Apple and Goldman Sachs Fined Millions For Misleading Apple Card Holders 23
Goldman Sachs and Apple will pay $89 million in penalties and customer refunds over widespread service failures and deceptive practices in their joint Apple Card venture, U.S. consumer watchdog CFPB said on Wednesday.
The agency found Goldman mishandled credit card disputes while Apple failed to forward thousands of customer complaints. Both companies deceived users about interest-free payment plans for Apple devices, affecting hundreds of thousands of cardholders since the card's 2019 launch. Goldman must pay $64.8 million in fines and refunds, while Apple faces a $25 million penalty. The bank is now barred from issuing new credit cards without regulatory approval.
The agency found Goldman mishandled credit card disputes while Apple failed to forward thousands of customer complaints. Both companies deceived users about interest-free payment plans for Apple devices, affecting hundreds of thousands of cardholders since the card's 2019 launch. Goldman must pay $64.8 million in fines and refunds, while Apple faces a $25 million penalty. The bank is now barred from issuing new credit cards without regulatory approval.
Shocked (Score:4, Funny)
You mean to say that a private business with no experience running a credit service teaming up with an investment bank, rather than an actual, normal bank, that has no experience in handling normal consumers...was a disaster of an idea?!
Re: (Score:2)
By the way, this kind of consumer protection is likely to be a thing of the past come January. We'll all have to start getting used to a more predatory environment.
Re: (Score:3)
We'll all have to start getting used to a more predatory environment.
I refuse.
Re:Shocked (Score:5, Insightful)
"Disaster"? There's a problem that they definitely need to be penalized for, yes, but AppleCard is pretty successful. It's hard to see how the term "Disaster" applies.
You launch a product that literally results in the regulator fining all parties involved.
Your main partner is barred from producing the product going forward without strict regulatory oversight.
Your product while it has an impressive number is a small fraction of the target and completely insignificant in market share with penetration rate of just 18% in your own customer base (miserable numbers by Apple standards).
Your main banking partner reported an overall net loss every year from this product.
The product resulted in the critical partnership required to maintain it ending, with your main banking partner declaring an exit in January. It's now October and you've not found a new partner to continue your product.
Only a couple of those points would be enough to consider this a "disaster". Honestly that word is too soft. This product launch was a frigging catastrophe.
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No. They simply had a bit of a snafu.
This isn't a snafu.
Your opinion on the matter is rather null and void anyway, because you
have around 12 credit cards.
Re: (Score:1)
As with all things financial, if it sounds too good to be true then it's probably a scam. Even if it's a brand like Apple.
So will the victims see any of the money they were fined?
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You mean to say that a private business with no experience running a credit service teaming up with an investment bank, rather than an actual, normal bank, that has no experience in handling normal consumers...was a disaster of an idea?!
Pretty sure the retail banks all saw this was a shitty deal and turned Apple down... and American retail banks love co-branding. How many branded cards do you think the average American has, at least one branded airline cards (gotta get those worthless points that expire), store cards, Amazon cards... Hell I'm surprised McDonalds hasn't released a co-branded card.
Outside of the aesthetics (Score:2)
But toe to toe with other, better established and run companies yeah, they're going to come up way, _way_ short.
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And yet, they are the most highly valued company on the planet.
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Really?
My last laptop was a MacBook pro with boot camp because of the hardware (it was the first gen retina display, it was a few years before anything else like it came out).
I currently use a MacBook pro and kept the OS this time since I've gotten used to their BSD environment.
Their phones pretty consistently seem pretty great too, but I use android since I like the whatever they call apps for your domain now and assume it integrates better with Android.
Goldman Sachs is losing their shirts on (Score:3)
Apple card deal. They may be master of the universe in their lane of financial industry, but they sucks at making money at retail credit card.
Uhh... so (Score:2)
A previously hidden reason? (Score:2)
Should lose ALL profits, and then add the penalty. (Score:2, Insightful)
Why be 'good' when you can just claim you're sorry and pocket the extra profits? I hate this world.
Slap on the wrist. (Score:1)
Apple should pull the plug (Score:3)
They should pull the plug before this damages their reputation. Apple banks on their solid reputation. “financial mismanagement of customer money” is NOT a good look. Apple card was a good idea, but it’s just not something they did well. They should file it in the same cabinet where they’re keeping Apple car.