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Comment by tidepod12 | Hacker News Reader

I get not wanting to have to "activate" each quarter's deals (though really, it's literally a single button push once every three months...), but I don't get your point on any of the other stuff.

Both AmEx and Chase have multiple cards that earn points that have no annual fees. Both of their point programs can be redeemed for straight cash back (just like the Apple Card, except Chase's offers better cash back percentage). And both can easily be added to Apple/Google Pay and be used just like you will use an Apple Card.

It's not so much criticism of the card as much as it is criticism of people who are for some reason hyped up about it. Like most Apple stuff, there are always a weird group of people obsessing over it and will go to strange lengths to defend it. This is weird, because, as you said, it's just a credit card. It would be less weird if it was at least a good credit card that people were defending, but it's not even that.

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What's exciting about Apple Card is not that it will put more money in my pocket, but how it modernizes payments. I signed up yesterday morning, and made my first purchase a few hours later. Unlike my current card, the app doesn't try to push "special offers" and I think it won't share my purchase history with "affiliates." I can see my purchase on a map, and Apple can't - nice.

It's a pretty cool experience and I hope Apple Card sets a new baseline.

Honest question - why anybody would want her purchases on the map?

If see a transaction you don't recognise. By looking at it on a map it may remind you of that small shop you bought something from. Or it might be in a town you've never been to.

I'm not likely to grab this card, but every few months going back over my statement I see some small purchase I can't quite place. The text description for stores is often really vague, especially for gas stations.

Confirming where a purchase was made can help with budgeting and detecting fraud.

Maybe you forgot which store had a product you ultimately bought and liked?

I used to use Simple bank and they did this as well. One time I was at my desk and got a notification for a purchase at a Grocery store that sounded unfamiliar. Opening the notification took me into the detail page that showed it was located in Florida. I then put a block on my card and notified support of the fraudulent transaction all through the app within 2 minutes.

I've since switched banks, but I still haven't found a bank that had as good of an experience as them. Hearing about the Apple cards digital experience is actually enticing, because both of the credit cards I use are slow as hell, or make using rewards difficult in some way (one card makes me 'activate' the reward tiers for the 3 month period, the other takes you out of the app to an external page to use any rewards).

Reliving a vacation

> I can see my purchase on a map, and Apple can't - nice.

Why on earth would you think Apple can't see where your purchases were?

Big ol’ block of text on the product page. https://www.apple.com/apple-card/privacy-security/

> Even Apple doesn’t know what you bought. Or where. Or how much you paid.

> At Apple, we firmly believe in your right to privacy. That’s why we created a unique architecture for Apple Card that generates things like your transaction history and spending summaries right in the Wallet app on your iPhone. Of course, Goldman Sachs will use your data to operate Apple Card. But they will never share or sell your data to third parties for marketing or advertising.

Ahhh, ok. Apple can't, but Goldman Sachs can.

> it modernizes payments

Payment does not need modernizing. The more 'deals' and 'convenience' they introduce, the more complicated paying becomes overall. This complexity makes it for you, the consumer, more difficult to determine the actual value of the thing is you are purchasing, makes it more difficult to figure out whether you want to support the business processes that go with it.

Do the points and rewards for this transaction manipulate you in an unacceptable way into buying other things later on? Does Apple really care that much about your privacy, or will they use this information in a way that you don't like? Do you think that them having almost absolute say over what happens on your phone is a good thing or a bad thing and will this purchase endorse that or not?

You can have all kinds of answers to those questions, but do you really want to go through all of them when you buy an album on iTunes? Just keep it simple. You have this good/service and I want it. I give you money, you give me the thing. End of story.

I'm confused, the point being made is that the Apple Card modernises payments by getting rid of all the points schemes, special offers and back room deals over your data.

When I came to the comments section there was no one hyping the card but already several folks critiquing it.

My other comments were directed not at other comparable cards but at folks critiquing the card for not having the best benefits. I only know of two cards offhand that are straight 2% cash back on everything with no annual fee and no gimmicks, the Fidelity Visa Signature which requires a fidelity brokerage account and the Citi DoubleCash card. And both of those cash back at the billing cycle end, not daily.

The other cards which offer points, you’ve got to go do something to turn the points into cash or redeem the points in some other way. I get that you don’t think this is much hassle. But for some folks it is. For them, there’s this card.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks.

Does the daily cashback make a practical difference? It feels gimmicky to me.

For anyone considering this card I'd suggest that they compare it to a 2% card like the DoubleCash and the Uber card. Depending on your spending habits one may be significantly better than the others.

> which requires a fidelity brokerage account

Consider there's no fees or minimums associated with a Fidelity brokerage account and you're already entering a business relationship with Fidelity anyway.

There's also the PayPal Mastercard, which requires a PayPal account.

Has anyone ever told you that you use the work "folks" a lot? Is that a regional thing because I've never seen it used that much to be honest?

How can you get a better cash back percentage and no fees with Chase?

The Chase Freedom Unlimited is 3% back on all purchases (up to $20k/yr), and if you're willing to play the categories game, the Chase Freedom is 5% back.

>The Chase Freedom Unlimited is 3% back on all purchases

...For the first year only... and the 3% promo eliminated the signup bonus.

Discover It Miles is also 3% cash back the first year.

Note that Chase Freedom cards have a foreign transaction fee though if that matters to you.

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