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Apple introduced the new Apple Card Family feature at its April event, unveiling the new functionality that will let two people share an Apple Card and build credit together and that will also let children use a family Apple Card for purchases.

apple-card-family.jpg

Ahead of the Apple Card Family launch, Apple has shared some specifics on how it will work in a new support document.

For account co-owners, each participant must be at least 18 years old and will have their credit reported equally in their own names. Each person shares full responsibility for an account balance and all payments. Credit reporting includes positive and negative payment history for both users, in addition to credit utilization. There are several other features available as well:
  • They can immediately use their shared Apple Card to receive unlimited Daily Cash back on their transactions
  • They can add or remove participants and order a titanium Apple Card for participants who are 18 years or older
  • They can view participant activity and account co-owner activity
  • They can set transaction limits for participants, lock a participant's ability to spend, and receive notifications on participants spending
  • They can request a credit limit increase
  • They can close the shared Apple Card account at any time, but are still responsible for paying any remaining balance
Participants, aka Apple Card family users who are not co-owners, can use a shared Apple Card, but won't be responsible for payments. Participants must be at least 13 years old, and Apple has additional info on how participants work:
  • They're not responsible for payments
  • They can view their own transactions and information
  • They can spend up to the credit limit on the account and may have an optional transaction limit set by an account owner or co-owner
  • They can immediately use their shared Apple Card and get unlimited Daily Cash on all transactions
  • If they're 18 years or older, they can order their own titanium Apple Card
  • If they're 18 years or older, they can opt-in to build their credit and be reported on the account (as a co-owner)
Apple makes it clear that everyone on Apple Card Family can be impacted by payment history and credit utilization, which can affect their credit file. Both Apple Card co-owners will see the Apple Card on their credit reports, but participants who are 18+ might too if they're reported as an authorized user.
It's important for everyone on Apple Card Family to understand how credit reporting can impact their credit file. Information about the Apple Card Family account, such as payment history and credit utilization, are reported to credit bureaus and shown in credit bureau reports for account owners and co-owners. This information may also be shown in credit bureau reports for a participant if they're being reported on the Apple Card Family account as an authorized user. Being credit reported can assist with building credit history for account co-owners and participants. Generally, accounts that have been established for a while, show consistent on-time payments, and have low balances (e.g. below 30% of the total credit limit), may result in a more positive credit impact.
To use Apple Card Family, Family Sharing must be in place and one of the family members must have an Apple Card account. Customers are required to have an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch with the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, or watchOS.

Inviting a family member to Apple Card Family will be able to be done by tapping on the Wallet app, tapping the Apple Card, tapping the "More" button, and then under People, choosing the "Share My Card" option. From there, you can choose whether to make the person you're sharing with a co-owner or a participant.

There's no word yet on when Apple Card Family will launch, but Apple appears to be laying the groundwork in iOS 14.6, so it could go live when iOS 14.6 sees a launch.

Article Link: Apple Shares Details on How Apple Card Family Works
 
I thought it would make sense for us to combine accounts — and it be worthwhile — but it doesn’t appear so from this. The other person’s account is closed, presumably a ding on their credit history. I really thought they were positioning it like both limits were added onto a combined account but no…I was excited for this but I don’t think I’ll be doing it for just the purposes of seeing shared expenses.
 
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I thought I read that we’d be able to merge 2 cards into 1 account. Is that still on the table?

Yeah, you can. That detail just isn't in this particular support document. From the press release announcing the feature:

"Existing Apple Card customers can also merge their Apple Card accounts, giving the flexibility of a higher shared credit limit while keeping the lower APR of the two accounts."
 
Yeah, you can. That detail just isn't in this particular support document. From the press release announcing the feature:

"Existing Apple Card customers can also merge their Apple Card accounts, giving the flexibility of a higher shared credit limit while keeping the lower APR of the two accounts."
…But it says to do so, one’s account is immediately closed? That gives me pause — as normally a closed card is no good for your credit — unless they are really reinventing things and then I’d wonder why they didn’t call this out.
 
Great, now "Sarah from Cardmember Services" will be trying to scam me on both balance transfers and adding some 14-year old Bitcoin kiddie to my Apple Card account.
 
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…But it says to do so, one’s account is immediately closed? That gives me pause — as normally a closed card is no good for your credit — unless they are really reinventing things and then I’d wonder why they didn’t call this out.
If closed per your request or account maintenance it’s not a credit hit. They wound need to properly code the reason why closed.
 
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Great, now "Sarah from Cardmember Services" will be trying to scam me on both balance transfers and adding some 14-year old Bitcoin kiddie to my Apple Card account.
Or iTunes gift cards you buy from target.
 
The other person’s account is closed, presumably a ding on their credit history.

Journalist: Mr. Cook, the Apple Card Family feature announced last month is hurting users' FICO scores. Why didn't Apple warn people about this? Didn't Apple think this through before launching the new program?

Apple CEO: The answer is simple: they're not using the card right.
 
I thought I read that we’d be able to merge 2 cards into 1 account. Is that still on the table?
That’s what I thought too but some of the info seems to contradict the initial press release.
If you invite someone who already has an Apple Card account to become an account co-owner or participant and they accept the invitation, their current Apple Card account will be closed.
The press release gave the impression that joining an account with a limit of $8,000 to an account with a limit of $5,000 would result in a new limit of $13,000 on the joint account. The new joint account would also get the lower of the 2 APRs.
Apple Card can be shared with any eligible customer who is 18 years or older as a co-owner, providing the opportunity for both to build credit history together, get the flexibility of a combined limit, provide transparency into each other’s spending, share the responsibility of making payments, and deliver the convenience of a single monthly bill to pay.
Existing Apple Card customers can also merge their Apple Card accounts, giving the flexibility of a higher shared credit limit while keeping the lower APR of the two accounts.

Also what happens if you add someone who currently doesn’t have an Apple Card? Does your credit limit go up as if they did?

Hopefully Apple provides more clarity when this launches.
 
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There's no word yet on when Apple Card Family will launch, but Apple appears to be laying the groundwork in iOS 14.6, so it could go live when iOS 14.6 sees a launch.
The only code I’ve heard about related to this was in 14.5. Maybe there will be a server side change to turn it on in 14.5 instead?
 
All I want to do is use the same Apple Card on my primary iPhone on my secondary work iPhone. :rolleyes:
 
That’s what I thought too but some of the info seems to contradict the initial press release.

The press release gave the impression that joining an account with a limit of $8,000 to an account with a limit of $5,000 would result in a new limit of $13,000 on the joint account. The new joint account would also get the lower of the 2 APRs.



Also what happens if you add someone who currently doesn’t have an Apple Card? Does your credit limit go up as if they did?

Hopefully Apple provides more clarity when this launches.

The way it works is that the card of the one that joins gets closed.
The account of the one that sends the invite turns into a joint account with a new limit corresponding with the two limits combined and the lowest APR.

If the invitee doesn’t have an Apple Card yet, they will go through the approval process and need to meet the requirements similar to them simply applying for the card themselves as per the fine print in the support document. Assumption on my part is that whatever credit and APR they would’ve gotten solo, will be added to the joint account.
 
The way it works is that the card of the one that joins gets closed.
The account of the one that sends the invite turns into a joint account with a new limit corresponding with the two limits combined and the lowest APR.

If the invitee doesn’t have an Apple Card yet, they will go through the approval process and need to meet the requirements similar to them simply applying for the card themselves as per the fine print in the support document. Assumption on my part is that whatever credit and APR they would’ve gotten solo, will be added to the joint account.
Yeah I’m hoping this is the way it works.
 
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…But it says to do so, one’s account is immediately closed? That gives me pause — as normally a closed card is no good for your credit — unless they are really reinventing things and then I’d wonder why they didn’t call this out.
The reason why closing a card lowers your score is generally twofold.
  1. Your total amount of available credit goes down and with it, often times, your general utilisation goes up (e.g. you’ve got an outstanding balance of $2k amongst your total credit of $10k (20% utilisation), you close your card with a limit of $5k and your outstanding balance remains the same (40% utilisation))
  2. The average age of your credit goes down if it’s an old card

Number 1 is mitigated by the fact that the limits are merged. In fact your utilisation might actually go down (e.g. your $5k card now turns into a $10k card).

Number 2 might prove to be a problem, but can be mitigated by having the Apple Card that’s been the oldest be the one that sends out the invite, so that the most recent card gets closed. That way the oldest card’s opening date will be the one that’s reported (i.e. added to your credit file). Assuming they don’t use a well thought out way of reporting to mitigate this to begin with.

Edit: General pro-tip is to ask for a limit increase every ~90 days. Apple Card representatives (i.e. Goldman) indicate that that’s roughly the timeframe they look at when considering your request to increase.

Benefit of getting an increase is that it can help get your utilisation down and since they don’t do a hard pull, but instead look at your usage and payment history to determine if they should increase or not, there’s little to no risk.

You shouldn’t even have to speak to a human, they have an automated process for this by saying something along the lines of “I would like to request a limit increase” in iMessage after you use the contact option in your wallet.

Every so now and then the system doesn’t recognise what you’re trying to do and instead you get connected with a human instead of getting the specific window to request the increase. In that case the human will submit it on your behalf and you’ll get an email with a decision between 10m and a business day or so.
 
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I have to say, I like Apple's approach with this whole "Family" system of sharing things. I know joint card accounts themselves aren't a new thing, but Apple has done well with this kind of implementation.
 
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