I’ve been using credit cards for a long time, and the experience has always been unpleasurable. I usually stay in control and never slip too far into debt, but the cards are still a source of stress. A few months ago I decided to stop using them completely. Points and rewards are nice, but constant worry is not. It never feels good to owe money, and the latency between when you spend money with a credit card and when you’re supposed to pay it is endlessly irritating. I thought I was finished with credit cards, and then I tried Apple Card.
The hook that drew me in was Apple’s Daily Cash. When you buy something with Apple Card, the very next day you get paid back. Plus, you get 3% when you buy stuff from Apple, and my four-year-old iPhone 6S and my wife’s five-year-old iPhone 6 are both due for updating. That’s a free $50 right there. I had to sign up.
Let’s wind the clock back a few years. In the past I used a credit card from a specific airline that would slowly gain points, but it took forever to earn a free flight. I kept this card for years, but it always felt like I was missing out.
More recently, I spent a year intentionally putting a purchases on different credit cards in order to get free airline tickets. There’s a local startup called Rewardstock, and their product is a dashboard that maximizes the value of your credit card points. I thought they were nice people, so I tried out their service partially to support our tech community, but also to get more out of my credit card spend.
Rewardstock was a big improvement over how I had been handling credit cards previously, but after a year or so I fatigued from the process. At the end of every month I would make large credit card payments, but I would never get the feeling of relief of zeroing them out. As soon as they were paid off, new purchases would be made and the debt would start piling up again. Yes, I got a lot of points and was able to book more free travel, but the stress of never-ending debt wore me out. I decided it wasn’t worth it.
So, for a few fleeting months, I stopped using credit cards almost completely. It was a nice change. I could breathe.
When Apple Card was announced, I wasn’t immediately lured in. I’m a big fan of Apple hardware and macOS, but I’m not as enthusiastic about their services. Eventually the realization settled in that I would soon be buying two new iPhones, so I decided to try out Apple Card just to get the 3% back from those purchases.
Then I learned that using the physical Apple Card is only one part of the appeal. You can quickly set up your iPhone and Apple Watch to make contactless purchases and have these payments processed through Apple Card. When you do this, you get 2% back the next day as spendable cash.
So I signed up. All I needed to do was to open the Apple Store app on my iPhone, tap around a bit, input a couple of numbers, and I was accepted. It literally took under three minutes after I initiated the signup process to complete it, and get accepted. Super fast.
I never used the Wallet app on my iPhone very much, but since I’ve been using Apple Card, I’ve been using it all the time. The Apple Card section of the Wallet app is what I like most about using this card. The information in the app is all very simple, and all very clear. Best of all, a day or so after you make a purchase, a button is displayed that suggests that you pay the balance early.
One thing that wasn’t obvious was that you need to go into the Wallet app and request to have a physical Apple Card sent to your address. Once you do request a card, it will show up rather quickly.
I’ve been wearing an Apple Watch for two years now, and I had used it to pay for groceries a few times, but it never became a habit. Since I’ve started using Apple Card, I find that I’m making payments with my Apple Watch all the time. It seems silly, but it needs to be said, paying for stuff with a watch is great. You don’t need to dig anything out of your pockets, you don’t need to swipe or insert a chip, you just double click a button on the watch, hover it near the payment thing for a moment, and you’re done.
The other night the battery in my Apple Watch had died, but I didn’t realize it until I was at the checkout area of a grocery store trying to pay with it. It struck me how accustomed I had become to paying with my watch in such a short time. I took out my titanium Apple Card and tried to pay with that. There was no chip reader, so I needed to swipe it through the magnetic reader. The card is so thick that it made a grinding sound when I swiped it. For some reason it was declined. Oh well, out came the old debit card.
All in all, I’m happy with Apple Card so far. It’s not difficult to imagine myself fatiguing of it after a while. Getting daily cash is novel and interesting now, but over time it could end up feeling like more trouble than it’s worth. We’ll see. I could see myself giving Rewardstock another try again in the future, too.
If you’re thinking about getting one of these things, I think it’s worth a shot. No late fees, you get cash back, there is no need to wait until the end of the month to pay your balance (I’ve been doing it a couple times a week). Plus, it’s a surefire way to save a smidge of money on your next Apple purchase, which is a rare opportunity. You can squeeze more value out of credit card points using other cards, reading sites the The Points Guy and specialist newsletters, but if you just want to generate a few bucks and you appreciate a clean interface, Apple Card is a great option.
