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Good to know about the developments. Expecting a change only in 2026 looking at how things are going. Possible that it can be American Express.
 
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Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that there's "some possibility" the company's Apple Card partnership with Apple could end early, reports Reuters. Goldman Sachs and Apple have a contract that is supposed to last until 2030, but the financial services company wants to get out of consumer banking and out of its deal with Apple.

Apple-Card-Balance.jpeg

Back in November 2023, a report from The Wall Street Journal suggested that Apple was aiming to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months. The 12 month mark has already passed, and 15 months is coming up at the end of February, but there hasn't been recent news on the dissolving of the partnership.

Apple partnered with Goldman Sachs for the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account, so Apple needs to find a replacement partner for these services before it can move on from Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs initially approached American Express about taking over the deal, but the Apple Card needs to run on the Mastercard network until 2026 because of a prior contract. Apple held discussions with Synchrony Financial and Capital One, but those talks seem to have ended. As of September 2024, Apple was reportedly in talks with JPMorgan Chase about an Apple Card takeover, but establishing a deal could take months.

Goldman Sachs has faced customer service issues and customer complaints over the Apple Card and Apple Savings account, which ultimately led to an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Customers were unhappy with long wait times for disputed Apple Card transactions and issues with transferring money from the Apple Savings account, and Apple is not happy with the poor customer service reputation its financial products have as a result.

Article Link: Goldman Sachs CEO Says Contract With Apple May End Early
I hope whoever takes it over continues what it currently does. Apple Card is legitimately a great credit card. It’s replaced my debit card. I use it, then pay it off. The Daily Cash is incredible. Almost $400 in my savings account in one year just from transactions.
 
I think Capital One needs to do more advertising. And yes, I'm kidding.

Outside of insurance companies, and Big Pharma (with every ad comically reciting all the possible side effects), I can't think of anyone who advertises more than Capital One. How Goldman is losing money on the Apple Card, yet Capital One has all this extra money to spend on TV advertising of all things...I can't say I understand this end of the banking industry.
A simple answer - people with bad credit are more profitable.

As ever, it's easier to take from the (especially aspirational) poor than the already well off.
 
No one seems eager to work with Apple on the Apple Card. I’m just curious why? Anyone?
Because Apple Card is extremely user-friendly, and that is what the idea was from the get-go. A card that everyone could have, and a card that actually helped people manage their spending responsibly, not trap them in a spiraling loop of credit card debt and insane interest rates. Daily Cash back up to 3% (6% during the holidays at certain stores), 3.9% APY on the savings account, and it actually encourages you to not pay interest, and tells you how much to pay to avoid it. Interest is how credit card companies make money, and when people are not paying interest, then the credit card company is basically handing out money with no return on investment. So with the Daily Cash that gets doled out, with far less interest being paid on carried balances, it’s not a very enticing proposition for a credit card company or a bank.
 
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It’s not so much a regulation thing as Costco making deals with the card companies. They’ve switched between Amex, Mastercard, and Visa over the years. This only applies to credit cards, you can use a Mastercard debit and, of course, cash.

I guess Costco has a deal with Visa for their own card, that’s my guess as to why they refuse Mastercard.

As for the Apple Store question, typically Apple requires that you use Apple Pay vs a physical card to get the 3% back.
Thank you both for the explanation. 👍
 
Pardon my ignorance: if they switch to another company, what happens with the savings accounts? Will customers have to take the money out, then put it back in, or what?

After reading the article, I have the same question...I'd guess thats how it would have to work? I've honestly never been in this type of scenario!

It's all back-end changes. You wouldn't need to do anything manually. Savings rates are never guaranteed (unlike a CD or bond), so your money either gets transferred to another custodian with a potentially different rate, or it just gets put in a non-interest bearing balance. You would still have the same access to your capital.
 
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This will be a very unpopular reply, but it's because Goldman Sachs' loss rate on Apple Card customers is the worst of all US credit card companies. Apple Card customers have low credit scores—a quarter of them have scores below 660, the threshold for "prime" credit. This is risky for the bank backing the credit card, because they take losses when they aren't repaid by borrowers. People will want to blame the banks or the lack of fees, because that's easy to say, but it's really the number of Apple Card customers who haven't been making their payments.
Thank you for explaining. Apple Card isn’t available over here so no experience with it. I try to buy everything upfront. No loans etc. But that’s typical Dutch I suppose 😅
 
Retail banking too much like hard work, eh, Goldman? Easier to drive up commodity prices through futures speculation, isn't it. Hiding subsidiaries in tax havens.

"Doing God's work", indeed.
Getting up to date facts seem like hard work for you.

Goldman, like most banks under Dodd-Franks, shuttered its proprietary trading desk over a decade ago. (Prop trading is where said group takes discretionary and directional positions in the market, i.e. "speculation" with its own capital.)

Goldman's involvement in trading is now direction neutral, such as market-making, or facilitating trades or hedging for its clients.

"Driving up prices" implies they have some unilateral power to control price in the direction they want. You understand that in the market, single entities don't have that power? Futures contracts exist in a 2-way market, and there are parties like hedge funds and CTAs and actual commodity producers that are happy to drive down commodity prices by selling those futures contract, if they believe it is mis-priced.
 
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most people with Apple Card are pretty responsible with their finances.
The opposite is actually true. Goldman Sach's lending standards for Apple Card were incredibly low, and they have a ton of subprime customers and some of the highest default rates in the industry. Even ignoring Apple Card's other terms, no bank in their right mind would want to buy that customer portfolio.
This trifecta makes banks HATE Apple Card.

Apple really up-ended and smack-jabbed banks with the card, be-ridding a lot of the unethical aspects of credit cards and credit card companies.
That's not entirely true, banks actually really like customers who use their cards a lot and pay them off in full. They still make money from the interchange fees each time the card is used, but the risk of the customer defaulting and not paying back the balance owed is much lower. It's worth noting that the terms Goldman Sachs agreed to with Apple is that GS doesn't get any of the interchange fees, so they don't have that revenue source to offset the credit losses.

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of unscrupulous practices out there in the credit card industry, but the terms Goldman Sachs accepted and the credit decisions they made are the big reason why they're losing money.
 
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Okay, now I'm curious - what are the circumstances under which you would be buying something at the Apple Store and not want to use Apple Pay? I have a titanium Apple Card, but it's still in the box, never used.
Both you guys are missing a trick! Instead of buying from Apple using your Apple Card or Apple Pay (I have both), get an Amazon Prime account and use their card. Unlike Apple Inc., they discount Apple products all the time, and when you use the prime card, you get 5% credit on your Prime account! If you can't find a way to use free money on Amazon, you're not looking hard enough!
 
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The opposite is actually true. Goldman Sach's lending standards for Apple Card were incredibly low, and they have a ton of subprime customers and some of the highest default rates in the industry. Even ignoring Apple Card's other terms, no bank in their right mind would want to buy that customer portfolio.

That's not entirely true, banks actually really like customers who use their cards a lot and pay them off in full. They still make money from the interchange fees each time the card is used, but the risk of the customer defaulting and not paying back the balance owed is much lower. It's worth noting that the terms Goldman Sachs agreed to with Apple is that GS doesn't get any of the interchange fees, so they don't have that revenue source to offset the credit losses.

Don't get me wrong there are plenty of unscrupulous practices out there in the credit card industry, but the terms Goldman Sachs accepted and the credit decisions they made are the big reason why they're losing money.
I don't think banks don't make the bulk of their profits on consumer credit from the 2%-4% merchant transaction fees. Not when customers revolve balances that charge them 20%. The math doesn't work. G-S is not and never really has been a consumer oriented bank, and it's obvious that if they're losing money it's because of incompetence in this sector.
 
As long as whoever takes over still keeps the 0% financing for Apple products. That is one of the key features as to why I got the Apple Card in the first place.
 
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Costco keeps changing the networks from time to time. Used to be MC Amex but changed to Visa the last few years. No other cards accepted in store.
That's wild. I can't think of the last time I went anywhere that didn't accept Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and Discover.
 
I can't see JP Morgan Chase playing ball with the Apple card as it is today - that no late fee is going to be a deal breaker for every bank. JPMC and Amex are my two hopes because they have the best rewards cards out there, but expect major changes.

I also wouldn't mind an upgraded Apple card with annual fee as an option in addition to a no fee card for better
rewards. The only negative I've had with Apple's card is the rewards structure.

If you want a high yeild savings option, then forget JPMC. Amex and Discover are the only two big credit card banks that offer high yeild savings.

Capital One is the WORSE bank and credit card issuer. You can have perfect credit and they want to give you a $1000 limit and they think a generous increase if $100 bucks. They have lost almost all their cobranded card accounts for good reason as well.
Capital one is fine and you most certainly don't need perfect credit - just do a little research and you will realize that.

I got a 10K credit line instantly, which got bumped to 15K after sometime.
 
That's wild. I can't think of the last time I went anywhere that didn't accept Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, and Discover.
This is (or was) pretty common in the warehouse club sector. Sam's Club, for the longest time, used to only take Discover. I think it was 2006 they finally added MasterCard but for a while it was just those two. It was only 2016 that they started accepting Visa (and American Express around that same time). BJ's Wholesale Club was MasterCard only for a long time and only started accepting Visa, Discover, and AMEX in 2009.

Costco likely gets away with it because they have a much more devoted following than their competition so the pressure on them to accept other cards isn't as high as it was on Sam's Club and BJ's.
 
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This is (or was) pretty common in the warehouse club sector. Sam's Club, for the longest time, used to only take Discover. I think it was 2006 they finally added MasterCard but for a while it was just those two. It was only 2016 that they started accepting Visa (and American Express around that same time). BJ's Wholesale Club was MasterCard only for a long time and only started accepting Visa, Discover, and AMEX in 2009.

Costco likely gets away with it because they have a much more devoted following than their competition so the pressure on them to accept other cards isn't as high as it was on Sam's Club and BJ's.
Discover being the only option is even crazier. I hardly know anyone with a Discover card. Wow.
 
Visa would be much better as that'd mean I could use mine at Costco as well.
My Dad has a Costco membership as well and he recently signed up for a credit card that US Bank just started offering that pays unlimited 4% cash back on every single purchase - it’s not a ‘category credit card’ (so the 4% rate applies to everything) and it’s also a ‘Visa Signature’ card so it’s accepted at Costco

The 4% cash back is twice the rate that he’s currently getting with his Fidelity credit card and I haven’t seen any credit cards on the market that offer anywhere near that. He’s going to start using it at Costco once the account is activated and ready to go - here is the link to that 4% credit card if you’re interested in signing up for it:


Somebody on Reddit posted detailed instructions on how to properly sign up for that credit card as well:


Just an FYI - individual stocks qualify as assets (to meet the balance requirement) so there’s no requirement to purchase investment products that are highly profitable to US Bank - making it a much better value proposition then it would otherwise be (if such requirements were to be imposed)
 
I predict that this "possibility" is nothing more than a fantasy, and Apple's gonna ride out this contract all the way to the end.
 
Both you guys are missing a trick! Instead of buying from Apple using your Apple Card or Apple Pay (I have both), get an Amazon Prime account and use their card. Unlike Apple Inc., they discount Apple products all the time, and when you use the prime card, you get 5% credit on your Prime account! If you can't find a way to use free money on Amazon, you're not looking hard enough!
Yes you can save a little bit of money that way... but if you experience a problem with the device and want service, the Apple Store won't give you the time of day.
 
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Yes you can save a little bit of money that way... but if you experience a problem with the device and want service, the Apple Store won't give you the time of day.
You're wrong about that. You'll get the exact same service at the Apple Store or online support no matter where you buy it. I worked for Apple 11 years, and this I know. Help is just a toll free phone call away, @ 800-275-2273. You did get AppleCare, didn't you? Amazon sells that too, and it's honored by Apple, not amazon.
 
Okay, now I'm curious - what are the circumstances under which you would be buying something at the Apple Store and not want to use Apple Pay? I have a titanium Apple Card, but it's still in the box, never used.
Umm… It’s titanium. My phone in made out of titanium. If I have the ability to pay for something using titanium (while earning 3%) I am damn well going to pay using titanium🍎👌😎

Besides, I already have my titanium Apple Card with me wherever I go because the only two physical cards that I carry with me (in my Apple MagSafe wallet) are my titanium Apple Card as well as my US passport card (for my ID) so it’s not an extra burden that I have to remember to take with me (when going to the Apple Store)

I rarely use my titanium card (considering pretty much every merchant accepts Apple Pay) and the only time that I really use it is when I open up a bar tab (when getting drinks) and if the bartender requests to hold onto a physical card - I will provide them my titanium Apple Card simply because it does not have any card numbers on it like a normal credit card (to prevent the account number from being stolen) considering they’re taking my card to the other side of the bar and could write down my card number while it’s out of my sight for an hour or 2

When I then go to pay for the tab (when I’m about to leave) I will swap the Apple Card out and pay using my Verizon Visa credit card because that card pays 4% cash back on restaurants (bars are almost always coded as restaurants) instead of the 1% that I’d otherwise get (if paying with the titanium Apple Card)
 
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