Savings Account Reviews
Apple Card Savings Account Review
In 2019, Apple entered the world of financial services when it launched the now-iconic Apple Card. Now, nearly four years later, the company is following up on that success with the debut of Apple Card Savings — a new high-yield savings account that can help customers further grow the cashback they earn.
So how does Apple Card Savings work and is it a good option for customers? Let’s take a closer look at the account and its features.
What is Apple Card Savings and What Does it Offer?
What is Apple Card Savings and What Does it Offer?
About Apple Card and Apple Card Savings
Initially announced in fall 2022, Apple officially launched Apple Card Savings in April 2023. The account is meant to be a destination for the Daily Cash cashback that Apple Card customers earn, allowing them to earn interest on their funds. Like the Apple Card itself, Savings comes via a partnership with Goldman Sachs. With GS being a bank, funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per deposit. In fact, Apple Card Savings actually caps total deposits at this quarter-million figure.
Meanwhile, for those unfamiliar with the Apple Card, it’s a credit card offered to Apple customers. With the card (which, as mentioned, is issued by Goldman Sachs), users can earn 2% back on purchases made using the card via Apple Pay plus 3% back on purchases from select brands including Uber, Walgreens/Duane Reade, Exxon/Mobil, Nike, Panera, T-Mobile, and Ace. All other purchases earn 1%. Notably, rather than making customers wait for their monthly statements to be awarded their earned cashback, Apple Card offers what it calls Daily Cash. In reality, Daily Cash payouts may come a few days after qualifying purchases are made, but they still arrive much sooner than traditional cards.
At this time, Apple Card Savings accounts are exclusively available to Apple Card customers.
Opening an account
Before Apple Card customers can open a Savings account, they’ll need to ensure that their device is running iOS 16.4 or newer. If it’s not, select Settings > General > Software Update to download and install the latest version of iOS.
With that out of the way, to get started with opening an Apple Card Savings account, iPhone users should head to the Wallet app and select their Apple Card. Oddly, from there, the option for Savings is a bit buried. First, tap the three-dot icon in the upper right and then Daily Cash. From there, under Daily Cash Election, you’ll see the option to Set Up a Savings account.
As part of the application process, you’ll be required to confirm your full Social Security number. After that, you’ll have to accept the terms and conditions. Finally, you’ll be asked a question about IRS withholdings.
When you first open your account, you’ll be invited to transfer any existing Daily Cash from Apple Cash. Like with other transactions, you’ll confirm this action by using Touch ID or Face ID. And with that, you’ll be ready to go with your new Apple Card Savings account.
Managing your Savings
Once your Apple Card Savings account is set up, you can manage it from Wallet. Beneath the Card Balance, Yearly Activity, and Payment Due widgets you’ll find your Savings Account. This widget will show your current balance while tapping it will reveal more details and options.
First, you’ll be able to see a graph of your account balance over time. You can adjust this graph to view by the last week, month, six months, year, or all time. Further down, you can also see recent Saving transactions, such as your earned Daily Cash.
Naturally, this page is also where you can add or withdraw funds. When it comes to these transfers, you can send money to/from your Apple Cash account instantly or can initiate transfers to/from a linked external bank account.
Speaking of transfers, I did notice that Apple begins paying interest on funds the day that a transfer is initiated. This means that, while deposits might not be fully settled for up to five business days, your balance will be updated much sooner.
Beyond the main page, customers can find additional options and info by tapping the three-dot icon in the upper right corner. In Account Details, users can view their Savings routing and account numbers. Below that, accountholders can link additional banking accounts for easier transfers. Backing out to the other option under the three-dot icon, Documents will provide options for downloading tax forms or statements, while Notifications allows users to opt-in to receive alerts when there are updates to the account APY and/or when interest payments are deposited.
Finally, if you ever want to stop diverting your Daily Cash to Apple Card Savings, this option can be overridden. Following similar steps that led you to open your account, going to the Daily Cash page will allow you to designate Apple Cash as the destination for your earnings instead. Of course, you can also toggle this back to Apple Card Savings at will as well.
APY
Although interest rates fluctuate often (especially these days), the current star feature of Apple Card Savings is its APY. As of April 2023, customers can earn 4.15% APY on funds. For context, that’s not only way better than what many big banks offer but is also a bit higher than some other popular options such as Discover or Ally.
While you may still be able to find a rate as good or better elsewhere, the Apple Card Savings APY is definitely strong. Furthermore, unlike some other options, earning this rate does not require any minimum deposit, direct deposit, transaction limit, or anything of the sort.
My Experience with Apple Card Savings (and a Suggestion)
My Experience with Apple Card Savings (and a Suggestion)
Apple Card Savings vs Marcus
As I mentioned, the fact that Apple Card Savings comes from Goldman Sachs opens it up for comparisons to another Goldman offering: Marcus. On that front, it’s interesting to note that (as of April 2023), Apple Card Savings’ APY tops the rate offered by Marcus by 25 basis points. This isn’t a huge spread but it does suggest that Goldman intentionally allowed Apple to sweeten its pitch with the boosted interest rate.
Looking at the two platforms and their banking features, Marcus is definitely more robust. For one, the platform allows for recurring transfers, allowing customers to automatically set money aside. While Apple Card Cash allows the ability to automatically deposit your Daily Cash, as far as I can see, there is not yet a way to set up recurring external deposits.
Another big difference is that Marcus’s app offers spending insights across multiple accounts as you can link credit cards, investment accounts, and more to the platform. These features actually represent the residual influence of Clarity Money — a beloved (by me, at least) finance app which Goldman Sachs acquired and later shut down. In any case, while Apple Card’s interface also allows customers to dive into their spending trends, these figures come exclusively from Apple Card purchases and not other accounts.
With that, while it might seem as though Goldman is competing against itself by having Marcus and Apple Card Savings, the two offerings are fairly different aside from the very basics. That said, I would (of course) still love to see GS increase Marcus’s APY to match the new Apple rate in time.
Daily interest?
In the midst of exploring the Apple Card Savings account, I had an idea. While there’s nothing wrong with Apple’s monthly interest payout (seeing as this is what nearly every other banking account does), I think it could be even better. Going along with their Daily Cash perk, wouldn’t it be cool if this Savings account paid out daily interest? I think so.
For the record, this is something Current already does with its Savings Pods. Of course, that option also recently severely cut their interest rate unless you set up direct deposit. In any case, Daily Interest would be an awesome addition to Apple Card Savings — and they don’t even need to pay me a royalty if they want to take my idea 😉
Final Thoughts on Apple Card Savings
Final Thoughts on Apple Card Savings
With a solid APY and clever automated savings scheme, Apple Card Savings is a great option for Apple Card customers. In fact, it’s something I’d recommend that nearly all cardholders try out — even if they ultimately elect to only use it for storing their Daily Cash. Personally, I not only intend on using it for that purpose but will likely also move over some of my extra funds to the account given the comparatively high interest rate.
But does the new account make the Apple Card itself worth getting? That’s a harder question to answer. As I’ve gone on record stating before, I am a fan of the Apple Card overall, even if it does have some flaws (namely the lack of a standard welcome bonus and the fact that the 2x earned from Apple Pay transactions is only on par with what other cards offer without the extra stipulation). Still, I’m not sure that this new feature will really sway those who have been opposed to the card previously.
All things considered, if you’re an Apple Card customer, I think it’s definitely worth opening an Apple Card Savings account for yourself. Meanwhile, if you’ve been considering the Apple Card before, this addition may be another reason to finally apply. Either way, Apple Card Savings could be an easy way to automatically set money aside and grow your savings overall.
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