Does the no interest on iPhones require Apple care? Because the current iPhone upgrade program forces Apple care in so it would be cheaper this way.
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Goldman Sachs Issued $10 Billion in Credit Lines for Apple Card
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Why have a higher credit limit? I can give you one reason. I switched to using the AC as my daily expenses card. And after two months, I hit a wall where I have no available credit. I have no balance owed... I keep paying off every several days. But they are making me wait ten days until after my payments post before it reflects in the credit available. So I'm in a situation where my balance is close to zero, yet I can't buy anything substantial. Frustrating, and makes it hard to use as my daily driver.
Unfortunately for you, the behavior of running up the credit limit and then paying it off, more than once per cycle, is a fraud indicator. That has triggered a 10-day hold on your payments, probably from a fraud reduction algorithm, with no human oversight. It’s not a good way to start off a new account relationship and that 10-day payment hold may never be lifted, it’s hard to say.
The reason it’s an indicator of fraud is that it is behavior indicative of a common credit card scam. Fraudsters will charge up the account, then pay it down with bogus funds, resetting the limit so they can charge it up again. Without the payment hold, the bank could otherwise be stuck with a fraud loss of 2x or even 5x the credit limit before the payments start to be returned (bounce). The 10-day hold ensures the payments are collectable.
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Good for you in getting yourself out of debt, but beyond that not understand what you are talking about.
If you pay your monthly statement balance on ANY credit card you will pay ZERO interest - what am I missing from your story here? - I am genuinely curious.
Amen!
When I say credit is money debt slavery it may sound to you like a crazy conspiracy theory thing, but if you think about it that's exactly what it is.
Say you buy a house with a 30 yr mortgage - well you've just signed papers to be a slave to the banks for the next 30 years. You have to pay it back otherwise you lose your home (and more importantly your spouse and kids lose their home). If you don't leave your home, it's enforced by police / jail.
It's true you did this to yourself, and you shouldn't have been so stupid as to fall for that BS.
And yet on ever street corner somebody is selling you a shiny new item you don't need for debt - on every street corner you can become a slave to the system, with limited freedoms. You need to work a job to pay back your money - so your freedom to leave jobs is very much limited now. The interest will keep you on your toes forever and God forbid you mess up even only once - then you're in big trouble.
Just because it's a voluntary opt in slave system doesn't make it less of a slave system.
As an aside, Apple is
1 - Super amazing at making more and more money - holy ****!
and
2 - Having to become increasingly evil to raise their bottom line. Google says hello.
Next thing you know Apple is in with the pharma industry keeping people sick and paying their entire life. They already hired some pharma guys - probably due to expanding Apple Health devices and services. The writing is on the wall.
Well, I'm glad you have clued me into what is an issue. I would never have thought of this. I would think/hope that after some period of time of the payments going through with no issue, that they would lift such a hold. Because what would be the point of a fraudster continuing to make payments on the account.
Now, got any advice on why a Mac mini I just purchased and received a couple hours ago won't install Catalina? Downloaded, and gave an error message. And when I relaunch, it just tells me that "This copy of the Install macOS Catalina application is damaged and can't be used to install macOS". Frustrating.
You are missing why there are credit cards. Do you think credit cards exist to give you free stuff? Do you think that is how they make billions every year?
No that's not how they make billions. They make billions by having people NOT pay within 30 days and then having to pay lots of fees, falling into a financial hole that can be hard to get out of.
It's like youre a mouse and you say - I do not understand what's wrong with that mouse trap over there, there's some juicy cheese that's really yummie, and I can just take it if I am quick enough! Isn't it great!
Yes it's great but that is not the intention behind the mouse trap. The mouse trap will kill mice. Maybe it won't be you as long as you stay fast and vigilant. But maybe it will, when something unforeseen happens. But whether or not it affects you personally right now you have to realize that the only reason for a mouse traps existence is to kill mice
And the only reason for a credit card's existence is to make money. Is it or isn't it? It is, yes. So for every one who is vigilant and paying within the grace period, there must be a few others who don't. Not sure what the exact number-to-profit is but you can bet they make a profit.
So think about it this way - you enjoy your privileges on the credit card, and you pay it back on time. But you are not getting this for free. This is paid for by people who are not as vigilant, who spend more than they should, who mess up, whatever - it is paid for by all those who make billions in profit for credit cards.
So you could say these are stupid people, and you are smart.
Sure - but if you're so smart, then also see you're directly taking money from stupid people.
See the big picture. We all are born to care for one another. And I am not saying refusing a credit card will make these people smarter about their finances. But I do want to shine a big light on what's going on.
So you know where the money is coming from, and who is paying for your free privileges.
Nothing is free. Everything comes with a price. I am not blaming you at all - it would be a stretch as you can clearly not yet see the entire cycle. No one's to blame. Just see clearly what is happening. Think about 5 steps ahead, rather than just 1.
How does Apple make money off this when Goldman Sachs lends the money and charges the interest on it?
Also, 2-3% cash back, I thought a lot business make profit margins of 5% or less like Walmart.
I too am against companies growing to cover all aspects of life and business, but truth to be told, Apple is fixing problems that no other company is. iOS is your only alternative to the data-collector Android, and MacOS is the only alternative to the horrid Windows, and so on...
I don't understand the difference between Amex and a regular card, what happens if you don't pay by the end of the month? How do they make money if no interest is collected?
Also, 2-3% cash back, I thought a lot business make profit margins of 5% or less like Walmart.
I too am against companies growing to cover all aspects of life and business, but truth to be told, Apple is fixing problems that no other company is. iOS is your only alternative to the data-collector Android, and MacOS is the only alternative to the horrid Windows, and so on...
I don't understand the difference between Amex and a regular card, what happens if you don't pay by the end of the month? How do they make money if no interest is collected?
Not "common sense" or impossible: Costco's contract retained ownership of their card customers, so they transferred everybody from American Express to Citi when the contract was rebid.
Which is the best card to use on Costco purchases? - CreditCards.com
The Costco Anywhere Visa card by Citi offers a high amount of cash back on gas, travel and Costco purchases, but is it the best card to use to earn the most rewards at Costco?
The youtube videos i’m satirizing - will more the offer you their opinion. Seriously, type Apple Card into YouTube.
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Well, as the CEO said, having to pay in the store isn't a ruse it’s just a temporary consequence of not having ApplePay in their App. They’re working to simplify / eliminate the pain point.
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It is not the amount in September that really matters but how much is not paid off by the time the bills are due that is a cause for concern.
If you are prudent and use the card to get the benefits like Cash Back etc AND pay it off at the end of the month then the unsecured debt is not a problem. It is when people only pay the minimum balance that things can start to get out of hand.
That for many is the start of a slippery slope.
With the uncertainty in the economies of many leading countries around the world (import tariffs don't really help) getting into debt might not be that easy to escape from in the short term.
One measure of how well the economy is doing is the number of repo's carried out each month. If that starts rising then the warning signs are there in front of you.
I don't owe anyone anything and pay my cards off in full each month. That was the way that I was brought up. My grandkids don't see the problem with not paying their Cards off... Different generations but I don't like paying even one penny in interest.
'Even if you do as he suggested and pay off the balance in full, and therefore pay nothing in interest... the credit card issuer is not giving away "free stuff", at the expense of others as you suggest. The bank still profits even if everyone does this. They collect roughly 3% from the vendor you purchase from. They are paying you less than that on average in cash back. They still profit. In fact, I believe they profit more if you make lots of purchases throughout the year and keep paying off the balance. If they make 1-2% profit off each transaction... you would only have to make purchases more than about 10-20 times in a year to make them more profit that they would earn on a balance earning interest (depending on rate).
Its a bit absurd to suggest that one persons utilzation of credit is somehow 'hurting" another person. They are wholely unconnected. And each is capable of deciding what's best for their needs at the time. For example, if you have an emergency and can't work for a month... I think eating food on credit is more useful to you than starving and not paying interest for a few months while you catch up.
Edit: and I'm curious if your hostile attitude toward credit card debt extends to home mortgages. Because in some countries (Europe, for example), people don't mortgage houses. They save up, and buy them. They essentially feel the same way about that as you do about credit cards. So they might feel you and I are just as foolish to mortgage a house.
Vendors pay around 2-2.5% to cover processing costs and the risk taken on by the merchant's bank, but the issuers get 1-2%. For example, for a supermarket transaction, the interchange rate is as low as 1.15% + 5 cents.
For example, I bought airline tickets with in-app Apple Pay. I got 2% but GS only got 1.90% + 0.10. So they lost money on that transaction and must make it back on cheaper reward transactions, on more expensive categories, or interest.
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Oh the irony. More mac FUD from macfacts
First, $10 billion is the total credit lines extended, which has nothing to do with the total dollar value of transactions. Second, even if you knew the total of the transactions, you still wouldn’t know the cash back amount, since any given transaction may earn 0%, 1%, 2% or 3% cash back. And third, Apple Card customers generate lots of revenue in the form of merchant fees. Even if they never carry a balance, they’re still a source of revenue for Apple.
btw what info do you think Apple is “so desperate” to get? Seems like maybe you’re the desperate one, trying to find something to complain about Apple, and you found a big fat nothingburger that disappeared as you tried to sink your teeth into it.
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I usually always see a range of 1.7% - 3.5% quoted for processing on merchant accounts. Mine typically have been in the high 2's to 3's.... since I'm not a very high volume or important account. Also, I don't typically have face to face with the clients, so I'm processing as a manual entry, which always gets around a .5% higher rate for the increased risk involved. Also, rates vary depending on the card the customer uses. Cards with special rewards can cause the vendor to pay higher rates. And again, I think some people with higher volume accounts can have better arrangements set up where they avoid this.
And yes, there were be limited scenarios where the bank may lose a little. Thats why most rewards cards have it limited to certain categories. They probably are making nothing or losing for those few isolated categories, and making more on others. But these banks are not charities. Rest assured that overall they are making money. They definitely are not only charging the majority of their merchants 1.9%, and they definitely are not paying more rewards than that on the majority of the transactions.
I am 62 and retired with a zero mortgage, zero balances on 2 other credit cards, zero balance on my revolving line of credit and one car loan. My credit rating is well over 800 and so for fun I applied for a Apple Card. I got turned down as my debt to income level was to high. HUMM my credit union does not have a issue with a my revolving line of credit, the other banks don't have a issue as I have high credit limits and have paid off the balances as soon as they are posted unless I travel and then when due. Oh well it is a joke for the folks that think this is really good for them.
And (at least in the UK) the protection they offer over other forms of payment. If for an example I have a £10,000 holiday, but pay even just a £1 deposit for it by CC, I get protection for the full amount. I collect airmiles with my Amex/Virgin credit cards but as you say, clear the balance every month. I see it as a payment method, not a source of money.
Do cards in the US provide the same type of protection?
I repeat what I said and I point to the real numbers provided by Mastercard.
Merchants have to pay for multiple services like the risk that they will default, anti-fraud screening, data processing services etc. Therefore the amount charged to merchants is not equal to what the issuing bank receives as compensation for the interest-free grace period.
The numbers shown in the PDF are exactly what gets passed through to the issuing bank. Mastercard and Visa both disclose this as a result of anti-trust lawsuits. So they are real numbers and not fake.
The issuing bank further pays Visa/Mastercard fees, those are somewhat opaque. The network also takes a further cut from the merchant for providing their services.
But the real numbers show that 2% across the board is not sustainable in nearly all cases.
Only common sense in an antiquated banking system. Perhaps that is an issue in the US, you can easily do that in many regions around the world. It was actually sad when I worked for a Tier-1 US bank in non-US region to see how far behind the thinking is compared to challenger banks. Many intentions get thwarted as they focus on how they've always done it.
To me, that is not common sense.
Hmmm I take your point that it is an active indicator of fraud, and that it is fair to say that it is in operation and thus a valid explanation.
In-line with the above, it is unnecessary to still run it like that. And to me indicative of antiquated systems and processes. There is no reason why it has to take 10-days to ensure payments are collectable. A bank still operating on those old systems I wouldn't trust.