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Apple Card launches today for all US customers

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Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#161

Post by rconti »

hvidgaard wrote: post #140
rconti wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US chip cards require a signature in Europe virtually 100% of the time, even on low-value transactions that would be under the signature threshold in the US. However, using contactless avoids signatures 99% of the time. I think I had to sign once on my last trip at a contactless terminal.

Most modern terminals (i.e. with a contactless option), should be able to use chip and pin for US cards, no signature required. That's probably why they do not require signatures. I think that the majority of terminals in EU have the contactless option - at least in Denmark all non contactless terminals have been phased out.

Most US cards simply don't have PINs (or the card owner doesn't know the pin). I had to ask to assign one to a CC before I traveled, but then, it was never requested. I just had to sign.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#162

Post by mikestew »

whoopdedo wrote: post #98
fitzroy wrote: post #39

My biggest hope for this card is that it encourages far more people to use Apple Pay (2% vs 1% cash back), which, in turn, encourages more retailers to optimize the checkout process for contactless, and hopefully gets rid of having to use that gross stylus that everybody touches to sign that low-res LED screen with something that looks nothing like my signature. And it would also be great if it encourages US restaura…

Signatures are no longer required with chip cards.

Might not be required, but vendors in the U. S. still ask for a signature. Hell, the local pet supply store asks for a signature when I use Apple Pay on my watch. Kinnndda missing the point of NFC there.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#163

Post by astura »

twiceaday wrote: post #29
tidepod12 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a hearty laugh when I saw a seven minute unboxing video for the Apple Card on the front page of reddit. An unboxing video for a credit card that was somehow stretched into 7 minutes. The video included genius quotes such as "it fits into my wallet" and "it's about the same size as my other credit cards". This is the content that somehow got thousands of upvotes. It's seriously amazing how far the apple fandom h…

Is it your intention to miss-lead or do you not realize that the credit card is made entirely out of Titanium, which is a novel concept and obviously raises questions about weight, size, and look.

1) Metal cards suck, they often don't work in parking garages[1], and you can't put them in a shredder

2) They are not novel.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/4zwpvt/psa_your_f...

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#164

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

Brendinooo wrote: post #20
4ntonius8lock wrote: post #10

1% back using the card? I make few purchases with less than 3%. In terms of security, I've had my card cloned. Within minutes the bank locked the account and had a new card shipped. Hardly a big pain point they are solving. And most of us have more than one, so if any of our cards are down, we have others. It's merchants that currently carry the cost of low quality financial instrument standards we have. For privacy,…

How are you doing 3%? Rolling rewards? Doesn't seem like there are a lot of 3% cards out there without an annual fee or a set of conditions to try and fulfill. 2% on all Apple Pay purchases is pretty straightforward.

Amex has Blue Cash Everyday - the non fee on gives you 3% on supermarkets, no fee. The premium one with a $95/year fee gives you 6%. The max on these amounts is really high, and I have a number of cards to work with.

For online stores and restaurants/bars, I get 4% back with my uber card from barclays, again no fee (in fact both of these cards give you money just for signing up).

For me, restaurants/bars + supermarkets are the majority of my expenses, the other being housing, which I pay with direct transfer, no credit card option.

Most of my cards also offer extended warranty, free insurance on rental cars, free trip insurance, phone insurance, etc.

2% is the least I get when swiping, there's a lot of options for this including the city double with no fee. Apple wants me to exchange that for 1% and they make a big deal out of it. I mean, ok, they give a little more privacy, but again, if you value that, cash is king. I will say, their cool factor is really high, the packaging for this is way nicer than even very premium credit cards I've had.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#165

Post by astura »

electic wrote: post #50
huy-nguyen wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citi double cash gives a flat 2% back for any purchase.

The way the Citi Double Cash Card works is you get 1% for every dollar spent and 1% for every dollar paid. - It is actually 1.98% because when you apply it to a statement credit you are not really paying off the full total. You get a straight 2% back, daily, with Apple Card. - There is also a redemption minimum with Citi, in this case there needs to be at least $25 dollars in cash back before you can claim it. Apple…

>when you apply it to a statement credit

You can get it deposited to your checking account instead.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#166

Post by mikestew »

shurcooL wrote: post #5
lawrenceyan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a pretty big error... With a launch is pivotal as this, you would think they would do more testing to ensure you’d at least be able to make purchases at launch.

To add another data point, I had no problems making the first purchase with it (or any purchases since).

First thing I "purchased" after applying was two charitable donations, which I hear is two big red waving flags for fraud when done on the web. Transactions went through just fine.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#167

Post by 4ntonius8lock »

mataug wrote: post #16
4ntonius8lock wrote: post #10

1% back using the card? I make few purchases with less than 3%. In terms of security, I've had my card cloned. Within minutes the bank locked the account and had a new card shipped. Hardly a big pain point they are solving. And most of us have more than one, so if any of our cards are down, we have others. It's merchants that currently carry the cost of low quality financial instrument standards we have. For privacy,…

>For privacy, if I valued it over the $x,xxx I get back every year in the form of cash back, free insurance on rentals, etc, I'd use the most private of all instruments.... Cash. My guess is that Apple is trying to provide a middle ground between fully private instruments such as cash, with convenience of a credit card. Its much more privacy focused than your average credit card, while offering the same convenience.…

My guess is they are trying to appeal to that group... as an aside to the main cool factor.

Look at the presentation of the card and the offering. When the presentation is more competitive than the offering, you know they are trying to sell you $10 bars of chocolate. Very cool. Not the best.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#168

Post by ghaff »

astura wrote: post #159
rconti wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US chip cards require a signature in Europe virtually 100% of the time, even on low-value transactions that would be under the signature threshold in the US. However, using contactless avoids signatures 99% of the time. I think I had to sign once on my last trip at a contactless terminal.

Signatures are optional for US cards https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/signatures-soon... Strangely enough, it seems that this applies to mostly transactions in North America, for some reason. That being said, an individual payment terminal can be configured to require a signature and it might take a while to switch over. The first day they were optional my grocery store got rid of them on their terminals,…

Especially with pads, signatures as a verification mechanism are just silly in this day and age. Maybe some people actually sign legibly but most of us just do a scribble. (My signature on the back of my credit card is equally illegible so, in the rare occasions when someone does a compare, I've never had an issue. Fortunately, they do seem to be on the way out though I do typically have to sign a slip in Europe and Asia when using a US chip card.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#169

Post by ghaff »

elSidCampeador wrote: post #95
freyr wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird that we lag so far behind in some areas, even when we help develop the technology.

According to Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga[1], they've noticed that if the transport system in an area becomes contactless enabled, then contactless adoption ramps up faster. [1] - https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2019/07/30/ma... Search the page for "transport" and go to the first result.

My understanding is that's how contactless (somewhat) took off in Japan. Though Japan as a whole is still even more cash-centric than Germany is. It wouldn't surprise me that the use of contactless cards at least in places like convenience stores and vending machines arose in part because credit card use isn't that widespread.

Re: Apple Card launches today for all US customers

#170

Post by knur »

fitzroy wrote: post #39

My biggest hope for this card is that it encourages far more people to use Apple Pay (2% vs 1% cash back), which, in turn, encourages more retailers to optimize the checkout process for contactless, and hopefully gets rid of having to use that gross stylus that everybody touches to sign that low-res LED screen with something that looks nothing like my signature. And it would also be great if it encourages US restaura…

It's funny. I'm from a third world country and there restaurant waitresses will bring a mobile card reader to your table. The reason being that it was very common years ago for restaurants to clone your card and then use it somewhere else; so people don't want to lose sight of their card ever to make sure it won't get cloned.
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