Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 287 posts

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#141

Post by vehemenz »

reilly3000 wrote: post #71
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.

I've only had problems with the Apple Pay integration on Pizza Hut's website, of all things.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#143

Post by etrautmann »

etrautmann wrote: post #124
0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any alternatives to Marcus? It has felt like too good of a deal to last.

Cash just sitting untouched in my Vanguard account's default money market is earning more than my Marcus account. I had to transfer everything out of Marcus because there was no point in using it.

As of right now, Marcus is yielding 4.4% APY while Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) is paying 5.3%

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#144

Post by wsc981 »

xyst wrote: post #116
giobox wrote: post #8

Seemingly both sides have wanted out of this deal, earlier in the year there was another WSJ report with Goldman wanting to end it as well: > https://www.wsj.com/articles/goldman-is-looking-for-a-way-ou... The earlier story from June suggested Amex might take it over.

That would be cool. Amex support way better than GS that’s for sure. Would suck for retailers though. Amex fees among the highest when compared to other networks and issuing banks. On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling.

I got an Amex card and I think it kinda sucks. Many businesses in Thailand don't accept Amex, I think due to the high fees. At some point I want to change my card (once I can get a credit card from a bank in Thailand, cause my Amex card is from The Netherlands).

Would be much better if Apple would get with MasterCard. Based on my experience, no issues anywhere.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#145

Post by astura »

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-...

This is largely not a big deal - credit cards move to new servicers all the time, the customers are just transferred and you get a new card.

In the last 10 years the Costco credit card used to be serviced by AMEX but now it's Citibank. Fidelity credit card moved from FIA Card Services (Bank of America subsidiary) to Elan Financial and became a Visa. The AARP credit card went from Chase to Barclays. Those are just off the top of my head.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#146

Post by lxgr »

petemir wrote: post #61
lxgr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would that change? Amex acceptance in the US is basically ubiquitous, and how would a new type of Amex change things abroad?

If the Amex partnership includes global (or at least, European) expansion (which seems more plausible than with GS), it may generate extra pressure on vendors to accept it. iPhone market share is quite high in Europe(~35%), and I’d guess mostly comes from high spending sectors (e.g. 56% in Swirzerland, 50% in UK). I would try to attract their business.

It would definitely help Amex, but I'm not convinced that Apple would inflict the significantly worse acceptance on themselves without significant upside.

That upside might be Amex's uncapped EU credit card interchange, but that would very likely not apply to a co-branding scheme with Apple: https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/02/08/american-express-eu...

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#147

Post by ghaff »

giobox wrote: post #17
wdb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I had an Amex card and it was pretty useless in Europe. Admittingly that was more than five years ago so maybe things have improved by now.

The fact the Apple card was a Mastercard and had no foreign transaction fees was largely the only reason I opened it, as I too find my Amex a pain in the ass in Europe. If it does become an Amex card, I will likely close the account.

For me, Apple Card is mostly only interesting for the discount on Apple. I carry it as a backup otherwise but don't use it.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#148

Post by elyobo »

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #92
dimmke wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My theory about the Apple Card: Goldman Sachs is not setup to be a direct consumer bank. This caused a lot of problems: * The ease of sign up / approval led to a lot of subprime approvals that might not have gone through with a more established lender. Not only did this cause GS to lose money on delinquent accounts, it prevented the Apple Card from ever becoming a status symbol. * Goldman Sachs developed a reputation…

> But whipping out your phone sucks compared to just tapping your card against a reader. And I’d have said whipping out my card sucks compared to using the watch that’s already on my hand. (Of course that works with my other cards as well)

I don't really understand how whipping out your phone is harder than whipping out your card even if you don't have a watch. In my case I gave up carrying the cards at all a few years back and pay for everything on my phone anyway; the convenience of not needing a wallet or any cards at all is high.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#150

Post by initplus »

paxys wrote: post #95

This is probably a death knell for Goldman's entire consumer banking division. Ever single one of their products (including the Marcus savings account, which is now the sole remaining one) has been a costly failure.

What is the underlying reason these consumer offerings have been such a failure? Something like a savings account should be the closest thing to free money there is - stick the cash into t bills, collect a margin on top and pass the rest back to the customer.

Do the marketing/cs costs really outweigh the margin? Or is it some issue with how the assets backing the account are invested?

Post reply on HN