Yes, but the credit card also has extra protections from identity theft, that the debit card doesn't.
If you don't understand the value of building a credit history, then there's clearly a lot in life you haven't experienced yet.
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Recent Hints Point Toward Apple Card International Expansion
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If you don't understand the value of building a credit history, then there's clearly a lot in life you haven't experienced yet.
But with debit, if something fraudulent does happen, now you are calling to get your money back, which you temporarily won’t have access to. With credit, you call, and it’s their money they need to get back. This can be a big thing in some situations.
From the European (or, rather, EUian) point of view: What would make this card any different from Mastercard, Eurocard, or Visa? In large parts of the EU big merchants pay less than 1 % fee for CC transactions, so there is very little headroom for any special extras for the card holder. For debit transactions the fee is around 0.3 %.
Amex and Diner's have better benefits but — not so surprisingly — they are not so widely accepted. The situation is not the same in all countries, but quite often buying something more expensive (flight tickets, etc.) with these cards is either not possible or carries an extra fee.
I have absolutely nothing against Apple Card, but why would I abandon the Mastercard offered by my bank? It can be used with Apple Pay in virtually any store. I do not even remember last time I used cash or physical credit card, which is just great with all these nasty little bugs going around.
Amex and Diner's have better benefits but — not so surprisingly — they are not so widely accepted. The situation is not the same in all countries, but quite often buying something more expensive (flight tickets, etc.) with these cards is either not possible or carries an extra fee.
I have absolutely nothing against Apple Card, but why would I abandon the Mastercard offered by my bank? It can be used with Apple Pay in virtually any store. I do not even remember last time I used cash or physical credit card, which is just great with all these nasty little bugs going around.
I am not an American, but I tend to use my CC quite a lot. Why?
- If I pay something beforehand (Internet shopping) and do not receive whatever I wanted to get, I don't need to pay, and it becomes somebody else's problem.
- I get an insurance and extended warranty for equipment paid by my CC.
- Apple Pay uses the CC (it could be configured for the debit side of the card, as well, but switching between the two is not so convenient).
(Oh, and I do understand America's craze for credit cards. The banking system and inter-bank connections is not quite as polished as in, e.g., Sweden.)
Because a VAST and overwhelming amount of Americans are flatout broke, hence the need for credit. The data shows that roughly 63% of Americans can't afford a $500 car repair. Meanwhile the Federal Reserve keeps making the rich, richer and the poor, that much poorer. Or to quote the late great comedian George Carlin: "It's a BIG club and you ain't in it!"
63% of Americans Can't Afford $500 Car Repair or $1,000 Emergency Room Visit
/PRNewswire/ -- Almost two in three Americans don't have enough savings to pay for a $500 car repair or a $1,000 emergency room bill, according to a new...
www.prnewswire.com
With CCs in general they get cashback for using it or bonus systems like air miles, travel insurance, extra warranties on purchased products, the ability to revert charges, etc. Also with the Apple Credit card you can change the card number directly on the phone if you suspect a shady person has your old card number and you get extra cashback on Apple Store purchases.
For people who pay it off in full before each billing deadline it can be very useful. They bank on people not paying in full ofcourse.
What do you think you are paying with when you activate Apple Pay on your phone or watch?
Thinking about it after my previous post, when I moved to the U.K. 13 years ago, I was faced for the 1st time with a situation I’d never experienced back in my home country (Portugal): card payment over the phone, which happens regularly here.
In certain circumstances, when you have to pay for goods/services over the phone, you literally give the 16 digit card number, expiry date and CVV 3 digit number to a “stranger”!
How this isn’t commonly used for fraud still baffles me...
An international expansion of Apple Card is always welcome and I really hope that the big acceleration on electronic payments (micropayments in particular) that we saw during the Covid crisis will convince Apple in going down this way.
"unnamed Australian banking corporation" = it can't be one of the major banks
unless you mean P&N bank...
I won't
unless you mean P&N bank...
You do realise we'll hold you to that!
I won't
There's no way in the world would I let anyone take my card out of my sight. Besides, most shops here now use a battery-operated, portable machine to capture your card for a transaction - at least that's what occurs in Australia.
Yet in Albert Heijn they still only accept Maestro and not Visa Debit cards. A right pain which keeps on catching me out and then I have to resort to cash again. Just as one example.
I'm from the Netherlands, but live abroad, and the payment system isn't as great as you make it out to be.
In the EU, fees on customers for using cards are now illegal. At about the same time, the fee that can be charged to retailers was capped to a very low amount (just enough to cover costs and fraud insurance). This is why credit card rewards are now minimal in the EU. The aim is to hasten the move to a cashless society, and it's working. I hardly ever withdraw cash. That said, some retailers have refused my custom for purchases less than £5, because I only had a card. Given they are charged a percentage rather than a flat fee, they are turning down a purchase rather than pay the banks a few pennies. Most recently was a can of drink for which I was going to pay £1.20 at a remote beach shop, on which they would have made at least 70 p, and paid the bank perhaps 2 p? So, I went thirsty and they lost out on 68 p, choosing 0 p instead. Bizarre!
Perhaps I'm missing something, but what is the point of this? Apple Pay surely is a much more modern system of payment than carrying around an old school square of plastic?
As I understand it, the interesting part for some is around the way they can manage their card. When in Europe or even Russia and so used to open banking and challenger banks and decent apps to manage your account one can’t but wonder what the excitement is about.
It’s quite sad to see the USA getting further and further behind on a lot of those fronts.
I dont think Apple's intention were to get a few % point cash back to lure you in.
The biggest incentive for an Apple Card would be Interest Free Apple Purchase. Now all of a sudden they have expanded the pool of people that could afford to buy MacBook and iPhone Pro by paying 24 or may be 36 months instalment.
It also act as a tool to get rid of the friction when people are paying for digital goods, such as their services revenue.
I do wonder though who is the banking partner in AUS, UK, and EU.
I hope they will come to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The biggest incentive for an Apple Card would be Interest Free Apple Purchase. Now all of a sudden they have expanded the pool of people that could afford to buy MacBook and iPhone Pro by paying 24 or may be 36 months instalment.
It also act as a tool to get rid of the friction when people are paying for digital goods, such as their services revenue.
I do wonder though who is the banking partner in AUS, UK, and EU.
I hope they will come to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
This is a very common practice in the US. a few places have upgraded to wireless systems on the table or mobile payments through websites, due to COVID, but most still take your card away to a central terminal located out of site.
This is very true. Revolving credit is very important to your credit score and one of the many reasons credit cards are good to have. I do not personally see any reason to use debit cards, unless you have no self control on your spending.