Apple today launched a new Apple Card program and website that are designed to help people who have their Apple Card applications declined improve their credit to qualify, reports TechCrunch.
Starting today, declined Apple Card applicants will begin seeing emails that offer the Path to Apple Card program, which is opt-in and can run for four months. It uses the information from the initial Apple Card credit application to provide people with details on why they were declined as well as suggestions on how to improve financial markers that could help them get approved next time.
Examples of suggestions include resolving past due balances, making payments to secured and unsecured debt accounts on time, and lowering credit card and personal loan debt. Apple will send out a once-a-month update on progress toward improvement.
When a customer has completed the program, Apple invites them to reapply for the Apple Card. Apple has also launched a website that has specific details on how the Goldman Sachs approval process works and how people can boost their chances of approval before applying.
As TechCrunch points out, the suggestions that Apple offers are obvious to those with knowledge of how credit works, but there are many people who do not have a strong grasp on the factors that can impact credit worthiness, and Apple's program could help these people.
When it comes to privacy, Apple knows whether a person has chosen to participate in the program, but it does not store personally identifiable information or know details about participants' financial situation. Goldman Sachs does not share the information with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.
Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website.
Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50.
We have outlined some examples below:
Device
New Value
Old Value
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Up to $630
U ...
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device.
Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by Juli Clover
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by Joe Rossignol
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year.
Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report.
The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader.
Vapor chamber technology is already used...
I think this should be taught at school. Most people don't have the discipline or even understanding what debt actually means so we constantly see people buying stuff on their CC because they feel its like they 'have' the money only to later see them struggling with payments etc. Its hard to resist the temptation when we have this plastic thing that can buy us anything and we face the consequences after a while. It makes us feel as those two things are not connected and often people don't learn from this and keep doing the destructive behaviour their whole life. Reducing quality of life as the struggle is a burden on their everyday life. I feel that CC was the worst financial invention. I think its safe to say that without it most people would be better off and have a better quality of life. So yeah, this should be taught at school as a 'life skill'. Along with cooking, taxes etc. I think most people would appreciate it :)
" As TechCrunch points out, the suggestions that Apple offers are obvious to those with knowledge of how credit works, but there are many people who do not have a strong grasp on the factors that can impact credit worthiness, and Apple's program could help these people."
Only if people actually change their behavior for good.
I think this should be taught at school. Most people don't have the discipline or even understanding what debt actually means so we constantly see people buying stuff on their CC because they feel its like they 'have' the money only to later see them struggling with payments etc. Its hard to resist the temptation when we have this plastic thing that can buy us anything and we face the consequences after a while. It makes us feel as those two things are not connected and often people don't learn from this and keep doing the destructive behaviour their whole life. Reducing quality of life as the struggle is a burden on their everyday life. I feel that CC was the worst financial invention. I think its safe to say that without it most people would be better off and have a better quality of life. So yeah, this should be taught at school as a 'life skill'. Along with cooking, taxes etc. I think most people would appreciate it :)
I agree. It should also be taught by qualified people and not coaches than need to fill a requirement to be employed. Both my sons took personal finance in high school and neither learned anything related. The class was taught by the football coach and unless you wanted to talk sports my boys said the class was like a study hall. They literally slept or did work from other classes. My wife and I are taking up the slack and teaching them about it.
As a European it's also hard to understand for me that Americans pay for so much stuff with credit cards (in other words: money that you don't have) and just apply for a new one as soon as the old one is maxed out (correct me if I'm wrong about this though). If I want to have something I save up for it and then buy it when I'm actually able to pay for it.
I'm the type of person that credit card companies hate... I pay my bills in full every month while I rack up the cashback for making use of the card.
If I can buy something on the card, it goes on the card... I just don't let it get away from me.
