Apple yesterday quietly removed all mentions of PayPal Credit from its U.S. Online Store, signaling its decision to stop allowing customers to use PayPal Credit payment plans for purchases in the United States.
On the financing section of its website, where customers can get information about their payment options, Apple is now only offering financing through Barclaycard Visa, which allows users to make payments over 6 to 18 months depending on purchase price.
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The previous PayPal Credit option allowed customers to choose 6, 12, 18, or 24 month payment plans with a fixed APR of 12.99%, while the Barclaycard Visa maxes out at 18 months with an APR of 13.99%, 19.99% or 26.99% depending on credit.
Apple is continuing to offer rewards to customers who buy with the Barclaycard Visa, with customers earning 3 points for every $1 spent at the Apple Store, 2 points for every $1 spent at restaurants, and 1 point on all other purchases. 2,500 points can be redeemed for Apple Store or iTunes gift cards.
Apple first began promoting PayPay Credit payment methods in December of 2014, which is when the company also began allowing customers to buy items using PayPal as a payment method. While Apple is no longer allowing customers to use PayPal Credit options to make purchases, it does still accept PayPal payments for purchases made from its online store and from its iOS app.
PayPal Credit is still available in the U.K., and it is not clear if Apple plans to drop support in other countries as well.
Top Rated Comments
PayPal Credit would list a cheap rate on the Apple web site (something like no interest for 12 months and 12% after that), then when you got deep deep deep into the sign-up process, only if you clicked a tiny "more" disclosure button would you see that you were actually getting shafted with an entirely different interest rate and no free interest period.
It's so bad that you could actually display both of the rates on the same page, the lower one in big letters at the top, and the real rate at the bottom in tiny print. I sent a PDF of this to Apple.
When I called PayPal about it, the woman on the phone said there was nothing to be done, you have to pay the higher rate no matter what PayPal advertises on the Apple web site. When I went through the formal complaint appeals process my "claim" was "rejected" with no explanation.
I've been a PayPal customer for well over a decade. PayPal Credit isn't PayPal. it's a bank out of Atlanta. Maybe it's just licensed the name. I dunno.
Even today if you click the "view statement" link in the PayPal Credit section of your PayPal account it takes you to a redirect page that sends you back to the main PayPal page. There is no way to view your statement online. Smells very scammy to me.
I use PayPal only if I am forced to use it due to no other options .... somehow never was a fan of it.