The Apple Pay Credit Cards are one impressive way to grab as much as rewards and cashback especially while using Apple Pay to make your payments. To properly utilize these benefits, one must know what Apple Pay Credit Cards are, how they work, who are they right for, what are its benefits, how to maximize the rewards, and so on. Here we are down to discussing all these to make payments easier with the Apple Pay Credit Card.
Apple Pay Credit Card
Another product from Apple Inc made available since August 2019, the Apple Card is another Mastercard with Goldman Sachs being the issuing bank. Although not a completely new product Apple claims to offer several rewards and a completely different user experience as it can be used as both a payment tool in mobiles as well as a physical card. Since the introduction of these cards, Apple has announced several benefits and rewards for its holders during new products and service releases. The variable APRs for the Apple Card would range between 19.24% and 29.49%.
Privacy And Security features
Apple Pay Credit Cards, being a payment tool should come with security features to avoid theft and mitigate the risk that might be caused by its loss. The Apple Card has all the same security protections as Apple Pay, which includes a unique device number locked in your Secure Element, Touch ID, Face ID, and tokenization of your transactions.
The raised privacy concerns were addressed by Goldman Sachs who said that the data won’t be sold to any third parties for any marketing or advertising purposes after Apple explicitly announced that they will not know the location from where the customer has shopped, the amount they have spent or what they have bought. For further security, the physical Apple Pay Credit Card that you might use in instances where Apple Pay doesn’t work doesn’t have the card number or CVV number printed on to it. One of the main security measures employed is real-time fraud protection. You can easily freeze your Card on losing it or if it gets stolen through the Wallet app.
Physical And Virtual Cards
The Apple Pay Credit Card is available both as a virtual card and as a physical card. The virtual card is built into the Wallet app on your iPhone which can be chosen while making virtual payments using Apple Pay.
Whereas the physical card is made of titanium and has no sensitive information such as card number, expiration date, signature, and so on for security reasons, says Apple. In order to request this physical card, initially your card application has to be approved after which you may request for the titanium card through the Wallet app. The Card is accepted all over the world with the Mastercard payment network.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Offers several higher cash rewards – the Apple Card lets you have “Daily Cash” which is their cash back policy on every purchase of around 1% to 3%.
- Provision to pay for Apple purchases in installments – this lets you make low payments each month and does not charge any interest.
- No fee implications – unlike other companies, Apple neither charges any interest nor cuts back on fees. This includes any form of annual fee, delayed payment fee, or fees for special instances like currency exchanges or foreign transactions.
- Easy integration with Apple Pay – The Card is designed to be used with Apple’s mobile payment app Apple Pay. This is extremely handy especially if you are already an Apple Pay user as you can access the card from Wallet to make payments in both in-store and online purchases using Apple Pay.
Cons
- Lower reward rates on not using Apple Pay – the Apple Card can be used to make payments not through Apple Pay. But in these instances, the cashback offered is a minimum of around 1%.
- Need for iPhone – for Apple Cards to work, you will need an iPhone with the latest iOS version running which is not applicable to Android users or the users of old iPhones that can’t be updated.
- Rewards through Apple Cash – if you wish to redeem your reward for something other than statement credit, then you have to use the Apple Cash Card account which can be set up through the Wallet app.
Rewards
The Daily Cash rewards by Apple can be in any of the following three tiers:
- 3% Daily Cash – these are rewarded for purchases made at Apple stores, App store, Apple website, and iTunes or when the card is used with Apple Pay in Walgreens, Panera Bread, Exxon Mobile, Nike, T-Mobile stores, Duane Reade, Uber and Uber Eats and Ace Hardware.
- 2% Daily Cash – these apply to all purchases using Apple Pay.
- 1% Daily Cash – these apply to any kind of payment made which even includes those outside of Apple Pay.
These rewards are credited to your Apple Cash Card with no limits to rewards that can be earned, and can be used up to:
- Pay for your Apple Card balance
- Purchase either in-store or online.
- Send money to family and friends.
- Transfer the cash rewards to a linked bank account.
The details regarding the amount you can redeem, your current balance, the daily cash collected so far, and so on can be viewed by opening the Wallet app and then clicking on the Apple Card.
How to Maximize Your Rewards
In order to maximize the benefits of Apple Card, you must use the basic logical strategy that bags almost all rewards. The key move is to use the Apple Card whenever the 3% cash back can be redeemed. That is, use an Apple Card to purchase any Apple products or services and keep renewing the subscriptions using the card. Also using the card with partner merchants like Walgreens, Uber, Nike, Exxon Mobile, Ace Hardware, etc can also get you the whole 3% daily cash.
Now focus on the 2% daily cash that can be redeemed for all payments made with Apple Pay anywhere.
Yet it is advisable to skip the usage of the Apple Pay Credit Cards where Apple Pay is not accepted as it does not necessarily bring any benefits.
Who are Apple Pay Credit Cards for?
The Apple Pay Card was preliminarily aimed at those belonging to the iPhone community who are already using Apple Pay. Yet the card can be used by anybody with a wallet app and an Apple Cash Card account. The cash-back policy offered is extremely rewarding for Apple brand lovers who are keen to buy almost everything by or from Apple. Also, the Card can be best for those who regularly make payments through their phones. Apple does make the management of your payments organized through these tools in addition to charging no fee or interests and therefore making the Apple Card a convincing choice for the users.
Apple Card Family
The Apple Card Family is a new feature that lets you share your Apple card with a maximum of five people in your family group. Each of these members can have their own individual cards with their own credit limit and spending history. This feature lets you control the expenditure of your family, especially your children by setting spending limits and getting notified when the cards are being used. This therefore lets you share and coordinate the expenses of your family very easily.
Features
Let us take a look at the various features of Apple Pay Credit Card:
- Due date reminders
- Chat assistance for customers
- Monthly billing summaries
- Spending tracking
- Transparent fees
- Two-factor authentication
- Smart payment features and interest calculator
- Maps can be used to precisely mark the location of spending.
Alternatives
The Apple Card isn’t the only one in the market that offers similar features. The various other Credit card alternatives that you might choose other than Apple Card with their regular APR, annual fee, and reward earning rate are as follows:
| Credit Card | Regular APR | Annual Fee | Reward Earning Rate |
| Evergreen by FNBO | 21.24%-29.24% | $0 | Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase |
| Citi Custom Cash Card | 19.24%-29.24% | $0 | 5 points earned per $1 spent on purchases of up to the first $500 spent. 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. |
| Wells Fargo Active Cash Card | 20.24%-29.99% | $0 | 2% cash reward for every $1 spent in net purchases on the credit card. |
| Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card | 19.99%-29.99% | $0 | 1.5% cashback on every purchase. |
| Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card | 19.99%-29.99% | $0 | 1% cashback on all purchases 3% cashback on dining, entertainment, streaming services, and grocery stores except those like Walmart and Target. |
| HSBC Cash Rewards Mastercard | 13.99%-23.99% | $0 | 3% cashback on $10,000 in purchases during the first 12 months since opening the account. 1.5% cashback thereafter |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited | 20.49%-29.24% | $0 | 5% rewards on travel purchases 3% rewards on dining and restaurants. 3% on purchases at drugstore. 1.5% on all other purchases. |
| Discover it Miles | 17.24%-28.24% | $0 | Unlimited 1.5 miles for each dollar spent |
| Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card | 14.49%-24.99% | $0 | 1.5% cash rewards on purchases every day. |
Fees
Although there are no fees incurred from users, your unpaid balance will definitely be continually charged at APR (Annual Percentage Rate), which generally ranges from 19.24% to 29.49%.
Conclusion
Therefore in general the Apple Credit Card is similar to other credit card options in the market. But this doesn’t stand to be the replacement for a mainstream credit or debit card, instead is another option to have on your Wallet app. This can be of significant use while making purchases from Apple or while using Apple Pay. Since there are no annual fees or any other kinds of fees and no prolonged impact on one’s credit score, there is literally no reason not to have an Apple Credit Card. Yet its use for non-Apple users or an Android holder has not been explained by the company.
Also Read: Journey of Apple Inc. (AAPL) Stock: From Cupertino Innovation to Global Investment [#1] in 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the credit limit on the Apple Card?
The credit limit on your Apple card will be determined based on the information that you provided in the application.
Who qualifies for the Apple Card?
You can qualify for the Apple Card if you are a U.S. citizen/resident of at least 18 years of age and have an Apple ID associated with an iCloud account. However, your eligibility will further depend on your credit history and other personal information.
Does applying for an Apple Card hurt your credit score?
The preapproval feature offered by Apple Card lets you see if you qualify for the card without attacking your credit score. But if you proceed with the application, there will be hard credit inquiry that can although temporarily, lower your score.
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