Apple Card Is a Medium Reward Card
We’ve got more details on the upcoming Apple credit card with Goldman Sachs after today’s Apple event, and if you were hoping for a game-changing rewards card, well that’s not it.
Here are the main features of the Apple Card , some of which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal long before today’s announcement:
- Users who use Apple Card with Apple Pay will receive two percent back on all purchases and three percent on all Apple purchases. If you use a physical card, you will get one percent back .
- This cashback is available as “Daily Cash,” a program that makes your cashback available on your Apple Cash card every day — faster than your standard card, provided you are using Apple Pay.
- It’s built into Apple Wallet, which means you can manage your card on your iPhone if you like that kind of thing. You can subscribe to it through Apple Wallet.
- No Commission Fees: There are no annual fees, no overseas transaction fees, or late fees, and no penalty interest rate applies.
- It “encourages” customers to pay less interest, which, according to Apple, means “the app shows you how much interest you owe if you don’t pay off your balance.”
- The physical card is made of titanium and will not display the card number, CVV security code, expiration date, or signature.
Other features
The Apple map does differ in several ways. Because it’s integrated into your Apple wallet / smartphone, it can give you a holistic view of your spending, much like Mint or another built-in budgeting app.
“Apple Card uses machine learning and Apple Maps to clearly label transactions with merchant names and locations,” notes Apple. “Purchases are automatically summarized and sorted into color-coded categories such as food and drink, shopping and entertainment.” He will also provide an overview of the costs.
And, perhaps most importantly, he claims to be “free.” From the Apple website:
Apple Card does not charge any fees: no annual, late, international, or over-limit fees. Apple Card’s goal is to provide some of the lowest interest rates in the industry, and if a customer misses a payment, they won’t be charged a penalty.
However, “the no-commission offering is not as new as it might seem,” said Ted Rossman, industry analyst at CreditCards.com. “This angle is also promoted by cards such as the PenFed Promise Visa and Citi Simplicity .”
Apple Card interest rates will be based on the base rate and may fluctuate based on the user’s credit report.
Disadvantages and other options
These are not bad perks, but overall the Apple Card is just a decent reward card. The biggest drawback is that you need to use it with Apple Pay to get the maximum rewards.
“For those who regularly shop at local wine cellars or other establishments that don’t have Apple Pay, you can only get a one percent return on their purchase,” says Sarah Ratner, a credit card expert at NerdWallet. And you can easily surpass that with other free bonus cards, as I wrote earlier:
There are other bonus cards currently offering a two percent return on most purchases, including Citi Double Cash. The Wells Fargo Cash Wise Card returns 1.5% of all purchases to cardholders, while the Capital One Savor Card * gives 4% off meals, 2% off groceries and 1% off everything else.
To highlight your Citi Double Cash card, you’ll get two percent back on all purchases, not just Apple Pay purchases, although you’ll get one percent when you swipe and one percent when you pay, not all at once. …
“To be honest, I’m not happy. There will be many headlines about this card, but its bark is stronger than a bite, ”says Rossman. “People will subscribe to it, but mostly because they love Apple, not because this card is the best that already exists.”
As Rossman points out, it’s actually not even the best card for Apple Pay rewards. “If you want to make the most of Apple Pay, the Visa Infinite Bank Altitude Reserve card gives three points per dollar on mobile wallet spending — three percent cashback or 4.5 percent on travel,” he says.
Update 15:50: This post has added information about the interest rate on the card.
Bugfix 3/26: This post has been updated to reflect that the Savor card offers four percent return for lunch, not three percent.