Apple Working on 'Apple Pay Later' Feature With Monthly Installments for Apple Pay Purchases

[zubikov]

Cash is king people!

Is it though? It sounds nice when you say it, but that's not very smart.

Would you buy a house with cash? Plenty of banks are willing to lend us $100s of thousands at ~2-3%

Why would you spend cash when you can pay off your credit card each cycle and get 2 - 2.5% cash back without lifting a finger?

Do you save all of your money in cash? We're at an annualized 5% inflation, so next year your $100 will only feel like ~95 today. Why not put your money into i-bonds and get paid the rate of inflation at a minimum?

It's just terrible advice to tell people cash is king for everyday situations.

 

[camsoft]

Really surprised there's no mention of the very popular services Klarna & Clearpay in this post.

Those services, particularly the former, have taken over to some extent in the UK and appear on checkout screens of many an app or website.

I was thinking exactly the same. These services already exist and are pretty massive in UK. They also don’t affect your credit score. Though doubt Apple are targeting UK market given they still don’t have Apple Card outside of US.

 

[macrumorsuser10]

Cash is king people!

I haven't touched cash or coins in over two years. I pay everything with my credit card and pay the bill off at the end of the month, just like I've done for the last twenty five years.

 

[macrumorsuser10]

Yeah, credit can be an impressive force multiplier when used correctly. Actually having a million dollars cash is an even MORE impressive force multiplier, but far more people will be able to have 1 million dollars credit than actually have 1 million dollars cash.

Having a million dollars in investment assets is an even more impressive force multiplier.

 

[pauloregan]

Steve Jobs would turn in his grave.

 

[JohnApples]

Ahh, another credit card-centric article. Prepare for unsolicited financial advice in the comments! Ah who am I kidding, they already beat me to it.

 

[alexandr]

Iceland is all credit cards like the United States. Germany still loves their cash and is probably 50/50. There is no such thing as pay at the pump for fuel in Germany.

i think you're overestimating how non cash the u.s. is. i've seen maybe a handful of place that don't accept cash, and there are still loads of places that are cash only.

 

[alexandr]

they should also get cracking on the 'apple pay your debts off' feature. i mean — why not?

 

[TehFalcon]

Ooooh! I hope this actually happens! I use Affirm all the time and have a great relationship with them giving me very low interest rates, so far no one else has been as good as Affirm so hopefully Apple can be!

 

[kmann1983]

Yay! More Credit Card Debt! Last thing I need.

I'm not opposed to this style of debt, if it's more of a "pay within X amount of time" where X is a reasonable number.
The problem with most credit cards is you can end up paying decades on debt that, otherwise, would be paid off WAY faster through a normal loan.

So if it's "pay in four months with 15% interest" that's not HORRIBLE and will make many more things affordable without tanking the future -- which is the problem with credit cards. They get a ton of "free" money for a VERY long period of time -- which in turn limits how much frivolous spending we can do which.. in turn.. hurts the economy.

And this is a very big problem that we're keeping under the rug because it's a tough thing to answer. Poor people are taken advantage of because they often have little choice. Need those expensive medications? Off, doesn't that suck but hey, pile on that debt! Or die. But suicide is bad. So pay up cowboy. This is just ONE field of troubles we're building that our children or grandchildren will suffer if we don't correct..

 

[Wildkraut]

Apple in a few years: a bank and a credit scoring company…

Hey there, buy an iPhone and pay later, this will improve your credit score rating…

 

[CWallace]

I like installment payments plans that are tied to 0% interest and use them when I can as it allows me to husband the cash to earn interest in the interim while still ensuring I am able to pay off the debt on time.

If this is only available with fees and/or interest charged, then I will not be...interested.

 

[dannyyankou]

I thought the whole point of a credit card is that you pay later. Like others said, this sounds like it will just lead to mountains of debt.

 

[ghanwani]

We have a really weird debt-driven economy and I guess Apple is trying to take advantage of it. And why not because if not them someone else will.

 

[mejsric]

they should create an Apple Bank now Or buy one.

 

[827538]

Cash doesn't give me cash back and doesn't give me purchase protection.

Have to agree. If you don't carry forward a balance then it's by far better to use credit than debit.

Personally my wife and I use platinum Amex's which easily pay for themselves and give us a ton of perks. Their fraud protection is excellent and prevented a lot of headaches, debit cards are great but you can run into big problems if they are stolen/skimmed, they also don't have any bonuses.

 

[whyamihere]

Cash is king people!

lol, I just made over $50 in cash back from one credit card alone this month. All just for using it to buy things and then paying off the balance in full.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Am I missing something ?

What Reward OR Reward(s) will they offer ?

Well see, they'll charge merchants 5%, and then they'll just keep it to themselves.

This is Apple we're talking about - the company that made taking a 30% cut for doing approximately nothing an industry standard.

 

[tillsbury]

Afterpay is growing quickly over here, and I note that they have teamed up already with Apple Pay so that you can buy something, and the four payments (through Afterpay) come from Apple Pay. There are plenty more companies doing this all over the world. It's only logical that Apple should offer the service directly. Personally I'd certainly trust being able to do the whole thing through Apple rather than give my details to some shady third party on the way, if I were the sort of person who would use it.

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

Cash is king people!

Yep. The rest of it goes like this:
"Welcome to the Dave Ramsey show where debt is dumb, cash is king, and the paid off home mortgage has replaced the BMW as the status symbol of choice."

 

[ninecows]

Cash doesn't give me cash back and doesn't give me purchase protection.

Which is just a sign of a sick world. What kind of a system is it we have when you only get these benefits for jumping on the debt train?

 

[ninecows]

Is it though? It sounds nice when you say it, but that's not very smart.

Would you buy a house with cash? Plenty of banks are willing to lend us $100s of thousands at ~2-3%

Why would you spend cash when you can pay off your credit card each cycle and get 2 - 2.5% cash back without lifting a finger?

Do you save all of your money in cash? We're at an annualized 5% inflation, so next year your $100 will only feel like ~95 today. Why not put your money into i-bonds and get paid the rate of inflation at a minimum?

It's just terrible advice to tell people cash is king for everyday situations.

I think there’s quite a difference between buying a house where you then have some real estate that’s supposed to work as guarantee for your debt and then buying some gadget for money you don’t have.

That you can get 2.5% back for buying with a credit card is just sick. Who is really paying for that you think? Poor people who’s only option is to pay with credit? Your self through other fees? The shop in fees to the credit card company? Of course you would be a fool not to take that money if you can, but it’s still sick that you allow such a system.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Yay! More Credit Card Debt! Last thing I need.

Only if you're living beyond your means. Otherwise, debt is better financially since with inflation you are paying less the further into the future your payment is.

 

[magicman32]

Unless it’s gonna be free money up-front like PayPal’s interest-free pay it back in 6 months I’m good. If they can beat that (doubtful), cool. Otherwise, I’m good. I use it even if I don’t need need to. Keep more money in my pocket for as long as I can? Thanks, see ya in 6 months.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

In order to have a good credit card around and have features like cash back you have to have cash or else the bank won’t be approving u

Having cash doesn't necessarily mean you are credit worthy. Banks will want to see a history of credit being paid back before approving you for the more lucrative cash back cards.