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Apple announces Apple Card credit card

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Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fair, but with caveats you can also get more than 2% back on every purchase and 4-5% on many purchases. For many people, that's easily worth it and I wouldn't settle for a 2% back card.

what card do you have?

Well if you want to maximize rewards you could use:

- Chase Freedom / Discover It (Quarterly 5% categories (examples: Wholesale, Gas, Grocery, Department Stores, Mobile Pay, Home Improvement, etc.))

- Uber Visa (4% Dining, 3% Travel, 2% Online Purchases, 1% everything else)

- American Express Blue Cash Everyday (3% Grocery, 2% Gas/Department Stores, 1% everything else)

- Citi Doublecash (2% everything)

- Costco Visa (4% Gas, 3% Travel/Dining, 2% Costco, 1% everything else)

- Amazon Prime Visa (5% Amazon, 2% Dining, Grocery, Pharmacy, 1% everything else)

These are just the cards I use right now. There are no annual fees, although some require membership like Costco and Amazon. Pay your balance in full every month and it's a much better option than debit. There's a bunch of different ways to maximize rewards. See /r/churning [1] for more info.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/churning

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#264
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look no further than the recent issue where Patreon competitor Subscribestar had payment processors Stripe and PayPal stop processing their payments for _political_ disagreements with the purported beneficiaries of the donations through the platform. PayPal said that it was actually one of the underlying payment processors, and it was suspected to be MasterCard. That incident was the first time I've ever taken the ne…

I’ve been told political campaigns focused on MC/Visa forced a policy change on Fetlife (specifically which kinks you’re allowed to admit to being into) a few years back. I’m not into the kink which caused it (and I won’t repeat it here) but that left a bad taste in my mouth. IMO, people should be free to discuss what they’re into, even when it’s something much more harmful than the kink involved.

> I’m not into the kink which caused it (and I won’t repeat it here) but that left a bad taste in my mouth

The kink, or the policy change?

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#265

Does Apple Pay and Google Pay work anywhere I see the tap symbol (looks like a rotated wifi symbol)? Or they must also display the Apple or Google Pay symbol? I've seen places that just have the tap symbol and wondered if I could've used my phone.

Yes, unless it's broken or the cashier doesn't know how it works. Happens a lot.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#266
God these apple events always tend to get massively cringey. Was it the Goldman Sacks partnership? Perhaps it was the titanium credit card I didn't know I needed... Maybe it was the 30+ minutes devoted to a Netflix clone. Or, maybe it was Oprah... "All connected throoough APPLE!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm not sure. But somewhere along the way, I lost my lunch.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#267
post #68

How does something like this work in Europe with no signature on the card? When I tried to use a US card without a PIN that I hadn't yet signed, a German checker made a fuss about the missing signature. This isn't a problem in the US where no one bothers checking the signature. What about a brewery I went to this weekend where neither swipe or chip was available for their POS and the card number was manually entered?

As they said, it only works where Apple Pay works already. And already Apple Pay works almost everywhere there is contactless terminal. Some people say you will be able to see the card number in your Wallet app, but somehow I doubt it. There is already a unique card number for every physical card you added to your walled, but you cannot see it. You can verify it on proof of purchase where last 4 digits are shown - th…

> As they said, it only works where Apple Pay works already.

No, they showed a physical card as well.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#268
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>- Virtual card numbers can you create your own?

Probably a temporary CC number generator for internet purchases. You would not be able to "choose" a vanity number of your own choosing besides being really insecure but also because CC numbers have to fit an algorithmic pattern to be valid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm

Wasn't expecting a vanity number but creating a different number for each service. Something like what capital one has [1]. There would be a number for Netflix and a different number for fios.

[1]https://www.capitalone.com/applications/eno/virtualnumbers/

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#269
post #39
post #26

Innovative privacy features in exchange for sub-par rewards. RIP us North of the border, though.

2% cash back on all purchases through the phone with no annual fees? I’d wager this is much better than what the majority of Americans currently have.

Chase Freedom gives you 5% on rotating categories. That combined with the Uber or Amazon card, you're getting pretty high percentages. Apple's 2% is just not competitive, and they don't even give you a signup bonus. It's basically a privacy card.

Re: Apple announces Apple Card credit card

#270
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is a MasterCard, but it'd be more interesting if they were able to take out the $0.35 transaction fee on every transaction. This is the bread and butter of every payment processor, and it's complete rent seeking, AND supposedly all the major processors are going to RAISE it at roughly the same time in the coming months. Eliminating the set transaction fee could open up so many potential businesses. But I'…

Indeed, why would Apple want to eliminate that fee? But also, how is this rent seeking? Rent seeking is defined as attempting to take a larger share of existing wealth without increasing total wealth. Electronic payment systems absolutely add to total wealth.

I'm not one to cry foul every time a company turns a profit, but this industry seems pretty anticompetitive if it's not outright rent seeking.
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