Apple Card: All The Details On Apple’s Credit Card
Apple in August 2019 released the Apple Card, a credit card that’s linked to Apple Pay and built right into the Wallet app. Apple is partnering with Goldman Sachs for the card, which is optimized for Apple Pay but will still works like a traditional credit card for all of your transactions.
There’s a lot of fine print associated with the new Apple Card, so we’ve created this guide to provide details on what you can expect when signing up for the card. Apple first made the card available to a select number of customers in early August before opening up the card to everyone later in the month.
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When Apple launched a new slate of services last year, including News+, TV+, and Arcade, the one that generated the most excitement was Apple Card, the companys first self-branded credit card offering. Developed in partnership with investment bank Goldman Sachs, Apple Card promised users a reinvented credit card experience, eliminating fees, simplifying payments, and delivering Daily Cash perks. But for some people, applying for the Apple Card has been an endless exercise in frustration.
While Apple made the application process as simple as possible open the iPhones Wallet app, tap two buttons, and provide a very modest amount of personal information Goldman implemented an algorithm that either accepts or rejects applicants within seconds. If your application is successful, youre offered personalized credit terms such as those shown above. If not, you receive an instant rejection letter without an equally fast route to appeal. Due largely to that algorithm, which forsakes human decision-making in the name of efficiency, Apple and Goldman were accused of gender discrimination in the Apple Card approval process last year and have racked up numerous complaints and questions regarding the systems transparency.
Utilizing Your Cleanest Credit Report
- Some banks will not approve you if you have negative marks like late payments or collections on your credit report. So by knowing which banks pull which credit bureau, you can avoid those banks at least until more time passes and your negative marks dont mean as much.
It is not uncommon for derogatory remarks or certain types of negative reports on your credit to only be reported to one or two bureaus. Some banks will deny you even if those negative marks are very old. So if you have one report clean from any negative marks and you can rely on that one report for a credit card application, that can help you get approved.
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Setting And Adjusting Your Credit Limit
After Goldman Sachs approves your Apple Card application, they assign your initial credit limit using many of the same factors that go into the approval process, such as your credit score and existing credit. Goldman Sachs also looks at your income and the minimum payments tied to your existing debt. When you share your Apple Card with a CoOwner, our goal is for your combined credit limit to reflect what your credit limits would be individually, added together. If youre interested in increasing your credit limit, you can make a request after youve had your Apple Card for as little as four months. Simply call or text, and well connect you with an Apple Card Specialist at Goldman Sachs right away.
Your Credit Limit
Payments History
Who Qualifies For The Apple Card
To get an Apple Card, you need to be 18 years or older and be a U.S. citizen or a lawful U.S. resident with a U.S. residential address .
An iPhone running iOS 12.4 or later is required to use the Apple Card, and it will not be available if you do not have an iPhone. Two-factor authentication must be turned on, and you must be signed in to iCloud on your iPhone with your Apple ID.
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How Does A Tri
Lenders each have their own . Some have more tolerance for risk than do others. Lenders will use the information contained on your credit reports, along with your FICO® credit score, to determine if they are comfortable lending you mortgage money.
A clean report and a high credit score will qualify you for mortgage loans at lower interest rates. If your report is spotty, with late payments and high credit card balances, you can still qualify for a mortgage loan. But you might have to accept a higher interest rate.
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Cash Back Depends On What And How You Buy
The amount of cash back you get depends upon what items you buy and how you buy them: 2% Daily Cash every time you use Apple Card with Apple Pay, 3% Daily Cash on all purchases made directly with Apple, including at Apple Stores, apple.com, the App Store, the iTunes Store and for Apple services, and using Apple Pay for Uber and Uber Eats.
While the 3% cash back is generous if you buy a lot of Apple products, the 2% cashback category is restrictive if a retailer doesn’t accept Apple Pay, you’ll only get 1% cash back. Many other cashback cards allow you to earn up to 2% on most purchases.
Unlike some other cash back cards, such as the Discover it® Cash Back and the Capital One® Savor® Cash Rewards Credit Card, the Apple Credit Card has no sign-up bonus to reward new customers.
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Mitigate Damage To Your Credit Report
- Its important to give your credit report a break every now and again. By alternating credit bureaus pulled, youll be able to mitigate the dings to your credit report.
For example, if you have three recent hard inquiries on your Experian report and you can choose to apply for a card that will pull from only TransUnion, that will allow you to give your Experian score a break.
A Note About Credit Freezes
If you’ve put a credit freeze on your credit report, there are a few things you should know about applying for your iPhone Payments loan.
A credit freeze is a way for you to restrict access to your credit report to protect you from identity theft. If you’ve put a freeze on your credit report, it doesn’t affect your credit score or keep you from being able to apply for loans. There are some caveats though.
When applying for a loan through the iPhone Payments plan for the first time, you can allow Citizens One run a credit check, but you’ll want to first temporarily lift the freeze specifically for the credit report agency Citizen One will request your report from .
You can request a credit freeze lift for a specific amount of time or for a specific agency, in this case, Citizens One Bank.
To find out which agency Citizens One will request your report from, call them at 1-888-201-6306. If you are unable to get this information, you can temporarily lift the freeze for all three agencies.
Here are the numbers for the U.S. credit report agencies:
- Equifax â 1-800-349-9960
- Experian â 1â888â397â3742
- TransUnion â 1-888-909-8872
You’ll need to provide your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and some other personal information.
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Earning Points & Rewards
The Apple Card offers what it calls Daily Cash, its own version of cash-back rewards. Cardholders earn 3% Daily Cash on Apple purchases, 2% on purchases made with Apple Pay, and 1% on purchases made at merchants that dont accept Apple Pay.
Apple also has a few partner merchants where cardholders can get 3% Daily Cash when using Apple Pay, including Uber, Uber Eats, Walgreens, Nike, Exxon Mobil, Panera, and T-Mobile .
Apple Card does not limit the amount of Daily Cash you can earn, and Daily Cash does not expire. If you have unredeemed Daily Cash if and when you close the account, Goldman Sachs will either credit it to your account, send it to you electronically, or mail you a check.
Good Money Habits Lead To Good Credit
You can do several things to boost your chances of approval:
When possible, pay at least the minimum amounts due on your debt payments.
Ensure that you have disposable income left over after your monthly debt obligations.
Avoid submitting applications to multiple credit issuers within a short time span.
Check your credit report its free to do once a year as it is the source material for your FICO Score 9. If something looks inaccurate, contact the creditor associated with your account and/or dispute the item with your credit bureaus.
The length of your credit history is an important aspect of your credit score and getting new credit. You can build credit by opening an account in your name, being an authorized user on someone elses account, and periodically using the accounts you already own and paying them on time.
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Using Apple Card For Non
If you need to pay for purchases that can’t be made with Apple Pay, you can use the physical version of the Apple Card that Apple sends once you sign up. In addition to Goldman Sachs, Apple is partnering with Mastercard, so the physical Apple Card can be used wherever Mastercard is accepted.
When your physical card comes in the mail, setting it is simple. On the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR, all you need to do is hold your iPhone near the envelope that it came in for an NFC scan and then tap the “Activate” button on your iPhone when it pops up.
On the iPhone X and earlier, you need to open up the Apple Card, open the Wallet app, tap the “Activate” button in the Wallet app and then hold your iPhone near the packaging that the Apple Card came in. Unlike traditional cards, you do not need to place a phone call for activation purposes.
Who Is This Credit Card Best For
- Diligently searches for the best products and delights in a good bargain See more cardsDeal Seeker
- Prioritizes sticking to their budget while buying what they want and need See more cardsSavvy Saver
The minimal fees make this a good, low-cost addition to your Apple Wallet, and thats the only place you should keep it. When making purchases outside of Apple or without Apple Pay, youre better off with one of the many no-annual-fee cards that pay 1.5% or 2% cash back on all purchases and have a variety of benefits. For example, theres no promotional purchase APR, which other cash-back cards often offer.
That said, with Apple Card Monthly Installments, you will get up to 24 months to pay off Apple products purchased from Apple interest-freewhile still earning 3% cash back. If you bought a MacBook Air at $1,000, you’d earn $30 cash back for one purchase and still get two years to pay it off without paying interest.
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Exceptional rewards for Apple and partner-merchant purchases
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Interest-free payment plans on Apple products
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Great rewards rate on Apple Pay purchases
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Financial-management tools
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Low end of APR range is among the best
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Only worth it for Apple users
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Sub-par rewards rate on non-Apple and non-Apple Pay purchases
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Few benefits
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Limited integration with budgeting apps
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Apple Card Starts Credit File Reporting To Experian
Owners of Apple Card are reporting Apple is finally expanding the number of credit reference agencies it will report to, with claims the Apple-branded credit card is starting to appear on credit reports generated by Experian.
So far, Apple has limited its reporting of consumer balances to one credit bureau, TransUnion, while no reporting was being made to either Experian or Equifax. While this has been the case for months, it now seems that the reporting is being made to more agencies.
An email from an AppleInsider reader who uses an Apple Card reveals they have spotted a change made to their Experian credit report, appearing when they checked their report on July 19. Searches on Reddit indicates it is affecting a number of users, with posts on the r/AppleCard subreddit indicating other users of the site as having seen the details in their report since .
Discussion about the credit reporting practices of Apple Card intensified in October, when a report claimed Apple was rolling out reporting to other agencies. However, a source within Apple corporate not authorized to speak on behalf of the company advised to AppleInsider that the story was “not accurate,” and that the reporting mechanism was effectively done. The source added that reporting was being done for some customers, but “everything will be reported” once it was fully deployed.
Whats The Mystery Behind Which Bureaus Are Used By Card Issuers
Ulzheimer, the credit-reporting expert, says he understands why some card issuers might balk at divulging which credit bureaus they rely on.
I can see some card issuers being hesitant to disclose which bureau they use for card underwriting because consumers are often coached to apply with a lender that pulls the credit report where their score is the highest. Its a rudimentary way to game the system, to some extent, he says.
This isnt national security. But they are certainly not required to disclose that information to a potential applicant, Ulzheimer adds.
A card issuer typically picks one report from one bureau when deciding on a credit card application, he says. Why? Pulling reports from all three credit bureaus for every application would be too costly.
Ulzheimer says a card issuer chooses a bureau based, in part, on what type of agreement it has with that bureau. These contracts almost always include a commitment to buy a certain number of reports from a bureau, he says.
Weve seen reports of Chase, for example, pulling from each of the three major credit bureaus depending on the borrowers home state, Opperman says.
In some cases, a card issuer might pull a report combining data from more than one bureau, although Opperman says this isnt a common practice among card issuers.
Weve seen reports of Chase, for example, pulling from each of the three major credit bureaus depending on the borrowers home state.
Melinda Opperman, president, Credit.org
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How To Make Purchases Online
To use your Apple Card for mobile purchases, simply select Apple Pay at checkout. Double-click the side button on your iPhone to confirm the purchase, complete the authentication step and the transaction will process automatically. You can also make Apple Pay purchases on your iPad, Apple Watch or Mac.
Theres Inaccurate Or Outdated Information On Credit Report
If the incorrect account information is more than a month old, this could indicate that your credit report contains inaccurate or outdated information about your credit history.
In this case, we recommend viewing the full credit report in question, reviewing it carefully, and disputing any errors you see directly with the credit bureau.
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Apple Card Reporting To Experian Equifax And Transunion
The Apple Card has been a resounding success for the tech giant since its launch last year. The card, which Apple issues through Goldman Sachs, works through an iPhones digital wallet and its proprietary Apple Pay system. The card works wherever Apply Pay is accepted and for those merchants that dont accept Apple Pay, the physical titanium card comes in handy.
The digital payment focus of the Apple Card is a notable quirk of the product, but not its only peculiarity. Another curiosity of the Apple Card is that up to now it only reported one credit bureau: TransUnion. It seems that has now changed. The addition of regular reporting to all three credit bureaus is good news for cardholders who are looking to improve their credit score.
Monthly reporting to all the credit bureaus can help establish a record of on-time payments and low credit utilization for those willing to put the work in. This, in turn, will boost their credit score and approval odds on future credit card applications, regardless of the credit report the bank pulls. In addition, the update makes it more accessible when it comes to lenders that prefer using Equifax or Experian.
Does The Apple Card Help You Build Credit
If you use your Apple Card responsibly, it can help you build your credit over time. To improve your credit score with the Apple Card, focus on making regular, on-time payments and try to keep your credit card balance as low as possible. As of this writing, the Apple Card reports credit activity to TransUnion and Equifax two of the three major credit bureaus and Apple may expand reporting to Experian in the future.
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Thin Or Damaged Credit File Or Other Negative Financial History
Your credit report may contain information that makes you seem like too much of a lending risk. This can include currently or recently past-due debt obligations such as mortgages, auto loans, personal loans and utility bills, as well as bankruptcies, recent repossessions of property and more.
Tip: Apple also calls out excessive new credit accounts, a high number of recent applications for credit and multiple maxed-out credit cards as potential red flags.
You can also be denied for having a limited credit history or if you have negative public records not included in your credit report, such as tax liens or a civil judgment against you.
Additionally, Apple notes that having a checking account recently closed by a bank often the result of repeatedly spending more than your available account balance or failing to bring a negative account balance to positive could lead to denial.
Banking account information is available via your ChexSystems report. While card issuers typically do not use ChexSystems when making approval decisions, Apples listed criteria and multiple user reports indicate that Goldman Sachs may be checking this report, either directly or via a credit bureau.