After a long wait, Apple Card is finally available to all iPhone customers in the United States. It brings with it new experiences that are poised to revolutionize the credit card industry. Daily Cash, money management, and it's security and privacy features come together to bring forth a credit card experience that helps you better understand your spending and live a healthier financial life. It is, however, a card that has been designed and marketed mostly to consumers. So the question is: how does Apple Card perform as a business credit card?
The costs of the card
Many business cards, while proudly showing off extra perks and benefits, come at a higher cost in two key areas: APR and fees. Cards that are especially geared towards small businesses, who may not have a long financial history, can sport APR fees as high as 28.99%. Apple Card does prove favorable in this area, as the highest APR you can get with the card is 24.24%.
While most business cards come with no foreign transaction fees, as they are built for travel, they do charge annual fees commonly ranging from $95 to upwards of $495. Apple Card fares well here as well, as it has virtually no fees: no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, no late fees, and no over-the-limit fees.
There are some business credit cards out there with no annual fees, such as the Chase Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card which is currently offering a $500 cash back bonus, so make sure to shop around.
The rewards and benefits
One of the first things you'll always look for when evaluating a business credit card, or any credit card for that matter, is the rewards and benefits you get from having the card. Business cards commonly offer huge welcome bonuses and earn points to be redeemed for flights, hotels, and other business-related needs such as office supplies and gas. In addition, these cards offer business-specific benefits such as access to airport lounges, free luggage, or free Uber rides.
Apple Card starts to falter here as a business card, depending on what you are looking for. It does come with a simple rewards program, but instead of points, it features cash back:
- 1% on all purchases using the physical titanium card
- 2% on all purchases using Apple Pay
- 3% on all purchases at Apple
The card does not currently offer any business focused welcome offers or additional benefits. While these always could be added in the future, Apple Card especially falls short in this area for now and if perks are important, you won't find any here. Cards like the Business Platinum® Card from American Express and the Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business offer huge welcome bonuses and business-minded perks like a year's access to WeWork co-working spaces and credits towards TSA Pre✓®.
The card management features
Apple Card can be managed completely from the Wallet app on the iPhone, which also gives its users money management tools to track and better understand spending. These features are great, but do come with some drawbacks. Right now, not only is the Wallet app the best place to manage your Apple Card, it's the only place to manage your Apple Card. There is currently no way to manage your card on the Mac or online, so if you lose your iPhone, you'll have to call into Goldman Sachs customer service in order to do much of anything. I have yet to think of popular business credit card that doesn't have a website, an app, phone, email, and chat support to help you manage your account.
The real killer for Apple Card as a business credit card comes into play when you want multiple cards under one account. The current state is that it simply doesn't support it. Every Apple Card is tied to one person. No joint cards. No authorized users. One card. One account. So, if you are a business of two or more and want to have multiple cards under one roof to manage and earn rewards, you're not going to find it with Apple Card. Most business credit cards let you add employees to your account in the same way you add authorized users to a personal card account.
It's only beginning
Apple Card is of course, for right now, targeted at the consumer market. Apple has said this and so has Goldman Sachs. But, Goldman has also said that Apple Card is only the beginning for them. Apple Card Business could eventually be a thing. In fact, Apple Card made an addition to its cashback on day one of its full release, adding in 3% cashback on purchases at Uber when paying with Apple Pay. The card itself is Apple's first draft of what they have in mind for the long term, so even though Apple Card may only work for a very small business of one or a few for now, the future is wide open.
With its sign-up bonus having just jumped to 60,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months, now's the time to add the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to your wallet. Even better, future travel and dining purchases earn 2x points per dollar spent and it includes valuable travel benefits like primary car rental insurance. All of these extras make its $95 annual fee easy to justify.
