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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

#251

Post by ericpauley »

chrisfinazzo wrote: post #128
johnbatin wrote: post #19

Unsurprising since we've heard about this in the past. I wonder if there is another issuer(s) lined up for the card and the savings account. The savings account doesn't have the highest interest rates, but I like how my Apple Card cashback can go right into the savings account. It's kind of like a set it and forget it type of thing. I'm hoping this isn't the end of the Apple Card or the savings account though. It's n…

Ending the savings account would be a real shame - I never asked for a physical card, so all Apple Card transactions go through Apple Pay before landing in that account. Getting (effectively) 6% back on everything is a real boon. I know there are even higher rates out there, but this feels so effortless that I would hate to see it go away.

You’re not getting 6% on everything, not even close. Assuming the 1% back goes into savings and you wait a year, you’ll get 1.05% back.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#252

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

cpncrunch wrote: post #10

This article is paywalled, with no way to bypass. Non-paywalled summary here: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/28/23980261/apple-is-report... Can I assume everyone commenting here has a WSJ subscription?

>with no way to bypass

https://archive.is/ShGa2

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#253

Post by Amezarak »

wkat4242 wrote: post #230
ulfw wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you describe for your particular Amex card isn't a real credit card either. That's a charge card. Germany doesn't do real credit cards much (if at all?)

It's a total difference of point of view. In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it. In America it's considered a virtue to have many credit cards and shuffle them so you can be seen to pay it off. Really weird.

Credit cards have a crucial benefit over debit cards: they add a layer of indirection to my bank account.

Steal (or mischarge) my credit card, run up 10k in charges, no problem. No money ever comes out of my bank account and I dispute the charges/report the card stolen.

Steal my debit card, run up 10k in charges...there's 10k gone out of my account until the bank resolves the situation.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#254

Post by dukeyukey »

wkat4242 wrote: post #230
ulfw wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you describe for your particular Amex card isn't a real credit card either. That's a charge card. Germany doesn't do real credit cards much (if at all?)

It's a total difference of point of view. In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it. In America it's considered a virtue to have many credit cards and shuffle them so you can be seen to pay it off. Really weird.

> In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it.

Don't know about that, "Europe" is a big place. Credit cards are pretty common in the UK at least, and stuff like balance transfer cards (for shuffling) are too. Maybe not to American extents, but hardly a weakness.

In fact, looks like more people in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland own credit cards than the US: https://www.statista.com/statistics/675371/ownership-of-cred...

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#255

Post by elzbardico »

wkat4242 wrote: post #227

Good. I'm surprised they even picked a bank with such a controversial history and track record. They're pretty much the Palantir of the financial sector. No way I'd ever do business with them.

Nah. Every bank is the same. All of them are of full of skeletons on their closets.

Banks are pretty shady business but have power enough to lobby their get-out-of-jail card and codify it in law.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#256

Post by EmptyCoffeeCup »

nottorp wrote: post #241
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.

Back when POS terminals read magnetic stripes, most in Europe didn't even support the Amex stripe in hardware, because it was different :) Even now with contactless and chips (Amex has discovered chips right?) the only places I see Amex logos are 4+ star hotels and very posh restaurants. So it will be kinda useless outside the US.

Majority of large retailers in the UK take AMEX. Probably over 75% of my consumer spending goes through my AMEX card - Petrol, Food etc, never had an issue.

Can't speak for the rest of Europe.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#257

Post by wkat4242 »

Amezarak wrote: post #253
wkat4242 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a total difference of point of view. In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it. In America it's considered a virtue to have many credit cards and shuffle them so you can be seen to pay it off. Really weird.

Credit cards have a crucial benefit over debit cards: they add a layer of indirection to my bank account. Steal (or mischarge) my credit card, run up 10k in charges, no problem. No money ever comes out of my bank account and I dispute the charges/report the card stolen. Steal my debit card, run up 10k in charges...there's 10k gone out of my account until the bank resolves the situation.

Here they won't let you dispute charges. There's no purchase insurance included either. Or those cashback awards like you get in the US.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#258

Post by wkat4242 »

dukeyukey wrote: post #254
wkat4242 wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a total difference of point of view. In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it. In America it's considered a virtue to have many credit cards and shuffle them so you can be seen to pay it off. Really weird.

> In Europe, banks don't like you taking out credit cards. Borrowing money is viewed as a weakness and it's best to never do it. Don't know about that, "Europe" is a big place. Credit cards are pretty common in the UK at least, and stuff like balance transfer cards (for shuffling) are too. Maybe not to American extents, but hardly a weakness. In fact, looks like more people in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland own cred…

Well the UK is a similar state to the US.

I don't believe this about Switzerland though. They are a very typical people that abhors spending money you don't have. But I think they may be counting debit cards there.

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#259

Post by ericmay »

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.

> On the consumer side, I tend to see Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling.

I’ve found the main difference being cash only venues versus card+cash accepted.

I just got back from Japan and traveled to Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Kawaguchiko, Miyajima, and it was somewhat rare to find a business that accepted cards but didn’t accept Amex, much to my surprise!

Re: Apple pulls plug on Goldman credit-card partnership

#260

Post by ericmay »

traceroute66 wrote: post #217
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.

> Amex as not widely accepted. Especially drops when traveling. Only nutters use Amex whilst travelling (or at least non-US nutters) The double-conversion gotcha is a real killer. Everything gets converted back via USD. So for example, if you have a EUR Amex card and you go to the UK, the AMEX flow is: GBP -> USD -> EUR. And they take, IIRC 3% from you on each leg of that double-conversion.

Is that an EU-issued specific phenomenon? Even when I travel to the EU and use Amex (or Apple Card or a number of others) this doesn’t happen. Think it falls under the “no foreign transaction fees” feature set.

The only remaining “gotcha” that I run in to is sometimes a shop will try and get you to pay for something at the point of sale in USD instead of the local currency since they can (within reason but exorbitant) set the exchange rate. Tip- pay in local currency.

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