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Apple announces Apple Card credit card
At Apple's "show time" services event today, it announced a new Apple Card credit card, promising to improve things about the credit card experience with simpler applications, no fees, lower interest rates, and better rewards.
To get an Apple Card, users will be able to sign up on their iPhone in the Apple Wallet app and get a digital card that they can use anywhere Apple Pay is accepted "within minutes." Customers will also be able to track purchases, check balances, and see when their bill is due right from the app. There will be a physical titanium card, too, but there's no credit card number, CVV, expiration date, or signature. All of that authorization information is stored directly in the Apple Wallet app.
Apple also says that it'll use machine learning and Apple Maps to label stores that you use in the app, and use that data to track purchases across categories like "food and drink" or "shopping." [...] Like many of Apple's products, privacy is a big push here. "Apple doesn't know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it," said Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay. All of the spending tracking and other information is stored directly on the device, not Apple's servers. The company also promises that "Goldman Sachs will never sell your data to third parties for marketing and advertising."
Other companies have offered 3-4% cash back for certain purchases.
Also at Ars Technica.
See also: Apple's 2%-cash-back credit-card rewards are interesting, but I'm convinced people are overlooking the best part
Apple's new credit card holds a lot of promise, but read the fine print before signing up
Tim Cook says Apple Card is a game changer. Experts are not so sure
Apple's move into banking raises the bar for fintech, traditional credit cards
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 27 2019, @06:44PM (2 children)
Did you actually read what I wrote?
I'm going to Disney World. I'm going to pay X amount to check in to the resort. They accept Disney gift cards as payment. I realize that once I buy these cards, Disney is earning interest on them until I spend them. Thus I don't buy the cards until very close to my trip.
So far, no problem right? I'm not getting any cash back. I'm spending exactly the amount as if I would pay cash when I check into the resort.
I have to buy the Disney gift cards somewhere, so I'll buy them at Target. Why? Because if I buy them on my Target red card, I get 5% off at the cash register. This has nothing to do with Disney. If I buy Diet Coke at Target, I also get 5% off at the register using my Target card. Got that?
I don't know what "cash back scheme" you're talking about. The 5% off is very real. I pay off my Target card, and NEVER have any late fees, nor any interest. Ever. Never ever. I also don't use my Target card (or any credit cards) unless I'm prepared to pay hard cash right now!
So what exactly are you talking about?
At Target, I can buy any kind of gift card, and get 5% off at the register. But where that really matters is when I'm going to spend big on gift cards. I'm probably never going to buy a single iTunes gift card -- let along several thousand dollars worth. But if I did, I would still get 5% off if I pay with my red card. Does that make sense?
> You could take a cheaper vacation
Yes, but that is completely irrelevant.
Even without that 5% from Target, I would not take a different vacation. I'm buying that vacation because it is what I want. Just like I choose to buy chocolate ice cream instead of roadkill flavor ice cream.
Now getting a few hundred bucks free Disney dollars from a Disney Chase Visa card might make some difference in how often I would go. And not getting a free flight or so from a Southwest Chase Visa might make a difference in whether I would take ANY vacation at all.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:13PM (1 child)
Well, instead of paying an extra 6% to subsidize your 5% discount, I just buy the stuff online, where they charge an extra 3% to cover my 2% cash back CC.
Target's price ends up higher, so they lose customers, and the city bitches that it gets empty storefronts.
Of course the people without CC just subsidize us all, except that they bother to go coupon-hunting, so they think I'm subsidizing them.
Glory to the system that makes you believe that you're always shafting someone else, and rests on making you fear you'll lose everything!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday March 28 2019, @03:04PM
I would never spend the effort to do coupon-ing.
Simply using CCs and paying them is pretty easy. How hard is that? My utility bills are on auto-pay to the CC.
Buy groceries use CC. Buy fuel, use CC. Buy Target, use Target CC. Buy Walmart, use CC. Buy Amazon, use Amazon CC. Etc.
Just don't buy things you wouldn't write a check for right now.
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