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Visa and American Express Vying to Win Apple Card Deal in 'Fierce' Fight
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Visa/Chase would be my hope. Already have accounts with Chase and I’m sick of Amex.
My local garage, cafe, and pub don't take them. Most independent retailers aren't interested either.
It's Apple's choice who they use, but I'll only bother with a card that is useable where I want to use it.
Why is it that often the rudest and most condescending posts are by people telling others that their experience is invalid because the rude person hasn’t experienced the same?
Be aggressively rude or aggressively wrong, but not both simultaneously. That’s my motto at least ;-)
Child…i want it to stay USA only.it won't be special if everyone else has it
Haha, you are funny. My Ritz-Carlton is special, the Apple Card? Not so much...i want it to stay USA only.
edit: actually the AC is one of the worst around, almost non-existent sign up bonus with no real benefits. Even the USBank Reserve gives you 3% cb with ApplePay purchases (and that's 4.5% on travel).
US and UK credit card models appear very different.
In the UK there are no cards that offer you more than 1% cashback on anything other than a short term promotional basis.
if apple wants to keep the Apple Card an American-only product they could theoretically go for any card scheme (visa, MC, Amex or discovery). However, if they plan to branch out to more countries, Discovery is 100% out of the picture due to very low acceptance rates (I’ve worked with card issuing and card acquiring in Sweden for 17 years and only came across a Discovery card once).
Amex feels like a more matching choice, couldn’t care less if it’s visa or Mastercard since it’s all widely accepted here. If they want to go international they might skip Amex though due to acceptance rates.
Amex feels like a more matching choice, couldn’t care less if it’s visa or Mastercard since it’s all widely accepted here. If they want to go international they might skip Amex though due to acceptance rates.
If Apple are thinking about rolling out the Apple card internationally then the issuing bank will be one that not only has a presence in the US but also around the world. It will be the same with the payment network, it will be a card issuer that has a strong international presence, which is why in my opinion VISA would be the winner here. AMEX and Mastercard are accepted internationally but not as many places as VISA does.
If Apple just wants to stick to it's US market then I think one of the US banks will win it and Mastercard will be kept because nothing would need to changed with Mastercard only the cost of the renew of the contract but with VISA there would need to be brand name changes, advertising name changes, setup costs for using VISA systems.
Basically it is whoever is going to be the one that offers Apple the cheapest cost in using them and at the moment that is Mastercard because they already have everything in place.
If Apple just wants to stick to it's US market then I think one of the US banks will win it and Mastercard will be kept because nothing would need to changed with Mastercard only the cost of the renew of the contract but with VISA there would need to be brand name changes, advertising name changes, setup costs for using VISA systems.
Basically it is whoever is going to be the one that offers Apple the cheapest cost in using them and at the moment that is Mastercard because they already have everything in place.
AMEX is trying to stay relevant. All AMEX needs to do is drop their transaction fees to Visa level and suddenly the majority of merchants will accept the card.
Coverage maybe, but reliability no. I have found repeatedly that only Amex can be counted on when you travel. I have had Visa and Mastercard cards where I informed the bank of travel and the cards were still declined. With Amex you don't have to even notify them and I have never, never had an issue with Amex on international (or domestic) travel. Not to mention that Amex's customer service is better, their dispute system is better, and there are Amex travel offices all over the world. You can always carry a free bank card in case the bodega on the corner won't take Amex.
Yes, Amex has higher fees. You get what you pay for.
Confused as to what Klarna, Affirm etc. has to do with Amex acceptance rates?
What 10anta said is correct, Amex does struggle in many markets outside of the US. For a global card Amex does not make sense and when you combine that with the fact that (today) Apple Card has no real "reward" benefits makes Amex even more illogical.
Those of us who actually live in Europe rather than travel 3-4 times per year can tell you for an absolute fact that Visa and Mastercard are far, far, far more widely accepted. Your doner shop in Barcelona withstanding, it really is as simple as that.
I know you mean that as a joke, but effectively it already has insofar as Amex is concerned. It is not widely accepted because the EU placed a cap on what credit card companies can charge retailers, and the Amex model of high rewards now cannot work well in Europe.
it is the retailer that pays the fees, and they don't get any particular service for what they pay for, which is precisely why so few retailers outside the US take Amex. They pay more for nothing except being able to take card payments from the relatively few people who cannot pay with Visa or Mastercard instead of perhaps losing a sale.
It's allowed it because those types of posts generate clicks. The ignore feature makes the forums here much more enjoyable.
Costco: A lot of comments in the thread about using the card at Costco. I love Costco and its worth having the Costco card if only for the 3% on Food and Travel and the 5% on Costco Gas and 4% on other gas. I have toyed with the idea of using other Visa cards for pure Costco shopping but that's another matter.
I doubt the cash back will work any differently than it does now.
Its happened. It can also be a way for current Apple/GS card holders to get back in with a bank they may have a soured relationship with (e.g. Amex).
I love my Chase cards but Chase will cap you on overall credit exposure. The benefit of Chase would be if the Apple card gave you UR points which you could combine but I doubt that would happen. I'd rather see Citi win it personally -- outside of the costco card their CC lineup is less than great.
I doubt the cash back will work any differently than it does now.
Its happened. It can also be a way for current Apple/GS card holders to get back in with a bank they may have a soured relationship with (e.g. Amex).
I love my Chase cards but Chase will cap you on overall credit exposure. The benefit of Chase would be if the Apple card gave you UR points which you could combine but I doubt that would happen. I'd rather see Citi win it personally -- outside of the costco card their CC lineup is less than great.
I don't think the Apple Card will ever be available internationally. Seems like it would be even more annoying for Apple to try to implement and maintain country by country than the growing issues they're already facing with the OS and local anti-competition rules, never mind that the dominance of local financial institutions is probably the biggest roadblock to the AC entering other markets.