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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

#201

Post by scrlk »

astura wrote: post #166
symlinkk wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t work in Costco. Visa works everywhere.

Costco only accepts whatever credit card the Costco credit card currently is. Right now that's Visa, but it used to be American Express before 2016, ironically. Supposedly this exclusively allows them to negotiate down the fee really low.

Costco UK accepts all three card networks (Amex/Mastercard/Visa). I wonder how their UK division can do this if Costco prefers to do exclusivity deals that allow them to lock in a low fee?

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#202

Post by baq »

jwr wrote: post #194
xyst wrote: 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.

> On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling. As a B2B SaaS owner, I don't accept Amex, because they make me jump through extra hoops. I process all cards through Braintree, but Amex requires an extra agreement directly with them, and they make the process of signing those agreements really difficult and obnoxious. I have better things to do with my time. I did a…

Piece of advice - read up on that W8-BEN.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#203

Post by KennyBlanken »

jwr wrote: post #194
xyst wrote: 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.

> On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling. As a B2B SaaS owner, I don't accept Amex, because they make me jump through extra hoops. I process all cards through Braintree, but Amex requires an extra agreement directly with them, and they make the process of signing those agreements really difficult and obnoxious. I have better things to do with my time. I did a…

Imagine being outside the US and thinking "prove you're an incorporated business, prove the major players in your company exist, and fill out this tax form for foreigners"

...is "extra hoops" and "really difficult and obnoxious"

> (BTW, I am not based in the US, so "W8 BEN" reads like Klingon to me).

If only there were technology to look up what 'W8 BEN' means in seconds

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#204

Post by yawn22222 »

e63f67dd-065b wrote: post #175
throwaway2037 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

The FX spread is fixed at around 25-50bps for Mastercard/Visa due to a settlement long ago. The foreign transaction fee is an additional charge on top of that, usually 3% of the gross transaction volume in USD. The banks don't control the exchange rate, it's determined by the card network. So yes, when a card advertises 0% foreign transaction fee, it really does mean that they don't take an additional charge on top o…

I think as a card provider you still make money on this, from what I remember the card provider can settle directly with the scheme for foreign transactions the next day. There's still a good margin on the mastercard rate, I've definitely observed more than 50bps spread, but that's GBP -> THB etc.. Would a fulltime forex trader cost more though?

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#205

Post by dukeyukey »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #203
jwr wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling. As a B2B SaaS owner, I don't accept Amex, because they make me jump through extra hoops. I process all cards through Braintree, but Amex requires an extra agreement directly with them, and they make the process of signing those agreements really difficult and obnoxious. I have better things to do with my time. I did a…

Imagine being outside the US and thinking "prove you're an incorporated business, prove the major players in your company exist, and fill out this tax form for foreigners" ...is "extra hoops" and "really difficult and obnoxious" > (BTW, I am not based in the US, so "W8 BEN" reads like Klingon to me). If only there were technology to look up what 'W8 BEN' means in seconds

Just saying, the UK has a form of business called a "Sole Trader" where you don't even need to notify the government about until it's tax time. Something like a "Certificate of incorporation" doesn't even exist for that.

So yeah, sometimes it fucks things up.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#206

Post by lmm »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #203
jwr wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling. As a B2B SaaS owner, I don't accept Amex, because they make me jump through extra hoops. I process all cards through Braintree, but Amex requires an extra agreement directly with them, and they make the process of signing those agreements really difficult and obnoxious. I have better things to do with my time. I did a…

Imagine being outside the US and thinking "prove you're an incorporated business, prove the major players in your company exist, and fill out this tax form for foreigners" ...is "extra hoops" and "really difficult and obnoxious" > (BTW, I am not based in the US, so "W8 BEN" reads like Klingon to me). If only there were technology to look up what 'W8 BEN' means in seconds

> Imagine being outside the US and thinking "prove you're an incorporated business, prove the major players in your company exist, and fill out this tax form for foreigners"

> ...is "extra hoops" and "really difficult and obnoxious"

Compare with how willing US citizens or businesses are to comply with similarly basic things when another country asks for them.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#207

Post by atdrummond »

scrlk wrote: post #201
astura wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Costco only accepts whatever credit card the Costco credit card currently is. Right now that's Visa, but it used to be American Express before 2016, ironically. Supposedly this exclusively allows them to negotiate down the fee really low.

Costco UK accepts all three card networks (Amex/Mastercard/Visa). I wonder how their UK division can do this if Costco prefers to do exclusivity deals that allow them to lock in a low fee?

Europe has lower fees by legislative fiat. UK still has these (mostly) due to the majority of these caps existing pre-Brexit.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#208

Post by blitzar »

ulfw wrote: post #189
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.

Why did that surprise you? Goldman Sachs makes it money with anything but consumer banking after all. Genuine question.

I was an interbank customer of Goldman Sachs (literally trading billions a year with them) and their "customer service" sucked - we were to be greatful that the mighty Goldmans recognised and dealt with us.

I can not imagine that a cosumer or mass market product would be any better - certainly not going from their niche presence in the consumer market to apple scale number of customers.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#209

Post by kuschku »

ceejayoz wrote: post #88
kuschku wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to european payment cards with their 0.125% total fees, Amex' 6-7% is a steep ask.

The highest Amex interchange rate is about 3%. https://www.creditdonkey.com/interchange-rates.html

Merchant rates from local payment processors are: 0.125% for Girocard, 1.39% for VISA/MasterCard, 6.2% for AMEX

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#210

Post by kuschku »

troupe wrote: post #101
kuschku wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to european payment cards with their 0.125% total fees, Amex' 6-7% is a steep ask.

Payment cards that only have a 0.125% fee? Are you talking about a debit card or a payment / credit card?

"payment cards" includes debit cards, credit cards, and other types of cards that can be used for payments, such as the German girocard standard. There's no meaningful difference between these products if your locale has working consumer protection laws.

The payment processors I'd be looking at offer merchants rates of 0.125% for girocard, 1.39% for VISA/MasterCard, and 6.2% for AMEX.

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