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Apple

Apple Launches Apple Card's Savings Accounts With 4.15% Interest Rate (techcrunch.com) 47

Posted by msmash from the further-expansion dept.
Apple Card customers in the U.S. can open a savings account and earn interests starting today. When the company originally announced the new financial product back in October, Apple said that it couldn't share what interest rate would be paid out on these accounts because rates are fluctuating so much these days. From a report: As of today, Apple is going to offer an APY of 4.15%. It looks like a competitive offering when you look at data from Bankrate -- you can currently find savings accounts that offer an APY of 3.5% to 4.75%. The company isn't making any promise when it comes to future interest rates. It could go up and down at any time. Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs once again for the banking feature. Savings accounts are technically managed by Goldman Sachs, which means that balances are covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This high-yield savings account has been created specifically for Apple Card customers. When customers pay with their Apple Card, they get cash back on all purchases. By default, all purchases grant you 1% in cash rewards and 2% for all purchases made using Apple Pay. Purchases with select merchants unlock 3% in rewards.
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Apple Launches Apple Card's Savings Accounts With 4.15% Interest Rate More

Apple Launches Apple Card's Savings Accounts With 4.15% Interest Rate

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  • What's the catch?

    Being a big data company, I imagine Apple's angle is monetizing the shit out of your Apple credit card usage data.

    • Re:TANSTAAFL (Score:5, Interesting)

      by alispguru ( 72689 ) <bob.bane@me.PLANCKcom minus physicist> on Monday April 17, 2023 @12:38PM (#63456556) Journal

      Unless Apple is blatantly lying in their support documents [apple.com], they are not monetizing your Apple Pay transactions:

      Apple doesn't retain any transaction information that can be tied back to you—your transactions stay between you, the merchant or developer, and your bank or card issuer.

    • 4.15% is below what you could get for an FDIC insured high-yield savings account right now. So the catch is that you accept a lower rate on your savings than you could get elsewhere because you either just like Apple or find it convenient to store your money with them.

      • 4.15% is below what you could get for an FDIC insured high-yield savings account right now. So the catch is that you accept a lower rate on your savings than you could get elsewhere because you either just like Apple or find it convenient to store your money with them.

        It's frictionless. That's worth something to me. The daily cash back getting automatically swept each night into an interest-bearing account is a better outcome than the monthly accumulation of redeemable points on my other cards.

      • "Elsewhere" being some sketchy internet bank with no phone number or address.

        • "Elsewhere" being some sketchy internet bank with no phone number or address.

          Exactly what my recent research has shown. 4.70, 5.02 sound great; until you start doing due diligence!

      • Most of those accounts require a high rolling balance. My savings account is not giving me 4.15%

      • Re:TANSTAAFL (Score:4, Interesting)

        by BishopBerkeley ( 734647 ) on Monday April 17, 2023 @07:50PM (#63457700) Journal
        No it's not. Marcus, Goldman Sachs' high earning savings account, pays 3.9%, and it's the highest by any major bank. One has to go through a contortion to sign up with the smaller banks that offer more than 4%. Given that it took me 20 seconds to sign up this morning, it's a no brainer. Plus, it's 4% on the Apple credit card cash incentive. For most people, that will be 4% on maybe a $100 a year. It can add up long term, though, and nobody else's cash back offer earns interest. It's a huge differentiator. And, for most people who bank with BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, etc. who earn 0.2 % on their savings, there is incentive to move money into this account. This has the potential to be huge.

        • This is 100% accurate for me.

          My local credit union has a 0.416% interest savings account.

          Apple is now offering something that is 10x better and took me 15 seconds to setup and transfer funds.

          Thatâ(TM)s big.

          I use Apple Card for everything I can, so far this past full year Iâ(TM)ve received just under $750. All of that previously went to paying off the balance. Now it will get deposited into savings and earn interest! Automatically!!

        • No it's not. Marcus, Goldman Sachs' high earning savings account, pays 3.9%, and it's the highest by any major bank. One has to go through a contortion to sign up with the smaller banks that offer more than 4%. Given that it took me 20 seconds to sign up this morning, it's a no brainer.

          Plus, it's 4% on the Apple credit card cash incentive. For most people, that will be 4% on maybe a $100 a year. It can add up long term, though, and nobody else's cash back offer earns interest. It's a huge differentiator. And, for most people who bank with BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase, etc. who earn 0.2 % on their savings, there is incentive to move money into this account. This has the potential to be huge.

          Precisely.

      • 4.15% is below what you could get for an FDIC insured high-yield savings account right now. So the catch is that you accept a lower rate on your savings than you could get elsewhere because you either just like Apple or find it convenient to store your money with them.

        There are a few that are higher; but if you start digging, it is either pulling teeth or slow as fuck to get your money out, or the "bank" is owned by somebody who is owned by somebody that is owned by somebody that has a string of complaints a mile long.

        I've been looking into this for over a month, now; heck, I even thought I'd done my research and opened up one in a well-known financial institution with a 4.55% APR, until I tried to put money into the account(!!!), and this looks like a pretty good compro

    • Not that they are...but I couldn't care less if they were. For that matter, I couldn't care less if any credit card company is "monetizing" data about my credit card use. Why would I?

    • Being a big data company, I imagine Apple's angle is monetizing the shit out of your Apple credit card usage data.

      Out of curiosity, do you use an Android smart phone?

    • It's an incentive to stay within the apple ecosystem. That's the "catch". In principle, one can get the Apple credit card and savings account without an iPhone, but it's so much easier to get both with an iPhone. It took me all of 20 seconds to open the savings account this morning. Apple is truly reinventing banking, provided one has a good credit score.

  • The transition is complete (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TwistedGreen ( 80055 ) on Monday April 17, 2023 @12:30PM (#63456526)

    It's official, Apple is now a financial services company.

    • Stranger things have happened. Like an online book seller selling cloud services or a musty-smelling mediocre OS maker suddenly becoming the hottest turd in the field of AI.

      • General Electric also got into banking with GE Capital, and it almost bankrupted them during the 2008 financial crisis. I guess that offering mortgage insurance on all of those subprime loans wasn't such a good idea after all.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by misexistentialist ( 1537887 )
          Apple is really just selling the logo to Goldman Sachs, which has already lost more than a billion [9to5mac.com] dollars offering the Apple credit card. The Federal Reserve providing no-strings-attached free insurance is of course a great idea idea.

          • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward

            The Federal Reserve providing no-strings-attached free insurance is of course a great idea idea.

            It's not free. Banks pay into that.

          • Apple is really just selling the logo to Goldman Sachs, which has already lost more than a billion [9to5mac.com] dollars offering the Apple credit card. The Federal Reserve providing no-strings-attached free insurance is of course a great idea idea.

            I'm not worried.

            Considering FDIC insurance and Goldman Sachs being "too big to fail" (seriously), there is like -1000% chance that your money (at least up to $250k) is going to suddenly evaporate.

        • Apple is just reselling whatever service that Goldman Sachs is offering.

          As I understand GS has been losing a bunch of money with the ApplePay thing. Wonder if GS will make or go even bigger on the negative with this.

          Anyway the summary states the FDIC coverage is thru GS, so doubt Apple actually has any of the required licences / permissions to provide financial services directly.

          At least not yet. They can always buy a bank in the future, rename it to Apple Bank. Wonder if the fanboys will rush to that bank.

      • Amazing how many people just can't comprehend the digital intelligence thing. Haha. Well, they will learn the truth soon enough.
    • Makes sense, youâ(TM)ve needed a mortgage to buy their computers and phones for quite some time.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

      > It's official, Apple is now a financial services company.

      I thought they were a fashion company specializing in tech?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Well, Goldman Sachs is. Apple is just slapping their branding on a product they helped develop with GS but they are not the actual financial services company.
  • US Treasury Ibonds are paying almost 7% https://www.treasurydirect.gov... [treasurydirect.gov] Why would I would park money at a company that can change their mind tomorrow?
  • The one topic above saying that Apple is a financial services company misses the point. Apple is simply making the iPhone the ideal platform for everything. It is showing companies how their businesses can be simplified. Airlines and online retailers certainly understood this, but banks did not, so Apple is showing banks how the iPhone can reconfigure their entire business. I was skeptical about the Apple credit card, but I confess that I find the way it works to be absolutely irresistible. I didn't hesitat

    • The biggest one from my point of view is the card's monthly statement.

      For the fossils among us who track purchases in Banktivity, the statement is a mess - old and new balances are poorly labeled, and charges vs. installments vs. refunds vs. apple cash vs. apple cash refunds are a rat's nest.

      I bought and returned a Mac Studio across an Apple Card statement boundary(*), and I'm STILL not sure the transactions were unwound properly.

      (*) L O N G story - bought a Mac Studio last summer, fought with Apple Care fo

  • I get 4.3% at Wealthfront.

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