This card may not be as evil as the other's are but, those interest rates are still onerous, what used to be called "usury," or "loan-sharking." I remember a time when the maximum interest rate allowable by law was 13%. I am completely done with ALL credit schemes. Period. Save your money up for major purchases you know you have coming such as an iPhone upgrade or a computer upgrade, you'll save a hell of a lot of money and not owe any of those fat-cat banks one cent of it. Hell, saving money is just good practice overall.
Doesn’t make any sense. Saves what? I have never paid credit card interest all my life, big zero dollar I owed them and now with Apple Card I can pay for new MacBook Pro and get 3% immediate cash back. That is a SAVED money.
One thing I haven't been able to determine, and this probably reflects my poor understanding of how credit cards work in the US, but when does interest kick in on the card?
Most cards here have an interest free period, which is just the time between the start of the billing month and the due date for the payment, so that if you pay your balance before the due date, you never pay interest. This is usually advertised as "55 days interest free", for example where the due date is 25 days after the statement date.
So with the Apple Card, where the due date is the last day of the month, is that also the statement date? Do charges only accrue interest if you carry a balance forward past the end of the month? Do they accrue interest from the date of the charge? These are things that would normally be spelled out in the Terms and Conditions for a credit card, but I haven't seen for Apple Card yet.
Watching the keynote again and you’ll understand. It isn’t different than any credit card on the interest point.
Apple Card sounds cool, but there is nothing there to convert me from my current card. As mentioned in the article, the doubling of the warranty is the biggest benefit of my current Visa. I know Apple Pay keeps expanding, but it's difficult to find enough retailers that accept it. If Apple Pay were available at gas pumps I'd 100% use that as skimmers seem to be most prevalent there.
And then the no joint account is a true deal breaker. I'm not going to sign up for new CC's for both me and my wife. There needs to be an incentive to chance, and there is none but in fact there is a disincentive. No one honestly cares if you pull out a physical Apple card. All it means is everyone knows you aren't getting squat benefit from it.
Apple also keeps all of your data private, and the issuing bank Goldman Sachs is disallowed from ever sharing or selling that data as well.
I don't think that's true. There was very specific wording used by Apple, "for ads and marketing". I think it's almost assured that information will be shared with at least the credit bureaus if not others that "need to know", and no the initial reason can not be for ads according to the disclaimer. That does not mean it cannot find it's way into marketing at another juncture down the line, but that does not mean it will either. Entirely possible it may not find its way into marketing, but Apple does not say it won't be shared at all.
TBH I'm actually not afraid of ads, it's the other stuff that done with private data that concerns me.
You must get a lot of ads for Apple equipment as you must surely have to look up everything about them before commenting not being a user of Apple equipment and no personal experience of the safety of our 'walled garden' as you Android users refer to our security and high-level integration.
I like the no foreign transaction fees for this card.
I don't think that any of my other no annual fee cards has that feature. They all charge foreign transaction fees.
I wouldn't care if the interest rate for this card is 100%, because my rate is always 0%.
As for the rewards, if I'm purchasing something, I will just use whichever card that I have that has the best rewards for the thing that I am purchasing, which is what I currently do with my cards. That's why people have multiple cards. Nobody has to use the Apple Card for 100% of their purchases.
The titanium card is a cool item to have in my wallet, and as an Apple fan, I will be getting one. It will be the best looking credit card on the market.
And who's to say that there won't be any future promotions or extra rewards for this card, like for certain holidays, and there will be increased bonus points or cash back.
I own more than a few credit cards, three of which I actively use: Amex, and two Visas. Not one charges FX transaction fees. It has become more uncommon than common.
Banks don't need to charge transaction fees for international transactions because they make a killing on the exchange rate.
I recently ordered an item from an American supplier (I'm in Canada) worth USD$800. I wound up cancelling the order hours later. When I got my statement I discovered the process cost me almost CAD$60, because the bank used exchange rates that favoured them on both the purchase and the refund.
This card may not be as evil as the other's are but, those interest rates are still onerous, what used to be called "usury," or "loan-sharking." I remember a time when the maximum interest rate allowable by law was 13%. I am completely done with ALL credit schemes. Period. Save your money up for major purchases you know you have coming such as an iPhone upgrade or a computer upgrade, you'll save a hell of a lot of money and not owe any of those fat-cat banks one cent of it. Hell, saving money is just good practice overall.
Paying cash/debit card and not having a credit card is certainly a way to avoid those onerous interest charges. But you know there are some of us who get the benefits provided by credit cards and just...pay...off...the...balance each month!!!
Therefore I pay 0% interest. Get the convenience of using Apple Pay or the card for the charge. Get benefits such as extended warranty, purchase protection, etc. Get cash back as a bonus. I do everything I can on my cash back cards and use very little cash.
It takes research to get the suitable card and self control to always be able to pay off what you accrue.
This card may not be as evil as the other's are but, those interest rates are still onerous, what used to be called "usury," or "loan-sharking." I remember a time when the maximum interest rate allowable by law was 13%. I am completely done with ALL credit schemes. Period. Save your money up for major purchases you know you have coming such as an iPhone upgrade or a computer upgrade, you'll save a hell of a lot of money and not owe any of those fat-cat banks one cent of it. Hell, saving money is just good practice overall.
You make a good point about not relying on credit, just buying when you have the cash. Most people don't have the "self-discipline" to live like that unfortunately.
But I think you are missing some great credit card features, with the cash only idea.
I do very little cash or debit transactions, preferring to use the cards virtually for everything. Difference being, I pay off the balance every month. Thus, I gain the convenience aspect, cash back, extended warranty, purchase protection, etc, etc. And I pay 0% interest thanks to never carrying a balance.
This card may not be as evil as the other's are but, those interest rates are still onerous, what used to be called "usury," or "loan-sharking." I remember a time when the maximum interest rate allowable by law was 13%. I am completely done with ALL credit schemes. Period. Save your money up for major purchases you know you have coming such as an iPhone upgrade or a computer upgrade, you'll save a hell of a lot of money and not owe any of those fat-cat banks one cent of it. Hell, saving money is just good practice overall.
You make a good point about not relying on credit, just buying when you have the cash. Most people don't have the "self-discipline" to live like that unfortunately.
But I think you are missing some great credit card features, with the cash only idea.
I do very little cash or debit transactions, preferring to use the cards virtually for everything. Difference being, I pay off the balance every month. Thus, I gain the convenience aspect, cash back, extended warranty, purchase protection, etc, etc. And I pay 0% interest thanks to never carrying a balance.
Comments
Watching the keynote again and you’ll understand. It isn’t different than any credit card on the interest point.
And then the no joint account is a true deal breaker. I'm not going to sign up for new CC's for both me and my wife. There needs to be an incentive to chance, and there is none but in fact there is a disincentive. No one honestly cares if you pull out a physical Apple card. All it means is everyone knows you aren't getting squat benefit from it.
I recently ordered an item from an American supplier (I'm in Canada) worth USD$800. I wound up cancelling the order hours later. When I got my statement I discovered the process cost me almost CAD$60, because the bank used exchange rates that favoured them on both the purchase and the refund.
Therefore I pay 0% interest. Get the convenience of using Apple Pay or the card for the charge. Get benefits such as extended warranty, purchase protection, etc.
Get cash back as a bonus. I do everything I can on my cash back cards and use very little cash.
It takes research to get the suitable card and self control to always be able to pay off what you accrue.
But I think you are missing some great credit card features, with the cash only idea.
I do very little cash or debit transactions, preferring to use the cards virtually for everything. Difference being, I pay off the balance every month. Thus, I gain the convenience aspect, cash back, extended warranty, purchase protection, etc, etc. And I pay 0% interest thanks to never carrying a balance.
But I think you are missing some great credit card features, with the cash only idea.
I do very little cash or debit transactions, preferring to use the cards virtually for everything. Difference being, I pay off the balance every month. Thus, I gain the convenience aspect, cash back, extended warranty, purchase protection, etc, etc. And I pay 0% interest thanks to never carrying a balance.