Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card • Hacker News Board

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#41

Post by adrr » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:09 AM UTC

jerlam wrote: post #25

nomilk wrote: post #17

Hadn't even heard of Apple Card until now: https://www.apple.com/apple-card/ A credit card with > No fees. Not even hidden ones and > 2% cash back when you use Apple Card with Apple Pay and > 3% cash back at Apple (and Uber, Uber Eats, Booking.com and a few others) when you use Apple Pay This seems... really good. As in, it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

It's not tremendously better than existing cards. 2% cash back is practically the floor for rewards cards. I've had a 2% rewards card for over a decade (Citi Double Cash). People are able to get around 5% rewards if they're willing to be stuck with miles, locked into a specific retailer/company, or deal with rotating categories.

For prime plus you can get better cards, for people sub 660 credit score, it is the best card on the market. Chase's subprime card which is the slate offers no rewards.

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#42

Post by AndrewKemendo » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:12 AM UTC

nomilk wrote: post #17

Hadn't even heard of Apple Card until now: https://www.apple.com/apple-card/ A credit card with > No fees. Not even hidden ones and > 2% cash back when you use Apple Card with Apple Pay and > 3% cash back at Apple (and Uber, Uber Eats, Booking.com and a few others) when you use Apple Pay This seems... really good. As in, it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

No I’ve been using them since 2020 and it’s fantastic

They even got me back a ton of money from a venue that burned down and I had a deposit down for an event there.

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#43

Post by tshaddox » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:12 AM UTC

glial wrote: post #35

colechristensen wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? I've used my Apple card to buy a few Apple devices and indeed with 0% interest.

I used mine to buy Macbook Airs with 0% interest just fine. For the iPhone, the fine print says you (now) have to sign up with one of their pre-approved carriers. If you use another - Mint or US Mobile or whatever - you're out of luck.

And it can’t be prepaid plans, at least with Verizon when I tried that 2 years ago.

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#44

Post by hamburglar » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:12 AM UTC

xyst wrote: post #10

I wonder what these means for my credit limit. I have a chase card with 60XXX CL and an AC with 50XXX.

Why would you want such a high credit limit? Are you dying to spend money you don’t have?

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#45

Post by AndrewKemendo » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:13 AM UTC

mullingitover wrote: post #28

The hilarious thing is the Apple card is a chunk of titanium and doesn’t have contactless payment capabilities in the year 2025. (Obviously their angle is you’ll use your phone or watch, which isn’t a huge stretch)

Which is actually more secure across the board, which is why I prefer it

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#46

Post by nutjob2 » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:14 AM UTC

silisili wrote: post #27

nomilk wrote: post #17

Hadn't even heard of Apple Card until now: https://www.apple.com/apple-card/ A credit card with > No fees. Not even hidden ones and > 2% cash back when you use Apple Card with Apple Pay and > 3% cash back at Apple (and Uber, Uber Eats, Booking.com and a few others) when you use Apple Pay This seems... really good. As in, it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

One can do better. As just a one card catchall, Robinhood does 3% on everything. I'm one of those crazy maximizers with a drawer full of cards, and most purchases earn 5% or 6%.

The 3% is good, but you have to pay $5 a month, so equivalent $60 annual fee.

They have late fees and cash advance fees.

> most purchases earn 5% or 6%

I assume thats using the high end cards with fairly hefty annual fees, or category cashback.

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#47

Post by LoganDark » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:15 AM UTC

sethhochberg wrote: post #11

killingtime74 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks were not queuing up to do it the first time and it didn't work out well for the bank that did (Goldman). Who else is compromising

I have no insider knowledge here but it doesn't seem outlandish to think that the negotiations would go a little differently for an established product vs a brand new one. Goldman may have simply been the only bank willing to work with Apple when the customer base (in size, demographics, spending patterns, whatever) was hypothetical.

GS was inexperienced and didn't know what they were getting into; that's why Apple was able to get such a good deal and also why GS now wants out. I fear Chase does know what they're getting into and Apple likely has far less favorable terms now. Though I'm incredibly glad they didn't give it to Synchrony (who runs PayPal and is incredibly sociopathic)

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#48

Post by AndrewKemendo » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC

Does anyone know why they moved away from GS?

Frankly I liked that they had GS as the bank cause they come with a pretty amazing customer support system

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#49

Post by itake » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC

jerlam wrote: post #25

nomilk wrote: post #17

Hadn't even heard of Apple Card until now: https://www.apple.com/apple-card/ A credit card with > No fees. Not even hidden ones and > 2% cash back when you use Apple Card with Apple Pay and > 3% cash back at Apple (and Uber, Uber Eats, Booking.com and a few others) when you use Apple Pay This seems... really good. As in, it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

It's not tremendously better than existing cards. 2% cash back is practically the floor for rewards cards. I've had a 2% rewards card for over a decade (Citi Double Cash). People are able to get around 5% rewards if they're willing to be stuck with miles, locked into a specific retailer/company, or deal with rotating categories.

Apple had a promotion at the start of 2025 with 5% cash back on everything up to $50k. I paid my taxes with that card that year :)

Re: Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card

#50

Post by lxgr » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC

nomilk wrote: post #17

Hadn't even heard of Apple Card until now: https://www.apple.com/apple-card/ A credit card with > No fees. Not even hidden ones and > 2% cash back when you use Apple Card with Apple Pay and > 3% cash back at Apple (and Uber, Uber Eats, Booking.com and a few others) when you use Apple Pay This seems... really good. As in, it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

There are still several 2% cards that don’t require Apple Pay, although I don’t know of any with no foreign exchange fee other than maybe the Fidelity one.

For everything where Apple Pay works, it’s a great deal; for everything else, it’s below average (as there are many 1.5% on everything cards).

> it's essentially free money. Am I missing a catch here?

In the end, all you’re doing is recouping a bit more of your own money than with some other cards. You pay those 2% and more as part of the price of everything you buy.