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Apple Watch Now Eligible for Apple Card Monthly Installments
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Yes, I’m aware of the trade in but that’s silly. $240 for a $800 SS S5. Come on.
Apple will implement upgrades but they’ll have to wait another year or two until people really start holding onto them.
Correct if you already have an Apple Card. It’s a new credit application if you don’t already have an Apple Card, and will run a credit check and show up on reports. They weren’t reporting usage and payments to some credit bureaus at first but have started to do that as well.
Not true. You can make additional payments on your installments anytime you want, as long as you don’t have a balance outside of your installments.
It’s probably because of some accounting formula where the bank doesn’t want to keep high value items on their balance sheet for 2 years. The bank is okay with paying apple the $400 upfront and keeping it on the books for 2 years. That $3000 MacBook, not so much.
or i can just invest $400 when Tesla's stock tanks and double by the time i'm done paying the watch.
or less risky: keep in savings account for a small interest.
So the people that cannot qualify for the Apple card are screwed!! I had 2 phone financed through Citizens financial with no problem qualifying however I cannot qualify for an Apple card.
Oh really?
My sister is newly diagnosed with congestive heart failure. She doesn’t have $400. She does have 16.62 a month.
Would you have her save $20/month for 20 months and buy for cash? She may not have that long, and she’d be without the benefits for that entire time.
Life has many shades of gray. It’s rarely as cut and dried as black/white. Either/or thinking may be easier than contemplating a multi-faceted solution, but it’s rarely that simple.
Tomorrow in the news: Samsung CEO whining Apple Watch is monopolistic because Apple card helps you buy it 
My understanding is this is only available with an Apple Card. Same as iPhone. I believe Apple and Citizens Bank no longer have a partnership. You are correct, it is a typical 0% deferred payment plan. My understanding is it shows up on your Apple Card statement monthly not as a total charge with a minimum payment.
I may be mistaken. If Apple still partners with Citizens Bank , you can pay off the balance any time. If not I'm not certain as to how you pay off the balance early on the Apple Card as the remaining balance does not show up on your monthly statement.
but there is truth in it - a lot of people are in economic distress because they fall for the empty promises of happiness through consumption - on the assumption that their job is going to give them the monthly income to support the toy lifestyle on credit...The pandemic has shown that this is not to be taken for granted.
don't get me wrong - I enjoy material goods - I really gear myself up for a HW purchase, but I would never do so if I didn't have the cash on hand...
That second part is news to me, thanks for the correction. I have a friend that bought an iPhone with this deal and said they couldn’t see the remaining balance to be paid after paying off the entire balance of the card. As in, it would show how much is owed on the iPhone plan, but wouldn’t allow them to make an additional payment (they made it sound as if it was all or nothing — pay off full iPhone balance or just your monthly payment). Either they weren’t reading it right or this has been changed/updated (for the better!).
This makes the deal that much better for those in the market for a new Watch!
Why? It’s zero interest. I’ve been on the iPhone upgrade program for several years and it hasn’t messed with my credit score at all.
Apple should do it for any product that gets updated every year. I think it would be popular. I have no problem renting my phone knowing that if I ever want to stop renting I can pay off the balance and the phone is mine.
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It's not a loan and credit card utilization has no memory. If you pay it off early you pay it off early, there is no "loan"
It's actually different the way the installment payments work. The amount due is added each month to your card. You can pay it off each month, but the entire balance doesn't get reported, just the monthly installment amount. I did this with an iPhone and paid it off in two months, but only the actual monthly installment payment showed on my credit report.
I can afford it, full stop. However, I prefer to do the 0% financing as opposed to paying lump sums. Making payments every month with no APR helps your credit score. I don't need to raise mine any further, but its just an old habit.
It's kinda buried in the wallet app, but like the person you quoted said you can pay the balance in full at any time as long as your credit card balance is zero. Eg, if you have a balance of $200 on your credit card you cannot pay anything extra towards the installment payment until you pay off the $200.
I love my Apple Card and now with month installment plan it is even better. With a tough tight economy right now it lets you get the item you want and pay a little over time. This all started back in the 1950’s with sears. Your washer broke? pay for it over three months, you only had three months back then.
Apple Card has some of the best rewards on the market for contactless payments and has become my preferred card for that transaction method as a result. I've never liked the 0% financing options in the past as they required a hard hit to your credit to access, which long-term is detrimental to your credit report. With it now being tied to the credit card, that obstacle is removed (after the first hit to get the card in the first place - hence it being a legitimately good credit card being so important).
So long as financial management is maintained, there is no equation where using the 0% interest transaction doesn't work out in the consumer's benefit... the only danger is losing track of how much you've spent and just thinking of it as a monthly payment. That of course is the goal here; people will buy more products because they think "hey, I'm only paying $75/month" not "hey, I just bought $1,800 worth of products".