The Savings Account is accessed via a button in the Apple Credit Card Wallet Entry.
That support article says that the Savings Account requires “the latest version of iOS,” which I presume explains why I don’t see the button you refer to; I’m on only iOS 16.4. (I always hold off upgrading an operating system until after it’s been out a week.)
Still, I wonder what an “Apple Account” is.
Oh. Nevermind. Tab the Apple Card → (… button) → Card Details → Daily Cash bar chart → View Daily Cash link → Savings → Set up → “Saving Unavailable. Apple Pay services are currently unavailable. Please try again later.”
Tried again … enter social security number … confirm, confirm, and … application rejected!
Tried again … Success!
Savings Account seems to work.
But that pesky “Apple Account” card is still in my Wallet.
Oh. Apparently it’s an empty gift card.
UPDATE April 18, 2023 5:50 PM
These are them most comprehensive instructions for settting up an Apple Savings account that I’ve found:
I already had a Marcus savings account at Goldman Sachs. Apparently I cannot use that same account, so it’s not worth it to me to set a new account for Apple Cash. But I do wish that I could use the Marcus account…
FWIW, I was able to sign up overnight (Pacific time). I’ve seen no indication this is a promotional rate or that it’s variable, tied to some indicator. Anyone have more info on that? It’s tempting to move some of the cash from my 0.69% APR savings account into this account.
I would think it is a current rate based on what other online banks are paying but once interest rates start to fall, it will probably adjust just like other banks do all the time. There are higher paying banks but one has to look around and a lot of times, the catch is it has to be new money as opposed to shifting funds in the same bank.
In a footnote in Apple’s announcement, the company says:
- Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is 4.15 percent as of 4/14/2023. APY may change at any time. Maximum balance limits apply. Savings is available with iOS 16.4 and later.
That maximum balance limit is $250,000, which is probably to match the FDIC limits for insured accounts. I checked because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t limited in some unusual way.
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For anybody thinking of opening a new account with Marcus, something to know is that Marcus has not been meeting Goldman Sachs’ performance targets. As a result, Marcus is receiving less atttention and resources from senior management and even may be up for sale.
This has been the case over the last several quarters and continues today:
“Goldman is exploring strategic options for its consumer platform business, which has lost about $3 billion in three years, executives told investors in February.
[…]
Goldman reshuffled its businesses in 2022, leaning into its traditional mainstays of trading and investment banking, beefing up its asset management arm and stepping back from its consumer aspirations.”
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Great news, Adam “I read the footnotes so you don’t have to” Engst!
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I’ve been wondering if GS’ disappointment with Marcus and perhaps their Apple collaboration could be part of the reason Apple Card usability appears to have degraded. Unreliable notifications, slow balance updates, and odd outages are some of the things I’ve seen here that I did not encounter when the service launched and I signed up. I was wondering if perhaps enthusiasm has waned and with it dedication (and resource allocation) to the project.
Always a good idea to read the terms of service, but these are typical of a savings account. A checking account is a “demand deposit” account (give me my money, now) but a savings account is not. That’s why savings accounts pay more interest than checking accounts do (if at all).
Primarily intended for you to allocate/budget spending with other family members. You can put money in the kid’s “Apple Account” so they can buy apps, IAPs, and so on without freely hitting your credit card.
Depends on what you mean. The current US Federal Funds rate is 4.83%. This is effectively the cost of money to US banks.The current Wall Street Journal Prime rate is 8%. This is a derived benchmark based on the current rates most banks are charging their customers, and is typically around 3% higher than the Fed rate. However, the rate banks pay their depositors is completely up to them, and varies widely. At this moment, for funds in a demand deposit account (checking, savings…as opposed to a CD, for example), a rate between 4 and 4.5% is about as good as you can get. For more rates and info, check out…
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Ah OK, thanks for clarifying that Jeff. The US may have different rates for certain things, but likely the Fed Funds rate (currently 4.83%) is equal to the UK main ‘base’ rate (currently 4.25%) – with other less used rates within the banking industry.
Anyway, as you mentioned, 4.15% is a pretty good headline rate for however long it lasts. Although most likely wouldn’t use it for tens of thousands upwards, me thinks, due to the limited cash withdrawal amounts allowed, regardless of it being instant access.
Here is an interesting article related to the Marcus issue mentioned above:
I am definitely not seeing any of that. I use my Apple Card a lot, and have been as I’ve been traveling the last two weeks and using touch less payment almost exclusively.
The interest rate is comparable to that of other “high yield” savings accounts. Ordinary bank savings accounts pay much less. The Capital One “Performance Savings” account is currently paying 3.5% APY. The PNC “High Yield Savings” account is currently paying 3.93%. These sorts of accounts tend to have limits on the number of withdrawals per month. If you’re using the Apple Card Savings account as a temporary holding place for Apple Cash, it’s obviously a good deal. I shouldn’t think that most people would have a large balance in Apple Cash.
Though as per Adam’s post above, one could add extra funds up to $250K into it:
But then withdraw only limited amounts over time ($10K per transaction, $20K max. every 7-days):
Hence:
Can I transfer money out of my Wells Fargo savings into the Apple savings account? If so, is the only way to do it on an iPhone?
I wonder if they’ll have a way to import the account activity into Quicken and/or download PDF statements, as they do with Apple Card.
To answer my own questions:
Yes, you can transfer money from linked bank accounts into Apple Savings. I’m closing my Wells Fargo savings account that pays some ridiculous fraction of a percent interest and transferring it all over.
Transfers can be done on an iPad under Wallet & Apple Pay in Settings. It makes no sense to me why it would be under Settings.
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