Apple Card launches for US customers
by Ben Poole
Apple Card, the credit card created by Apple and promoted as helping customers lead a healthier financial life, is now available in the US. Customers can apply for Apple Card through the Wallet app on iPhone and start using it with Apple Pay in online, in apps or in person.
Apple is partnering with Goldman Sachs as its issuing bank for the card, and says that the bank will never share or sell data to third parties for marketing and advertising. Apple is also partnering with Mastercard to provide the support of a global payments network.
Apple Card has no fees, and the company says it encourages customers to pay less interest, offers an easy-to-understand view of spending and provides a new level of privacy and security.
The card’s rewards programme, Daily Cash, gives back a percentage of every purchase as cash on customers’ Apple Cash card each day. Customers will receive 2% Daily Cash every time they use Apple Card with Apple Pay, and 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. Apple is also extending 3% Daily Cash to cardholders using Apple Card with Apple Pay for Uber and Uber Eats. For purchases made with the titanium Apple Card, customers will get 1% Daily Cash.
Apple Card users can reach customer support 24/7 by sending a text from Messages. To help customers better understand their spending, Apple Card uses machine learning and Apple Maps to clearly label transactions with merchant names and locations in Wallet, and provides weekly and monthly spending summaries.
There are no fees associated with the card, meaning no annual, late, international or over-the-limit fees. To help customers make informed choices, Apple Card shows a range of payment options and calculates the interest cost on different payment amounts in real time.
Apple also says that the unique security and privacy architecture created for Apple Card means they do not know where a customer shopped, what they bought or how much they paid.
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