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Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#71

Post by NavinF »

rootusrootus wrote: post #61
xyst wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably payment on GS backend was processed late even if customer initiated payment on the due date. So customer was charged interest. I was an early adopter of the AC during my Apple glazing days. Everybody has the same due date (end of month) and GS systems just could not handle the volume. I remember an auto payment taking a week to withdraw from my bank account and applied to account. I wasn’t charged interest a…

> an auto payment taking a week to withdraw from my bank account As an aside, for anyone using an Apple Card today, a handy way around this is to not make payments via ACH. Use your debit card with Apple Pay to pull money instantly into Apple Cash, then use that to instantly pay your credit card bill. An extra step, sure, but it's instant .

Related: Most banks let you pay credit cards over the phone using a debit card. This is usually intended for debt collection though, so you may have to have to call the debt collection phone number to do it. Of course the main use case for tech people is maxing debit card rewards until they close your account :)

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#72

Post by joshstrange »

paul7986 wrote: post #9

My recent experience with Apple has been anti-user .. juice their bottom line.... - iCloud storage notifications saying have to upgrade to $9.99 plan to continue to store my photos, videos and even worse if I wanted to continue getting my iCloud emails. What(?), as my Google Photos is still sucking/backing up all the same media (goes back to 2016) for free. LAME Apple especially threat of not getting my iCloud emails…

Google no longer offers unlimited photo backup and Apple Intelligence hasn’t been released yet…

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#73

Post by NavinF »

_mlbt wrote: post #66
starttoaster wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cash back rewards is not, as far as I know, actually all that good in comparison to its competitors like American Express. Giving a month to pay off a balance I believe is referred to as a "grace period" which is pretty common place in credit cards. A month is nice, but I believe most cards are usually around 4 weeks. But the UI for the card's online banking is fairly attractive, especially if you're already an i…

> The cash back rewards is not, as far as I know, actually all that good in comparison to its competitors like American Express. There are definitely cards with better rewards, but few with such a straightforward and simple cash back program. Also, the rewards are not bad by any means. I also like the tight integration with the high yield savings account, which again is not the best rate possible, but makes up for it…

Most credit cards have the due date on the same day every month. You can also change it online to to another day of the month if that's something you care about. Personally I just set up autopay from a brokerage account and never think about when anything is due. Why would it matter?

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#74

Post by paul7986 »

joshstrange wrote: post #72
paul7986 wrote: post #9

My recent experience with Apple has been anti-user .. juice their bottom line.... - iCloud storage notifications saying have to upgrade to $9.99 plan to continue to store my photos, videos and even worse if I wanted to continue getting my iCloud emails. What(?), as my Google Photos is still sucking/backing up all the same media (goes back to 2016) for free. LAME Apple especially threat of not getting my iCloud emails…

Google no longer offers unlimited photo backup and Apple Intelligence hasn’t been released yet…

As of today 18.1 Apple Intelligence was released. I was running the Apple Intelligence beta for the last month.

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#75

Post by joshstrange »

paul7986 wrote: post #74
joshstrange wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google no longer offers unlimited photo backup and Apple Intelligence hasn’t been released yet…

As of today 18.1 Apple Intelligence was released. I was running the Apple Intelligence beta for the last month.

18.1 has not been released, it will be released on Monday, October 28th and it will still not contain all the features they previewed (nor did the beta).

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#76

Post by fastball »

xyst wrote: post #48
mensetmanusman wrote: post #2

“ The regulator also said Apple and Goldman misled many consumers into believing they would automatically get interest-free monthly payments when buying Apple devices. Instead, those same customers were charged interest.” Interesting! Will they notify those charged interest?

Probably payment on GS backend was processed late even if customer initiated payment on the due date. So customer was charged interest. I was an early adopter of the AC during my Apple glazing days. Everybody has the same due date (end of month) and GS systems just could not handle the volume. I remember an auto payment taking a week to withdraw from my bank account and applied to account. I wasn’t charged interest a…

It actually sounds like some customers thought any Apple purchase would be eligible if they paid with their Apple Card, but that is not how it works – you actually need to choose the interest-free monthly installment option when buying the device.

A case of potentially misleading advertising, but also customers being dumb. I personally found the whole process quite clear with regards to how the interest-free installment plans work.

For example, that is not even an option if you try to buy an Apple device from an Apple Store outside of the US, even if you already have the Apple Card. You just get the max 3% cashback.

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#77

Post by themadturk »

_mlbt wrote: post #69
hirvi74 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used the service plenty of times now, and was never charged interest. I wonder what situations lead this to happen? I know one has to select the payment option when purchasing through Apple and not all items are eligible. Maybe people just assumed the payment plans would be automatically and didn't require selecting the option during checkout?

I believe if you fail to make the entire monthly payment by the end of the month you will be charged interest.

Also, you do need to explicitly specify you want to use the interest-free installment option when making the purchase. It's not automatic, even when buy an Apple product at an Apple Store.

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#78

Post by themadturk »

nonameiguess wrote: post #47
mrastro wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that every credit card? You pay your full balance on time it's essentially a delayed debit card because no interest is paid.

You don't have to pay the Apple card balance in full to pay no interest. You just have to make the payments on the agreed-upon schedule. You're effectively doing something like splitting a $1200 purchase into 12 $100 payments or whatever, rather than that plus interest. No credit card I'm aware of will do that for purchases in general, but presumably it's worth it for a card issued by the actual product vendor if it…

PayPal has an interest-free credit option, usually spread out over six months, as well. You don't always have to make a specific payment on the due date, but if you don't pay it off in six months then the whole amount of accrued interest is due.

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#79

Post by rootusrootus »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #65
rootusrootus wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC, the installment each month hits your card like any other charge. So maybe if you let it become part of your revolving balance at that point, you'll pay interest. It's been a while since I bought an Apple device that way, but I do think that's how it showed up. I always pay my card off each month so I never got to find out if the installment would be subject to interest if I didn't immediately pay it.

> So maybe if you let it become part of your revolving balance at that point, you'll pay interest. Another interpretation is that the credit card balance is charged interest but the monthly payments, which are paid using the card, do not have interest applied. Which sounds accurate and not necessarily misleading, though there's an argument to be made given they market the card so heavily. I think the confusion stems…

> making monthly payments with a credit line that also expects monthly payments

I agree, that is very likely where the confusion comes from. It would probably be better if they kept the billing separate even when it's on the same statement.

I hate to jump directly to assuming nefarious greedy corporation, but obscuring the monthly installment by paying it with the credit card does strike me as a deliberate choice. I guess CFPB agrees.

Re: Goldman and Apple 'illegally sidestepped' obligations to credit-card customers

#80

Post by _mlbt »

NavinF wrote: post #73
_mlbt wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cash back rewards is not, as far as I know, actually all that good in comparison to its competitors like American Express. There are definitely cards with better rewards, but few with such a straightforward and simple cash back program. Also, the rewards are not bad by any means. I also like the tight integration with the high yield savings account, which again is not the best rate possible, but makes up for it…

Most credit cards have the due date on the same day every month. You can also change it online to to another day of the month if that's something you care about. Personally I just set up autopay from a brokerage account and never think about when anything is due. Why would it matter?

It’s not a huge deal on its own but it’s part of the overall “user friendly” nature of the card as a whole. Having the whole balance be due at the end of the month just makes it easier for me to use it as my “daily driver” rewards credit card.
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