Apple has taken another major step in the direction of conquering the world of digital wallets and payments.
What started with the introduction of Apple Pay and followed with replacing metro tickets with digital transit cards, and initiating digital student ID cards, the journey has now turned towards the successful launch of its own Credit card.
The brand announced its own credit card back in March. A product of the mix of a sleek and responsive design and a myriad of features to enjoy on devices running iOS 12.4, Apple Card is now ready for use.
The features are currently available to limited users only – those users can get access to Apple Card who have been invited via email by the brand. However, it will be made available to all Apple users by this summer. Let’s look into the probable features Apple Credit Card will be launched with.
13 Apple Credit Card Features You Can’t Turn Back On
1. Availability on Multiple Platforms
Unlike previous digital payment services that were confined to iPhones, Apple Credit Card will be accessible on iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch as well.
The details of Apple card will be made available under the ‘Wallet and Apple Pay’ section of the Settings app in the case of an iPad. Whereas, in the case of Apple Watch, the card will be accessible by double-pressing on the side button.
And when it comes to Mac devices, Apple Card could get added by tapping on ‘System Preferences, choosing ‘Wallet & Apple Pay’, and clicking on the ‘+’ button – provided you have a TouchID to turn on the ‘Allow Payments’ feature.
2. Quick Sign Up
The Apple Pay card pulls out most of the data from users’ Apple ID. Meaning, users need not go through the lengthy and cumbersome process of signing up.
Also, the Apple Credit Card – unlike other credit cards – will not ask for in-depth information about them.
This altogether will cut down the setup process by a couple of minutes.
3. Variable Credit Limits
Another interesting thing about Apple Credit Card is that it does not offer a fixed credit limit to all. The limit varies from one individual to another depending on their credit score. That means, someone with a better credit score will enjoy a higher credit limit when compared to the one suffering from poor credit score.
4. Significant Interest Rates
Apple Card has announced to offer an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) ranging between 12.99 percent and 23.99 percent on the basis of users’ credit score – a range that will make it approachable to even those with less than the standard credit score.
While this is somewhat higher than what offered by other credit cards, it is expected to be kept higher to encourage users to pay off their bills quickly to prevent interest fees. Besides, they also unveiled that the range would change once more users embrace the platform, which implies that this won’t be a minus point of the credit card.
5. No Fees
As shared by the Apple experts, there will be no annual, late payment, international, or any other fees for exceeding credit limit associated with the card. However, in case someone misses any payment or pay late, the credit score will be affected.
Likewise, there will be no international transaction fees besides the exchange rate determined by Mastermind.
6. Option to Make Non-Apple Payments
Unlike Apple Pay that found its place in the list of most used mobile payment apps, Apple Credit card will let users make non-apple payments also.
As shared by Apple team, they have partnered with Mastercard, in addition to Goldman Sachs, to make physical titanium Apple card acceptable wherever Mastercard is used.
7. Freedom to Schedule Payments
Apple Credit Card is also coming up with an option to schedule your billing and transactions. Now, users will be able to pay their bills weekly, biweekly and monthly, along with making one-time payments. They need not clear all their balance by the end of the month.
8. Ease of Tracking Spending and Budget
The Apple Card will also help users keep track of their spending.
It will introduce different color-coded categories for shopping, entertainment, food and drinks, and other expenses and provide them with a weekly and monthly spending summary to give users a clear idea of what expense is making a hole in their pockets.
9. Clear Transaction Labeling
In addition to offering color-coded spending tracking, Apple’s Credit Card will also let users look into their total balance summary along with that of the previous month. This will help users in comparing the two values and see what new spendings have been added to the month.
And the best part is that Apple has integrated Machine learning in its app to ensure that every transaction is listed with associated merchant name and location to help users remember what they purchased and where.
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10. Earn a Daily Cashback
Apple, with the motive to engage a wider audience and encourage them to use this credit card, has also introduced an impressive cashback scheme.
Under the scheme, users will get a cashback of 3 percent on Apple purchase, 2 percent on Apple Pay purchase, and 1 percent on anything purchased via their physical card. Besides, the cashback associated with every transaction will be displayed on the screen when making a purchase using the Wallet app.
What’s exciting is that the cashback will be delivered to users on a daily basis. Unlike other banks and financial organizations that credit earned cashback as per their billing cycle, Apple will credit the amount to ‘Apple Pay Cash Credit’ every evening, which can then be transferred to a bank or used with Apple Pay Cash.
11. Purchase Notifications
As already seen in the case of cards added to Apple Pay, the newly launched credit card will also send an instant notification on linked devices. This will make it easier for users to know about any unnoticed charge and even flag any fraudulent purchase using the built-in tools.
12. Better Privacy and Security Services
Apple, keeping its core focus on delivering a secure experience to their consumers, has also worked on privacy and security factors.
When focusing on privacy factor, they have introduced some constraints that make Apple card data available only to Goldman Sachs who will be approving/declining users’ purchases. Meaning, no third party or advertising agency will be able to access the card data and misuse it.
The tech giant has also made it certain that the original card number won’t appear on the card. Also, they have provided users with an option to freeze or remove the card from their payment methods by logging into iCloud in case the card or associated iOS device is lost/stolen and get another one issued.
13. Quick Support
Users can tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner of the card interface in Wallet to get support from the experts on the web, via phone, or on chat.
The support service will be offered directly by the reps of Goldman Sachs who have been trained with the latest Apple technologies and tools.
While these are the announcements made in respect to Apple Credit Card so far, it has also been disclosed that more refined features and functionalities will be added in the future. And in this way, the users will be delivered an enhanced ‘financially-sound’ user experience when the Apple Credit Card will be made available to all this summer.
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