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Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

wsj.com

151–160 of 287 posts

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#151
post #27

I only got the card because I wanted a neat piece of titanium. I used it a few times and then cancelled it. Was I the only one?

Maybe. I got one, wife got one. we merged accounts as soon as it was available. It's our #1 used card by far.

I've been 100% satisfied with the Apple Card & Savings.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know about the rep GS has gotten regarding fraud charges. My main card is a Chase one as well. Everything else is spot on. I use the Apple Card only for buying stuff from Apple (for the 3% cash back), or when I accidentally select it from my watch at the vending machine. Rewards are much better on other cards, even if they're not as simple as cash dropped into your account on the daily.

Where do you find better rewards for general purposes? I know there are plenty of better cards for travel, and I think there’s a few that are better for dining and other misc stuff, but Apple Card (w/ Apple Pay) seems to be the best in general at 2% for any purchase?

Wells Fargo, PayPal, SoFi, Citibank, and Fidelity[1] all offer 2% cash back on everything, unlimited, no annual fee. There's nothing special about that rate. Wells Fargo will even give you a $200 sign up bonus.

Depending on your specific spending habits you might even come out ahead with the Citi Custom Cash, which offers 5% cash back on your highest spending category (up to $500) every month, 1% cach back on everything else.

I have a credit card with Bank of America which I earn 2.625% cash back on everything, no annual fee. However, that rate requires having $100,000 invested with Merrill Lynch. - https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-preferred-rew...

[1]Fidelity requires you to have an investment account open with them to sign up, no minimum balance is required.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#153
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.

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

UFB Direct has the highest FDIC insured savings account I've seen, 5.25% (and its been there for a while)

https://www.ufbdirect.com/

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#154
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.

They've been signaling they were pulling out of consumer for the last few quarters.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that still the case if the bank is a subsidiary?

Yes, the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 regulates "any company which has control over any bank".

Hat tip. This part is so important. It prevents a non-bank from taking over a bank with the implicit goal of lending money to themselves. This would be a real danger.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#156
post #17
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.

    no foreign transaction fees
In an FX transaction, what is the difference between a trading fee and a wider spread? Nothing. (Why do people keep falling for this?)

What you really want to see is a combined promise. For example: No fees, plus 1% or less FX spread on major currencies. (My preferred credit card promises that.)

Honestly, it is very hard to pay a total of less than 1% on foreign transactions. Still, this is pretty cheap, given the convenience.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#157
post #144
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#158

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

This is not true. Anyone in the US who has told you this is confused or getting ripped off by a predatory ISO (the companies that offer credit card processing). Numbers below are only looking at the percentage, not the flat per txn fee or the other fees like assessments, etc... Only apply to the US. Also assuming you do less than 1 million a year in card volume. First let's look at actual merchant services costs: Str…

This reply is awesome. How do you know all of this?

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#159
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?

I do recall that the way at least the Apple Card deal was structured ended up extremely unfavorable to GS. It seems that part of the reason the Apple Card deal went so poorly for GS is because the initial negotiation and terms of the agreement heavily favored Apple. So perhaps it was just lack of knowledge of the industry in a big way that tanked this deal.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently seeing 5.05% APY from a CITbank savings account.

Careful with them. They keep you at a high APY for a period of time, then they silently drop your interest rate and create a new "type" of savings account for new customers which offers the proper high rate -- you have to notice they did this, since they deliberately don't alert you. They do this over and over again. When I saw what they were doing, I withdrew all my money, and they even built a little popup into the…

I'll keep an eye on it, thanks.
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