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Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

wsj.com

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Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#71

Post by reilly3000 »

flwjliwjle wrote: post #28

Good. They should shut down the whole Apple Card program. It was awful. I had an Apple card for two months. In those two months, I had more inexplicably declined transactions than in the other twenty years with other cards combined. Every single time I called support and Goldman Sachs pointed at Apple and Apple pointed at Goldman Sachs and the problem never got resolved. They both did an astonishingly bad job.

I faced random declines at some merchants. It was like certain terminals couldn’t process it. They worked fine with Apple Pay with other accounts. Ace Hardware was one of them, but it eventually started working when there was a 3% cash back promotion.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#72

Post by buildbot »

arthurofbabylon wrote: post #44

Goldman Sachs’s customer service was surprisingly bad – I imagine that factor alone is a sufficient threat to Apple’s brand, worthy of terminating the arrangement.

Yeah I had an awful experience working with them - which is confusing to consumers I’m sure when the text chat is literally addressed to Apple through iMessage and GS just takes over from that.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#74

Post by petemir »

kzrdude wrote: post #65
notatoad wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lower fees is what is needed for businesses to start accepting amex. visa and mastercard are 2-3%, amex is 5-6%. there's no upside for merchants to accept transactions where they have to pay double the processing fees

Card fees are capped in EU, and I wonder if amex has any way of going around that. (0.2% debit, 0.3% credit) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/fees-for-...

Yes, they go around that because they are considered a “three-party scheme”

https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/48519/why-are-a...

High fees are what Apple uses to offer such “great benefits” with their existing card. If they want to expand to Europe, the only cards enabling that would be Amex, or Diners (which is even less accepted I think).

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#75

Post by delfinom »

arcdigital wrote: post #4
not-my-account wrote: post #2

Hm, what would this mean for Apple Card users? Would it be shut down? How about those who have Apple Savings Accounts?[0] [0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/04/apple-cards-new-high-...

I'm assuming it will be just like any other time a card portfolio is sold or transferred (Costco Card: Amex -> Citi, REI Card: US Bank -> Capital One, GM Card: Capital One -> Marcus (which is Goldman, ironically I think they want to get rid of this card too), etc...). Unless Apple discontinues the card completely, they will choose a new bank, that bank will take on the existing portfolio, everyone will get new cards…

>Unless Apple discontinues the card completely, they will choose a new bank

That's the problem. All other banks turned Apple away because Apple was demanding some significant concessions. Goldman agreed to them because at the same time they were trying to break into the consumer business.

Apple will have to cave.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#76

Post by arcdigital »

sgerenser wrote: post #54
notatoad wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lower fees is what is needed for businesses to start accepting amex. visa and mastercard are 2-3%, amex is 5-6%. there's no upside for merchants to accept transactions where they have to pay double the processing fees

The difference is not that high. In fact, my understanding is “Visa Signature” and “World Mastercard” (which are most of the premium credit cards) normally cost about the same as Amex. At worst it may be about 1% more not double.

You're correct, take a look at my other comment for a breakdown.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#77

Post by sgerenser »

herpdyderp wrote: post #25
malwarebytess wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more interested in the savings account integration. I've found it super convenient. Too low APR for long term savings, but the convenience is worth the difference to me for short term savings parking. I keep $30K or so in it revolving for moving money around. Not to mention the cashback deposit right to the account.

> Too low APR for long term savings What APR is your baseline for long term savings? I'm interested in where you see significantly higher APR savings accounts because the Apple Card Savings Account is 400x my previous savings account APR.

There’s at least 50 different online banks that are paying more than 4.15%. Check out depositaccounts.com. Off the top of my head, Ally, Capital One, Vio Bank, MyBankingDirect, SoFi, and a bunch of others. If you’re getting less than 5% it’s time to open a new account.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#78

Post by delfinom »

parl_match wrote: post #5
not-my-account wrote: post #2

Hm, what would this mean for Apple Card users? Would it be shut down? How about those who have Apple Savings Accounts?[0] [0] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/04/apple-cards-new-high-...

The rumor is that Apple Card will move to Amex. WSJ says 12-15 months, but AppleCard is contractually obligated to use the MC network until 2025. I can't imagine they'll close all those accounts, so likely we'll see some sort of migration leading up.

The rumor was GS was trying to sell the contract to AMEX. There was no indication that AMEX was biting.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#79

Post by CydeWeys »

herpdyderp wrote: post #25
malwarebytess wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm more interested in the savings account integration. I've found it super convenient. Too low APR for long term savings, but the convenience is worth the difference to me for short term savings parking. I keep $30K or so in it revolving for moving money around. Not to mention the cashback deposit right to the account.

> Too low APR for long term savings What APR is your baseline for long term savings? I'm interested in where you see significantly higher APR savings accounts because the Apple Card Savings Account is 400x my previous savings account APR.

It's pretty easy to find 5% right now, especially with money market sweep accounts that invest in US treasuries.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#80

Post by madeofpalk »

edvinbesic wrote: post #68
giobox wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be a bit of a detractor for me, Amex is not as widely accepted, especially when traveling in Europe. Mastercard is accepted virtually everywhere in the EU and UK.

I agree, but would this still be the case if using it through Apple Pay vs swiping the physical card?

Yes. Amex is already on Apple Pay all around the world, and it’s only accepted at stores that accept Amex.
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