Applying for an Apple Card? It’s Incredibly Easy to Do.

Today while I was visiting a relative I thought I’d check my email, and lo and behold, there was an invitation to apply for the new Apple Card. Now, I need another credit card like I need to have brain surgery, but since I used to have one of the old Apple Credit Cards in the 1980s, I figured I’d carry on the tradition with the new card. The process of applying for it is typical “Apple easy”, and that’s what this article will show you.

At this point, Apple is sending out invitations to those people who expressed an interest in getting the new card. In the future, anyone with an iPhone will be able to apply from Apple Wallet. The invitation email looks like these two side-by-side screenshots:

You must be running iOS 12.4 or better, and you can either tap the “Apply Now” button or go to the Wallet app, tap +, and then tap Continue. At that point, the splash screen seen below appears:

Upon tapping Continue, you’re asked to enter your Apple ID email address and password, verify your name, birth date, home address and contact phone number, then enter the last 4 digits of your social security number. You’ll also be asked for your estimated annual income.

One of the benefits of the Apple Card is that you should get approval almost immediately if you have a good credit rating, and begin to use the “virtual card” in your Wallet once the approval comes through. However, note that if you have a lock on your credit for security reasons, you’ll need to wait for a call from someone at Goldman Sachs Bank USA to validate your account. I have such a lock due to an identity theft incident in the past, so as of yet I can’t use the card.

The application process takes no time at all since most of the information required is already attached to your Apple ID and you simply need to validate that it is current and correct. I finished the process in about two minutes on my iPhone while having a conversation with another person.

What are the benefits of the Apple Card? First, and I love this, there’s no annual fee. Each transaction generates a cashback reward called “Daily Cash” that varies depending on the item purchased, and that cash shows up as a positive balance on your Apple Cash card. That money can be accumulated, then spent just like cash.

The Apple Card also has an innovative support mechanism — just send a message and you get an immediate answer. One example Apple uses is texting a new home address to the support team, and getting immediate verification that the account address has been changed.

Eventually, each Apple Card user is also sent a titanium card for use where Apple Pay is not accepted. That card has no number on it, another security feature that’s quite unique. Apple has a full web page explaining the Apple Card and its benefits.

I’ll update this post once I’ve been approved to let Rocket Yard readers know how the card works.

Update

Less than two hours after applying, I received a call from “Apple Card Support” (most likely someone at Goldman Sachs) for the credit check validation. That took about a minute, and shortly thereafter the card was live with a decently large credit line. The titanium card is something each user needs to request; it is not sent by default as I stated earlier. Apple also sends an informative email (see below):

The Wallet app contains the Apple Card, and as you make purchases it appears to turn different colors. Mine is blank as I only have a $1 pending purchase on it right now. Those colors are used in another way, to let you know how you’re spending your money. In the app, you can also do things like changing your billing address, allow notifications of transactions (a good idea), make the card your default for App Store, Apple Music, and Apple services, and set up a bank account for automatic payments.

Another great security feature? If at any time you think your card has been compromised, you can request a new card number. Since the Apple Card account is essentially virtual and the titanium card doesn’t have the card number on it, you can change the card number very quickly.

All in all, I was very happy with the Apple Card process. The company is expected to continue this early rollout for a month or so before opening applications to everyone

Other Topics You Might Like:

Apple Card Now Available to iPhone Owners in the U.S. “It’s Show Time” – A Deeper Look Into Today’s Apple Event Top Five Announcements from the WWDC 2017 Keynote Friday Five: Apple Pay is Easy to Use, Very Secure and Surprisingly Fun