Apple Debuts Apple Card To Transform the Credit Card Experience (venturebeat.com) 238
An anonymous reader shares a report: iPhone users are already using Apple's Wallet app, Apple Pay, and Apple Pay Cash -- wouldn't they like an Apple credit card, too? The Cupertino company and bank partner Goldman Sachs believe the answer is "yes," so they've teamed up for Apple Card. In addition to offering major rewards for users, the new payment solution promises to improve the credit card experience by offering a healthier approach to spending. The Wallet app will include a more transparent list of transactions, organized in an easy to read format, plus a more flexible way of making payments on outstanding balances.
Apple Card is designed to complement existing Apple-branded payment options, as well as displacing other credit cards that might be in a user's wallet. Though the end goal is to increase Apple's share of the dollars spent by its users, the pinch this time will be felt by rival payment providers, and come with incentives for new card users. Every time you spend with Apple Card, you get 2 percent cash back -- a feature the company calls Daily Cash. Purchases directly from Apple come with 3 percent cash back.
Apple Card is designed to complement existing Apple-branded payment options, as well as displacing other credit cards that might be in a user's wallet. Though the end goal is to increase Apple's share of the dollars spent by its users, the pinch this time will be felt by rival payment providers, and come with incentives for new card users. Every time you spend with Apple Card, you get 2 percent cash back -- a feature the company calls Daily Cash. Purchases directly from Apple come with 3 percent cash back.
The rest of the article (Score:5, Informative)
What the copy-paste summary omits is more informative:
Every time you spend with Apple Card, you get 2 percent cash back — a feature the company calls Daily Cash. Purchases directly from Apple come with 3 percent cash back. That could lift the company’s sales of its own products, providing a greater incentive to pay “full price” at Apple than seek discounted prices elsewhere.
Additionally, the card has no fees: no late fees or international fees, with unspecified lower interest rates than competitors. The absence of late fees is jaw-dropping; whether it will be sustainable for the long term is yet to be seen.
Apple Card will be accepted via MasterCard’s global payment network and backed by Goldman Sachs. While the card will be digital and connected to an iPhone, there will also be a physical card made from titanium that can be used in stores; purchases made with the physical card are only eligible for 1 percent Daily Cash.
Another reason to sign up for Apple Card: greater transaction privacy. Apple has maintained that its customers are “not the product” with its services, which is to say that it doesn’t harvest or sell their personal information to profit off their data.
In short, usually 1% (with the physical card) or 2% (if you're using an iPhone) cash back, no late fees, and it's accepted as MasterCard. the "unspecified lower interest rates" sure sound enticing, but I'll wait until they're specified to actually care. Otherwise, it's a bog-standard credit card, but this time with a shiny Apple logo!
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Not that low (Score:5, Informative)
The APR is actually 13.24% to 24.24% [apple.com]
(Scroll down to very end and read fine print to see)
That seems about average to me, but I still think the other features are exciting and helpful enough they will get good traction.
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That blows. I have 3 credit cards, all of which have interest rates of 8% or lower. When did high teens to low 20s for interest rates become average?
Re:Not that low (Score:4, Insightful)
That blows. I have 3 credit cards, all of which have interest rates of 8% or lower. When did high teens to low 20s for interest rates become average?
I remember back in the '90s getting my first "student" credit card with a 19.99% APR or so, something unreasonably high that was justified by the banks as "we're giving you credit and you have no credit history." That's now the new normal, though.
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Pretty much standard actually. The interest rates are high as they are non-collateralized loans.
You can get lower interest rates if you go for low interest rate cards (which may have fees) or if you call them and negotiate a lower rate (which can be useful if you're having problems paying off loans - they'd rather charge you less if you'd pay off your balance).
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No late fee means if you pay late, you don't pay some penalty.
It doesn't mean there isn't a hit to your credit rating as a Non Payment. Or that the interest rate wouldn't jump even higher.
It's really just a low-fee credit card where many activities don't rack up fees.
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But isn't an interest rate really just a late fee? So if the card really has no late fees then there shouldn't be any interest either. 8^)
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But isn't an interest rate really just a late fee? So if the card really has no late fees then there shouldn't be any interest either. 8^)
No. Don't be an idiot.
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but just 1% . . . (Score:4, Interesting)
2% cards aren't hard to find, though. I have one from fidelity, and my brother has one from discover (which surprised me; the last time I bothered with them, there were so many caps and fractions on its 1%that it wasn't worth keeping.
And it drops to 1% when you use the card out in the real world. I've tried Apple Pay a couple of times, but haven't succeeded yet.
And it's not clear whether online purchases are 1% or 2%.
I don't care about interest rates; I pay my card off a couple of times a week. The only reason I even have it is the kickbacks.
The no currency fees is nice, but my 1.5% capital one already does that.
And the extra 1% on apple stuff doesn't really add up to enough to worry about -- certainly not enough to deal with an extra card.
hawk
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Re:but just 1% . . . (Score:5, Interesting)
I've tried Apple Pay a couple of times, but haven't succeeded yet
You must not try very hard. I use it regularly, without going out of my way to do so. Places I commonly use it include:
o Rite Aid
o Walgreens
o Shop & Save (grocery store)
o Giant Eagle (grocery store)
o Aldi
o Costco
o Duluth Trading Post
o Target
o Chick-Fil-A
o Ace Hardware
Plus I use Apple Pay Cash to pay babysitters and collect money from my father for money that he owes me. I even used it once to pay someone I owed money to in Canada - which worked because he still had his US-based cell phone. Very convenient (:
You are too focused on the exact percent (Score:3)
2% cards aren't hard to find, though. I have one from fidelity
And the annual fee (which Apple does not charge)???
And it's not clear whether online purchases are 1% or 2%.
The exact percentage does not matter that much though. What is really interesting about this is you get that cash back daily. It's that you don't have to request a check, or go have to go through the website figuring out how to use the cash back in some other way.
my brother has one from discover
I have a Discover card also, that I never us
Re:You are too focused on the exact percent (Score:4, Interesting)
All that I mentioned have no fee. There are fee based rewards cards with higher kickbacks, but for the ones I've looked at, the math doesn't work.
And on that laptop, that $60 is only $20 more than my fidelity card, and I don't buy one most years.
When cash back comes isn't really that important to me.Fidelity will just drop it in my checking account by clicking, and capital one only needs a click to send a check (I think it can also post to the account). I mostly just let them accumulate, and every year or so send them to the student loans whose rates are so low I won't use normal money to pre-pay.
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If you can combine the 3% on apple purchases along with their educational discount, that starts to add up a bit. It at least knocks off a chunk of the local sales tax.
And it isn't hard to get students ID. Just find a local college, spend like $50 send in transcripts etc and apply for Grad program.
YOu needn't ever take a class at most schools, but you still get an picture Student ID. If lucky, it has not expiration date.
As a bonus, you often can get a .edu email account set up...
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there will also be a physical card made from titanium
,,,uh .... why?
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"The absence of late fees is jaw-dropping"
The absence of late fees worries me. Sure, they won't get penalized immediately for not paying. But it will destroy the cardholder's credit rating costing. I wonder how many people will realize that?
Re:The rest of the article (Score:4, Interesting)
No international fees usually means really shitty exchange rates. A few cards give you a decent rate for overseas spending, but most are quite bad.
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That's not true, at least in the UK, some of the new challenger banks like Starling already offer everything Apple is offering here including no international fees, and the exchange rate they give is MasterCard's mid-market exchange rate, so is the actual real world market exchange rate, that means you don't pay anything to use your card abroad for either cash withdrawls or spending. The same applies if you buy anything online in a foreign currency, it's great; this is a debit card it's worth pointing out t
This actually looks fantastic (Score:5, Interesting)
I was expecting nothing at all from the Apple Card, kind of just a throwaway thing.
But It really is way, way better than most other credit cards, and I say that as someone who has used a lot of different cards for different features.
The thing I like most about it in general is that it is actually for true customer friendly unlike pretty much every other card. I like prominent understanding of how much interest you'll be paying, about making payments not just monthly but more often not reduce interest. I like that there are not things like late fees meant to trap the unwary or the forgetful.
Then on top of that, not just 2% cash back (3% on Apple products/services) but you get that back each day and can use it for anything, not having to remember to navigate through an arcane web interface to make use of cash back credits (like with Spark).
The card itself as a physical manifestation looks great of course, but honestly what I am excited about is how much the way the Apple Card works could possibly start to change how other credit card companies behave....
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...But It really is way, way better than most other credit cards...
The list of things you determine to make it "way, way better than most other credit cards" is really a list of things that make it marginally better than most credit cards, if even that much better. It sounds as if what you are most excited about is the shiny Apple logo on it. So far, nothing I've read about the card would encourage me to get another credit card.
Any one is marginal, together it's a lot (Score:2)
The list of things you determine to make it "way, way better than most other credit cards" is really a list of things that make it marginally better than most credit cards
Did you watch the announcement video? Do you use many other credit cards?
I have been doing a lot with credit card reward programs for a while.
Sure other cards have cashback (some even more percentage wise). Who else gives it to you daily? What other credit cards help encourage people to make payments more often to reduce interest charge
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...Did you watch the announcement video? Do you use many other credit cards?...
Yes and yes. I'm still underwhelmed. Of all the things you list, the lack of a late fee is the only one I would call a significant improvement. However, in my decades of credit card usage, I've never paid a late fee, so that would be a feature I don't need. As per usual with Apple, lots of hype, a shiny object, and only minor improvement. But the Apple fans go wild.
.
It's a yawn painted up to look exciting. Has Apple really run out of ideas?
Look at the larger picture (Score:4, Interesting)
However, in my decades of credit card usage, I've never paid a late fee>
Neither have I but I know credit card companies make a bundle on various fees. That's why I say the Apple Card is such an awesome product, it's not that it changes my life much in terms of card use, but I think it could overall help a ton of people out from being skimmed by credit card companies, all of the people who sometimes pay late (which I don't) or those people who carry a balance (which I almost never do).
In a way it's almost an educational tool about using credit cards because it displays so much information so clearly about what is going on. It's a bit like letting everyone have a fancy business card with improved visualization features, but also training them how much interest really affects what they truly pay, and encouraging them to pay more often to reduce it...
I honesty believe it will be a transformational product, in that it will affect how other credit card companies do business eventually. It will force some movement for the better in an industry that has hardly changed in decades.
To me, the Apple Card was by far the best new product they announced today... followed closely by Apple Arcade.
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...To me, the Apple Card was by far the best new product they announced today.....
Damning with faint praise.
.
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Even as an Apple fan - I have to say a lot of this is "who cares?" or "a lot".
Sure other cards have cashback (some even more percentage wise). Who else gives it to you daily?
If your cash flow is such that getting your credit card spending "cash back" returned to you on a daily basis is a significant feature, perhaps it would be wise to look at your spending habits...big time.
What other credit cards help encourage people to make payments more often to reduce interest charges if they cannot make the payment in full?
I honestly don't know. But again, if you're the type of person who will benefit from this kind of encouragement, perhaps it would be wise to look at your spending habits...big time.
How many other cards with significant features do not feature an annual fee?
A lot, actually. I have several. And by severa
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I like prominent understanding of how much interest you'll be paying
You like prominent understanding of how much interest you'll be paying?
What?
Greatest thing since...... (Score:2)
Wow, Yet Another Branded Credit Card.
No fees? I'll get one just to get the 3 percent rebate on Apple stuff.
Otherwise - excuse me, my recycle bin is full of credit card solicitation letters.
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...I'll get one just to get the 3 percent rebate on Apple stuff....
If the rebate were more along the lines of 20 to 25%, then I'd get one to buy Apple stuff. Otherwise, Apple stuff would still be way over-priced.
GE Capital & Sears (Discover) (Score:2, Insightful)
I guess when a company runs out of good ideas (or their idea cash cow dies) this is the next best way to limp along.
This was a shark jumping presentation, pretty much "Well, we're out of Software and Hardware ideas so... here's services?".
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This is very different from GE or Sears.
Once Apple Pay gained traction, the next logical step was to eliminate the need for a card. NFC acceptance is spreading, and the need for a physical card is diminishing. And Apple, due to its size and user base, is in a unique position to take on the Visa-Mastercard duopoly. From Apple's POV, the MC option is temporary.
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Now, as a TECH company, it does nothing for them (other than maintaining a source of income so they could come back to tech s
Watching the keynote now (Score:5, Interesting)
This was actually a fairly surprising and somewhat welcome announcement.
As a physical card, it's made of titanium and has nothing more than your name and the chip. No security code, no expiration date, no signature, etc. that can be copied or stolen. You get 1% cash back on everything you purchase with the physical card, it automatically redeems the cash back every single day, and the cash back is available to you for immediate use either as cash or as credit towards your statement. It also randomly generates a new credit card number for every transaction, ensuring that your card can't be used for anything beyond the transaction you're actively engaging in, and Apple apparently collects no information on you about where, when, or how much you're purchasing, while also requiring privacy by default (i.e. you don't have to write in to ask them to not use your info for marketing purposes) from their financial industry partners. There's also no late fees, overage fees, or other fees that you'd typically expect, and you can apply and get approved from directly within the app.
When used via Apple Pay either in-person, in-app, or online, the cash back goes up to 2% (3% for purchases from Apple), with all the same perks.
All of which is to say, they carved away some of the typical cruft and gave it a nice UI to try and make the statements easier to read (e.g. human-readable store names and locations instead of ALL-CAPS abbreviations) and they tried to make understanding payments easier (e.g. interactive calculations for interest payments).
Not sure that this will really change much in the industry, but it's a nice looking card, nonetheless.
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and Apple apparently collects no information on you about where, when, or how much you're purchasing
That can't be true or they would have no way of billing you. Also legally they must collect that information in most countries.
Or are you saying that Apple doesn't have it but Mastercard does, which is even worse?
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Or are you saying that Apple doesn't have it but Mastercard does, which is even worse?
Yup. The credit card processor will obviously need to know who to send money to and how much to send, so if you have qualms about the data collection practices of credit card processors for existing cards, I'd wager you'd have those same qualms about this card as well. I know Apple specifically talked about better privacy with regards to Goldman Sachs (though not to the level Apple is holding itself), the bank underwriting the card, but I don't recall whether they mentioned holding Mastercard to that higher
Yet Another Credit Card... (Score:2)
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I have several cards in my wallet as well. All of which have a $0 balance, but what I'm buying dictates which card I use.
Hotels/Rentals/general purpose goes on the Sapphire Reserve.
Airline travel goes on the United card.
Groceries, gasoline and Costco purchases on the Costco card.
I can maximize the returns this way. Again, all carry no balance - don't pay any interest - and the (at first glance) high fee on the Sapphire card ($450/annually) is immediately offset by the $300 in travel credit + Global Entry
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Hmm...a "no fee" Amex? Which one of their cards doesn't have an annual fee?
I've ben looking at the Sapphire card, vs the Amex Platinum....with the Amex platinum, you get like $200 in Uber annual credits, and you can do the $200 flight credits on it, I believe you get like $85 credit to pay for TSA Pre, or you can do the global PRE type thing for $100 credit it gives you and you get the lounge access...
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Hmm...a "no fee" Amex? Which one of their cards doesn't have an annual fee?
USAA® Rewards American Express® Card
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
American Express Cash Magnet® Card
Blue Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American Express
Hilton Honors American Express Card
Blue from American Express® Card
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My friend wants the Apple Card and justifies getting yet another credit card by saying that the average American has five credit cards. He only has one. *facepalm*
I have 1. With a $2k limit. We use it only for emergencies, international travel, and when we bought my wife's car last year (forgot about transaction limits on our debits). I can't even fathom having multiple ones.
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I have 1. With a $2k limit. We use it only for emergencies, international travel, and when we bought my wife's car last year (forgot about transaction limits on our debits). I can't even fathom having multiple ones.
Maybe if you could, you wouldn't be stuck with a shitty $2K limit.
Jezuz...I'm not leaving the country with a lousy $2K limit credit card.
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I have 1. With a $2k limit. We use it only for emergencies, international travel, and when we bought my wife's car last year (forgot about transaction limits on our debits). I can't even fathom having multiple ones.
Maybe if you could, you wouldn't be stuck with a shitty $2K limit.
Jezuz...I'm not leaving the country with a lousy $2K limit credit card.
I could get plenty more. I chose only $2k. Why would you need a higher limit outside the country anyway? There's internet just about everywhere these days, easy to log in and pay off the card that day if you really feel a need to spend $2k in one day.
Why facepalm? (Score:5, Interesting)
My friend wants the Apple Card and justifies getting yet another credit card by saying that the average American has five credit cards. He only has one.
That's actually a really good reason. What if one is stolen? It's great to have a backup.
It also improves your credit score to have another account open, even if he never uses it.
Sounds like he's pretty smart about this, you should not ridicule him.
Sounds good to me. (Score:2)
As an AAPL shareholder, I'll get one - even if the overall benefit to me is negligible, I'd rather help Apple than Citi, Chase, etc.
Related note - I recently discovered my Chase Amazon Prime card offers an extra 1% on Apple Pay purchases. I wonder if that will change when this new card comes out.
I'll apply for it..... (Score:4, Interesting)
I agree that this isn't exactly "cutting edge stuff" from Apple, here. But it's not too bad either. Seems like a nice, logical extension after offering Apple Pay and the Apple Pay Cash functionality to make all your typical financial transactions happen right from your phone.
I do like the way the cash back bonus is just automatic and paid back within 24 hours of a purchase. Most others make you jump through some hoops to collect them - which surely helps them avoid paying them out to a certain percentage of their customers who forget to do those extra steps.
And issuing a physical card to go with it that has no identifying card info printed on it? That's smart too.
Oh, and BTW: To the people who keep ridiculing Americans and their need to have multiple credit cards? The FICO scores get calculated, in part, based on how much credit you have available to you vs. how much you actually use. So having more cards, even if they sit there unused, benefits you by improving that ratio -- since no one card company is likely to extend you a line of credit as big as you'd have in sum total, spanning 4 or 5 cards.
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Oh, and BTW: To the people who keep ridiculing Americans and their need to have multiple credit cards? The FICO scores get calculated, in part, based on how much credit you have available to you vs. how much you actually use. So having more cards, even if they sit there unused, benefits you by improving that ratio -- since no one card company is likely to extend you a line of credit as big as you'd have in sum total, spanning 4 or 5 cards.
Yep. Between my wife and I, we have 4 or 5 cards with limits in excess of $25K/each. Balance is always $0. No way are we closing those cards, no matter how long they sit unused.
And if we get a notice they will be closed for lack of use, we'll put a few charges on them to keep them active.
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I just got an idea for a 3-d printing item.
A case of some sort for metal credit cards. Then you can sharpen one side of the metal credit card, put it in this case, and use it as a cutting device.
"Additionally, it says that Goldman will not share (Score:3, Insightful)
... transaction details with third parties."
BAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAA
Good one.
Give more money to Apple and Goldman Sachs (Score:2)
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Merchant is free not to accept credit cards. They're also free to pass on the cost of taking them to the consumer.
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On your second point you are somewhat wrong. Most (all?) of the credit card merchant agreements specifically forbid merchants from charging more for the use of a credit card. Any merchant found doing that loses their account (and ability to take credit cards). Whatever the advertised price is on the sticker must be the price charged to the card.
There is a loophole here: you can charge other methods (e.g.: cash) less than advertised price. But in most cases merchants like the lower amount of side-work (e.g.:
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On your second point you are somewhat wrong. Most (all?) of the credit card merchant agreements specifically forbid merchants from charging more for the use of a credit card.
Nothing prevents them from pricing their goods and services however they like.
Whatever the advertised price is on the sticker must be the price charged to the card.
Exactly. So what is stopping them from passing on the cost of taking credit cards in that price? Nothing.
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They do. Americans are so fucking stupid, it's unbelievable. They'll take a 1% discount on their cards, while paying an extra 3% to the card processors on the back end.
HEY, news flash, dumbass! A customer paying cash pays the same price as someone paying with a credit card, in most places, most of the time.
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The thinnest and lightest credit card in history. (Score:3, Funny)
Now with rounded corners, and no headphone jack! Works almost anywhere Mastercard is accepted. As long as you're not holding it wrong.
Credit card incentives should be outlawed (Score:5, Interesting)
Kickback incentives to get people to use a payment brand should be treated as an anti-trust issue as sellers are effectively being held captive by perverse incentives on the back end. It's guaranteed suicide for many vendors to refuse to accept a known card brand.
Also there is no justification for bankers to extract percentages of every transaction for themselves in the first place. This is just a tax extracting value from the system for no benefit in return. Credit cards need to be phased out and banking systems improved to handle push based personal instant payments without transaction fees.
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Actually, there are a number of different benefits to various players in credit cards:
- Consumers get fraud protection on their purchases. If someone is trying to cheat you then filing a claim with your credit card company is a fast way of resolving it. And as it stands now you are usually in the better position (merchant usually has to prove you are wrong).
- Consumers also get theft protection. In the case your wallet is stolen U.S. law limits your damages to $50 (waved my most credit card companies nowada
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Actually, there are a number of different benefits to various players in credit cards:
- Consumers get fraud protection on their purchases. If someone is trying to cheat you then filing a claim with your credit card company is a fast way of resolving it. And as it stands now you are usually in the better position (merchant usually has to prove you are wrong).
- Consumers also get theft protection. In the case your wallet is stolen U.S. law limits your damages to $50 (waved my most credit card companies nowadays). That is not the case with any cash you have there.
- Merchants like not having to deal with cash. It is a lot harder for workers to steal from credit card transactions, and there are a lot of headaches with sacks of cash.
- Merchants love the disconnect that may people have between the pain of paying and buying. If you can just swipe many people don't connect that as much with the cost of things (this is obviously not a benefit for those consumers).
This is a strawman argument. You are comparing cash with credit cards.
If you read what I actually said it is completely unambiguous I was advocating for replacement of credit cards with instant payment systems.
And there is not 0 cost to banks/creditcard vendors; they have to pay both for the systems involved, and for all the work of policing fraud/abuse and people who don't pay their bills. I am not going to argue that there is not good room for lowering the fees involved, but 0 is not the target.
Funny how I can have a bank account and never pay the bank for using it. How I can transfer funds, show up in person to deposit and withdraw money, use online banking, withdraw from ATMs all without being charged a single penny. I would assume moving a few bytes over a transaction network costs mor
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Go back to your crack pipe. Thanks.
Noticed most of your posts here are like this. Angry and derisive void of substance.
No number/exp date on the card... lock in? (Score:2, Insightful)
Now my iPhone will let me use apple pay with some online vendors (papa johns) and I PRESUME that, via Safari, I'll be able to access the Apple Card in someway to get that info. But if I'm on my Windows machine? I think I'm SOL... by design?
Think different.
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Since you are using Apple Pay, you have an iPhone. You whip out your phone, launch Wallet, tap the card you want to use, and then (new interface stuff is necessary, so we are guessing based on what Apple told us) you hit the "..." for more information, and then hit a button to generate a CVV, expiration and number for you. This isn't lock-in, per se, but it is an incentive to remain in the Apple ecosystem.
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They're proud to announce their titanium card doesn't show the number or expiration date which makes it more safe, but which is required to make online purchases.
The info is in the phone's wallet. Look there. New card # is generated for every transaction. You need to look at the phone to find out what the "new number" is.
But if I'm on my Windows machine? I think I'm SOL... by design?
If you're running windows, then no one really cares and there is no problem. Use one of your existing credit cards.
All they really need to do (Score:2)
is undercut MasterCard / Visa / Et. Al by a couple of percentage points for " transaction processing fees " and everyone and their brother will sign up for this card.
Merchants would even come up with some extra rewards to entice folks to use it.
I would expect some push back from the established folks because Apple is now putting those easy profits at risk.
( It would also not surprise me to see the Great Hoover of Information ( Google ) get into the same game. )
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Apple is going through Goldman Sachs and MasterCard, so they will not have any effect on the transaction processing fees. If anything their focus on eliminating fees from the consumer side will probably wind up putting more pressure on the market to raise the transaction processing fees in order to maintain their profits.
Somewhere down the line I would love to see Apple getting into that part of the business to reduce those expenses, but for now they do not seem interested.
'Healthier'? (Score:2)
...by offering a healthier approach to spending.
I feel just a little stupider after reading that statement...
Thanks buddy! (Score:2)
I really appreciate you people who do not use credit cards, you help support the award programs for those of us who do!
It's very kind of you to buy everything at inflated prices to support credit card transaction fees while getting none of the rewards... more for me then!
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I really appreciate you people who do not use credit cards, you help support the award programs for those of us who do!
That's as good a way as any to justify cheerleading for bankers to extract value from EVERYONE for absolutely nothing in return.
It's very kind of you to buy everything at inflated prices to support credit card transaction fees while getting none of the rewards... more for me then!
This isn't a zero sum game. They are taking value from you as well.
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Only I don't pay any yearly/monthly fee for using it.
There are plenty of rewards cards for which there no no annual fees. I have several of them.
USAA Rewards Visa Signature® Card - no annual fee
USAA Rewards American Express® Card - no annual fee
Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi - no annual fee (Costco membership required)
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa® Signature Card - no annual fee (Prime membership required)
I'm sure there are many others.
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Adding to your list, the Chase Freedom card.
Also, often simply having a bank account with a bank is usually enough to get that bank's rewards card.
There's also the fact that with halfway decent rewards programs, the annual fee cards provide annual bonus/perks that are typically worth more than the cash price of the fee. For example, Southwest Airlines various cards provide varying degrees of points / cash vouchers worth almost the cost of the fee itself. Marriott's credit cards actually exceed the value o
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USAA
Are services provided by USAA worth joining the military?
Costco membership required
Annual fee: $60 (source [costco.com])
Prime membership required
Annual fee: $119 (source [amazon.com]) or $59 for students at a U.S. university whose email domain is within the .edu TLD (source [pcmag.com])
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But how many have that shiny Apple logo on them?
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You must shop in some shitty places.
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Why I would want to use a credit card. And please be *precise*.
Credit cards save money for consumers because of the decreased security risk over carrying cash and the built-in fraud redress.
Not so well known is that they also save money for businesses. Businesses love to bellyache about the fee charged for credit cards, but the competitive VISA/Mastercard universe actually save money over the security risk of dealing in cash. Read up on what the newly legal marijuana businesses have to go through because they cannot legally do normal banking and have to deal in cash. M
Re: Explain to me exactly (Score:2)
Cannabis business doesn't have problems because of being unbanked. At least not entirely. There are plenty of businesses that can deal with that. Cannabis businesses have an unusually large amount of cash and are usually forced by zoning into dark corners of the neighborhood.
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the competitive VISA/Mastercard universe actually save money over the security risk of dealing in cash.
Even for individual merchants at yard/garage sales, whose average transaction is $5 or much less?
Re: Explain to me exactly (Score:4, Informative)
If you pay interest, you're doing it wrong.
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That's a nice idea in theory, but the credit card companies are betting that your luck will run out at some point when you lose your job or have a medical emergency. At that point, you'll be paying 20% interest on your credit card balance along with all the other people who were too poor or too naive to pay off their balances on time.
Considering the annual profits the credit card companies make, it seems to be a pretty safe bet for them.
Re: Explain to me exactly (Score:5, Informative)
If you're letting your balance roll over, you are doing it wrong.
Credit cards can be a very handy tool, both for getting cash back as well as protecting yourself when purchasing items. Things like chargebacks and all the additional protections the card issuer grants are way better than walking around with a bunch of cash.
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But they result in everything costing 3% more, whether you use them or not. We are effectively handing over 3% of our entire economies to credit card companies. Does that sound sane?
Re: Explain to me exactly (Score:3)
Hint: you only pay interest on ANY credit card if you maintain a balance on the account for more than one accrual period. Don't buy more than you can afford, or budget in the interest on a high priced purchase as the cost of credit access.
That's how it works.
Re:Experience ? (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, you know, I"ve found it entirely possible to pay my monthly credit card bills in full, and never have to pay a cent in interest fees.
I also have some protection on the purchases, and I often get cash back, etc on my purchases which help with the costs of things.
You've never heard of this "personal responsibility' things and "self-control' nor budgeting?
Did your family and even schools teach you nothing about money management?
Earning a dollar is hard, you need to be careful in how you save and spend them.
However, it isn't rocket surgery.
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Funny, you know, I"ve found it entirely possible to pay my monthly credit card bills in full, and never have to pay a cent in interest fees.
And your exactly the kind of person the Credit Card Industry calls a "Deadbeat".
https://www.nationaldebtrelief.com/credit-card-revolver-hacker/ [nationaldebtrelief.com]
It's not a bad thing, but your not the customer they want as your not making them the profit they want.
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So, did you enjoy your time in band camp?
Re:Wow (Score:4, Interesting)
Now I don't mind 2% cash back. However this seems like American Express or Discovery Card, where having such a card means hit or miss in terms of availability. Sorry they Don't take Discover or they don't take American Express. Right now MasterCard or Visa is the only near universal card offered.
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It's a Master Card so if they don't take Apple Pay you can use the physical card and get 1%.
Which I can do with my existing Costco Visa already (whether I use the physical card or Apple Pay). Heck, I get 4% back on gas and 2% on my Costco purchases, which is pretty much all I use a credit card for nowadays.
Nothing against Apple, and I can see why they want me to go into Apple Debt... but I'm not seeing a compelling reason to shift over to this new offering.
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Re:Wow 2% cashback cards.... (Score:2)
There are already some 2% cash back cards -- off the top of my head, Fidelity and Capital One (Venture card) both offer them. Although, the Capital One card has a $60/year annual fee.
I think there are some other 2% cash back cards in the market.
Your eligibility for these cards may depend on a great credit score and they tend to have high interest rates. They are mostly designed for people who have high monthly charges and pay their bills in full each month.
Entirely expected (Score:5, Interesting)
A company like Apple with a huge hoard of capital and something like a monopoly on its products soon begins to act and think like a financial services company.
There is too much risk actually innovating within its field, and because of its monopoly-like control over its products, it doesn't actually need to innovate. The risk of innovation is of course failing, and the capital it spent on the innovation project being wasted in comparison to some other use, such as holding T-bills.
Thus management stops thinking about product innovation and starts thinking about capital innovation, and usually this winds up being some kind of financial service business since it tends to have the same low level of risk as other highly liquid financial instrument, except with slightly higher margins.
Re: Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
Monopoly on WHAT, exactly?
They're not the only one selling computers.
They're not the only one selling cell phones.
They're not the only one selling tablets.
They're not not the only place to try to sell your apps
They're not the only place from which to buy/rent media of various kinds.
What exactly are they supposed to have a monopoly ON? Apple didn't invent vertical integration, nor is it the only company that profits from it. It also isn't a monopoly.
Re: Wow (Score:3)
MacOS isn't the only operating system.
iOS isn't the only mobile operating system.
That's like complaining that the Tesla OS is only available if you buy a Tesla, and you can only use apps on the Tesla in car dashboard that Tesla has approved. So? Doesn't make Tesla a monopoly, you can always buy a different car.
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Maybe you can get one and us it to pay for a course in how to communicate effectively.