takes seconds for the other party to have the funds available in their account.
Hell, even a PayPal transfer to my bank account takes a couple seconds.

It is curious that the world's largest economy's banking system is reminiscent of railways a hundred odd years ago with different gauges of track slowing things down.

 

[Robert.Walter]

It takes one day for credits between my various banks I work with. Also one day or same day for payments pulled from accounts. If Apple needs 5 days it’s because other institutions are having issues with GS.

I imagined long delays were because was making incremental profits from money it was no longer paying interest on but had not yet pushed into the ACH system.

Remember, this is the bank that made profit by hedging even as it helped hasten the Great Recession by pushing fraudulently rated mortgage backed securities into investors portfolios.

Slipperiness is in GS DNA.

 

[Robert.Walter]

I'm still watching this, but I've yet to also upgrade from iOS 15.7 to iOS 16. I've never had a reason to pull money from my savings account, so this is unlikely to be a problem for me. Savings in my view should be that unless you need it for some uncontrollable emergency. I feel some were hoping to get some quick cash without knowing how this works, which is you have to wait one year to release the gain.

You are looking at several things in a strange way at are actually counter to your best interests.

I wouldn’t recommend any of these to anybody.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Good to see disclaimer regarding longer time period. Also would like to see Apple expand savings account to other countries.

It’s a retrograde move. Instead of changing disclaimer to match GS’s desired slow payout time, Apple should be leaning on GS to make good on the 1 day end of the advertised time.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Tell that to depositors and creditors of Lehman Brothers or Silicon Valley Bank. And there is no certainty Amex will step in to the role. Hence, you best know exactly who you are depositing funds with.

If you don't think it makes a difference, proceed as you wish.

Nonsense.

You can’t put more than 250k$ into the GS account which is the upper limit for full FDIC insurance coverage.

Further, it’s not like you will wake up one day and your money will be in Mucko’s bank; such a transfer will receive big scrutiny before it is approved, allowing depositors to pull funds as they wish before hand-over.

There’s literally no risk because all depositors are fully insured and can leave as they want. Lehman and SiVB are lousy comparators.

 

[city_17]

Is this common in the US? Here in The Netherlands I can move money between my accounts with different banks instantly.

 

[Robert.Walter]

How awful. I can move money between my bank accounts, even with different banks, in seconds

This should be the standard.

We had some issues with moving money out to pay monthly bills at the end of May, and when I called GS to get things moving, was told bizarr things buy the agents,
1) despite the app saying 1-3 days, GS guidance was 3-5 days which I saw as a bait & switch from how the accounts were advertised by Apple,
2) that GS board of directors saw these savings accounts as a place where money would be parked for a considerable time (I think she said 6 months), despite this never being in any of the customer facing materials (and if buried somewhere it was not prominently flagged, and was contrary to Apple’s representations of no minimum deposit time.)

I was in the process of writing an email to Tim Cook about the material differences between what Apple promised and what GS was doing when the WSJ article dropped.

I didn’t send my letter to Mr Cook but we see GS’s performance before/after WSJ as night/day.

Overall though GS has been a bit like amateur hour with all the customer facing mistakes we’ve experienced in set up and early use (it didn’t “just work”).

That said after WSJ, and hinges are better and the interface ease of use is good and the 1/2 day turn around are fine.

If you have an Apple Card account, and money in a checking or savings account earning zero, and haven’t decided on how to make that money work, you should move that cash into the GS savings account it’s easy to set up and do and not difficult to move out either.