4 ms·

I'm surprised that Apple Card (credit and savings) aren't available outside the US yet. A financial product that is only available to iPhone users seems like a

I'm surprised that Apple Card (credit and savings) aren't available outside the US yet. A financial product that is only available to iPhone users seems like a reasonable business, but if it's only available in one market it's limited and you can't build much else on top because it's slicing the market to granularly. I realise that international financial products are hard, but isn't that the reason why Apple is delegating the finance part to Goldman Sachs (and I suppose, theoretically, others in other countries) – so that they don't need to deal with the nitty gritty in each region?

shmatt 4y ago
Not too many options that are high spending countries with plenty of iPhones but also a regulation wild west and people willing to pile on hundreds of thousands in high APY debt like the US a true sweet spot Less than half of French people even have a single credit card
- phh 4y ago
  > Less than half of French people even have a single credit card Got a source ? https://www.cartes-bancaires.com/cb/chiffres/ https://www.cartes-bancaires.com/cb/chiffres/ says 76M cards over a population of 67M (50M for people over 18yo). Sure some people have multiple cards, but that sounds hard to believe. (Also that's not counting non-CB credit cards. Those are pretty rare in France, but I have one) (Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you said in "a single credit card")
  - shmatt 4y ago
    this is a quick link https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098129/credit-cards-and-debit-cards-per-capita-in-france/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098129/credit-cards-and... adoption across countries https://www.statista.com/statistics/968220/credit-card-ownership-rate-european-countries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/968220/credit-card-owner... your link seems to be confusing debit cards with credit cards Apple card is not a debit card, which is widely used in Europe, with much less credit card/debt normalized vs. the US
    - phh 4y ago
      Ah thanks, that indeed clears up my confusion. I don't understand how is that relevant to savings or Apple Card though? I mean sure Apple Card is currently a credit card, but I don't think that's relevant? In France most banks just give the customer the choice between credit and debit cards, and we just mostly prefer debit cards. Apple could probably just do that as well. That being said, I guess the reason there is no Apple Card in Europe, is that you can't make 2%+ markup on card payments.
- thisarticle 4y ago
  > people willing to pile on hundreds of thousands in high APY debt like the US That’s a pretty unfair characterization of CC borrowing in the US. I’m sure there are some instances of that but most people have either a minimal amount on CC or none at all.
  - officeplant 4y ago
    I would think it will vary greatly by location and status. I'm 34 and in a fairly low income area / states. The only people I know that aren't drowning in credit card debt are people that manage to be financially responsible enough to never get one at all. I thought myself fairly responsible until the pandemic hit and now I'm nearly $18K in the hole on credit cards I'm crawling out from under slowly.
slashdev 4y ago
You probably want a credit rating for financial products, and that’s independent to a specific country. They could expand to Europe and Canada without too much effort, but I’m not surprised to see them start with the US.
- danpalmer 4y ago
  Starting with the US makes sense, but 2 years later not having launched elsewhere and launching a new US-only product, that feels like longer than I expected.
  - slashdev 4y ago
    You’d probably need different banking partners in each region, so it’s like a whole new product.
ivanvas 4y ago
Are there any good options to get decent APY on Eur or USD deposits in Europe?
- densh 4y ago
  IBKR pays interest on cash accounts with APY dependent on currency and amount of money invested: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/pricing-interest-rates.php https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/pricing-...
  - ivanvas 4y ago
    Thanks, that’s news to me! Does the APY fluctuate much? That is, is there a good chance they’ll drop it to 0 next month?

shmatt 4y ago

Not too many options that are high spending countries with plenty of iPhones but also a regulation wild west and people willing to pile on hundreds of thousands in high APY debt like the US a true sweet spot Less than half of French people even have a single credit card

phh 4y ago
> Less than half of French people even have a single credit card Got a source ? https://www.cartes-bancaires.com/cb/chiffres/ https://www.cartes-bancaires.com/cb/chiffres/ says 76M cards over a population of 67M (50M for people over 18yo). Sure some people have multiple cards, but that sounds hard to believe. (Also that's not counting non-CB credit cards. Those are pretty rare in France, but I have one) (Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you said in "a single credit card")
- shmatt 4y ago
  this is a quick link https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098129/credit-cards-and-debit-cards-per-capita-in-france/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1098129/credit-cards-and... adoption across countries https://www.statista.com/statistics/968220/credit-card-ownership-rate-european-countries/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/968220/credit-card-owner... your link seems to be confusing debit cards with credit cards Apple card is not a debit card, which is widely used in Europe, with much less credit card/debt normalized vs. the US
  - phh 4y ago
    Ah thanks, that indeed clears up my confusion. I don't understand how is that relevant to savings or Apple Card though? I mean sure Apple Card is currently a credit card, but I don't think that's relevant? In France most banks just give the customer the choice between credit and debit cards, and we just mostly prefer debit cards. Apple could probably just do that as well. That being said, I guess the reason there is no Apple Card in Europe, is that you can't make 2%+ markup on card payments.
thisarticle 4y ago
> people willing to pile on hundreds of thousands in high APY debt like the US That’s a pretty unfair characterization of CC borrowing in the US. I’m sure there are some instances of that but most people have either a minimal amount on CC or none at all.
- officeplant 4y ago
  I would think it will vary greatly by location and status. I'm 34 and in a fairly low income area / states. The only people I know that aren't drowning in credit card debt are people that manage to be financially responsible enough to never get one at all. I thought myself fairly responsible until the pandemic hit and now I'm nearly $18K in the hole on credit cards I'm crawling out from under slowly.

slashdev 4y ago

You probably want a credit rating for financial products, and that’s independent to a specific country. They could expand to Europe and Canada without too much effort, but I’m not surprised to see them start with the US.

danpalmer 4y ago
Starting with the US makes sense, but 2 years later not having launched elsewhere and launching a new US-only product, that feels like longer than I expected.
- slashdev 4y ago
  You’d probably need different banking partners in each region, so it’s like a whole new product.

ivanvas 4y ago

Are there any good options to get decent APY on Eur or USD deposits in Europe?

densh 4y ago
IBKR pays interest on cash accounts with APY dependent on currency and amount of money invested: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/pricing-interest-rates.php https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/pricing-...
- ivanvas 4y ago
  Thanks, that’s news to me! Does the APY fluctuate much? That is, is there a good chance they’ll drop it to 0 next month?