Key findings
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There are several ways to pay off an Apple Card, including online payments or recurring and one-time payments.
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Officially, the Apple Card does not allow you to transfer funds to the card, and it does not appear to be possible for consumers to transfer their Apple Card balance to other balance transfer cards.
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It may be possible to complete a balance transfer, but you may incur additional fees or have your request rejected or cancelled by Goldman Sachs.
It’s easy to see why the Apple Card* is so popular. Cardholders pay no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, or late fees, but still have the opportunity to earn:
- 3 percent cashback on goods and services purchased directly from Apple
- 3 percent cashback on purchases at select retailers where you can pay with your Apple Card and Apple Pay
- 2 percent cashback on other purchases where you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay
- 1 percent back on all other purchases made with the physical card or online where Apple Pay is not accepted
And there’s more than one way to pay off an Apple Card, including online payments or recurring or one-time payments in your device’s Wallet app. If your device is lost or stolen, you can call an Apple Card specialist to avoid missing a payment.
However, if you take a closer look at the terms and conditions of the Goldman Sachs Apple Card, you’ll notice an interesting omission: The Apple Card has no APR for balance transfers, nor does it have a balance transfer fee. That’s because this card doesn’t allow balance transfers at all.
But can you transfer your Apple Card balance to another card? The answer is complicated. Here’s what you should know if you’re wondering how to pay off an Apple Card with a balance transfer but keep running into obstacles.
Can I transfer a balance from the Apple Card to another credit card?
Officially no, the Apple Card doesn’t seem to support balance transfers. Cardholder reports vary, but you can read real user experiences in places like the myFICO forum and Reddit. The consensus seems to be that it might be possible to transfer an Apple Card balance to another card, but results are inconsistent.
It seems to boil down to what Apple considers to be “non-compliant payments.” Here’s what Apple says in its cardholder agreement about payments it considers non-compliant:
“We may, in our sole discretion, reject any payment that does not conform to our payment instructions as set forth in this Agreement or on your monthly statement (each, a “Non-Conforming Payment”). If we accept a Non-Conforming Payment, the crediting of the payment to your account may be delayed and may result in additional interest being charged to your account.”
Apple also says:
“We may accept non-conforming payments, late payments, partial payments, or payments with restrictive notations without losing our rights, including our right to close your account. We may deposit any payment you send us that is less than the total outstanding balance of your account and that you mark as ‘paid in full’ or similar language or otherwise attempt to make as full settlement of a disputed amount. If we do so, that payment will not fully settle the disputed amount or otherwise affect our rights to full payment.”
However, Apple reserves the right not to accept balance transfers from Apple Card. It is only necessary to accept a payment method specified by Apple, such as submitting online payments, paying through the Wallet app, or speaking to an Apple specialist.
If Apple accepts a payment method that is not listed as an option for cardholders, there is a chance that the account will be closed. Even if a payment is sent and marked “paid in full,” this does not mean that Apple will accept the transfer. In fact, the issuer reserves the right to request a full refund anyway.
Alice Lesperance, credit card editor at Bankrate, successfully completed a balance transfer from her Apple Card to her Citi Double Cash® card, but wasn’t optimistic that it would work:
I did some research and knew that Apple Card doesn’t have a good track record with balance transfers. You can try asking Goldman Sachs for help, but I had a hard time getting a straight answer. In the end, I just tried it myself and it worked. I entered my Apple Card account number, which can be found in the Wallet app, and went through the normal balance transfer process with Citi in their app. To my surprise, it went through and I had no issues.
— Alice Lesperance, editor at Bankrate
Below you can see that the transfer amount was debited as a balance transfer from Lesperance’s Citicard, but is shown as an “Offline Payment” on Apple’s side of the Wallet app:
While Lesperance’s experience was relatively straightforward, other cardholders report mixed results, such as long wait times for the balance transfer to post or error messages when attempting the transfer. However, it may be worth it for you to try if you carry a significant balance on your Apple Card from month to month.
Alternative ways to pay off your Apple Card
Ultimately, Apple doesn’t control how you pay off your balance on its credit card. If you have debt on an Apple Card that you’d prefer to consolidate and you can’t do a balance transfer through the standard process, consider the following workarounds.
Write yourself a check to transfer the balance
While you may not be able to sign up for a balance transfer card and transfer your Apple Card balance the traditional way, balance transfer checks can help you transfer your balance in a few extra steps. If you’re approved for a balance transfer credit card that offers balance transfer checks, you’ll have the option to write a check to yourself. This strategy allows you to write yourself a check for the amount of debt you want to consolidate from your Apple Card, then simply pay off the balance on your Apple Card with the same money.
Bankrate Insight
Keep in mind that even the best balance transfer credit cards charge a transfer fee of 3 to 5 percent of the debt being transferred. This fee is added to any balance transfer checks you write to yourself and adds 3 to 5 percent to the new amount you owe.
Make sure your checks are specifically “transfer checks” and not simply “convenience checks.” These convenience checks are usually cash advances, not transfers. And cash advances come with significantly higher fees and there is no introductory 0% APR period. If in doubt, contact your issuer to clarify.
So choose a balance transfer credit card that offers the longest possible 0% APR period—or at least long enough to pay off your balance in full before the introductory period ends. Your interest savings will make paying the balance transfer fee well worth it.
Take out a loan for debt consolidation
You may also consider consolidating your debt with a personal loan, which may make it easier for you to avoid accumulating even more debt. Personal loans come with a low fixed interest rate, a fixed monthly payment, and a fixed repayment period, so you know exactly when you will pay off your debt.
When you take out a personal loan, you receive the borrowed amount as a lump sum up front. When you deposit the loan amount into your bank account, you can use the money to pay off your Apple Card and start repaying your loan.
Before you begin the loan application process, compare personal loans to find the best option for your needs and budget. Personal loan interest rates can be as low as 10.3 percent for consumers with good credit, and many personal loans have no application fees, no processing fees, and no hidden fees.
The conclusion
If you’re frustrated with not being able to pay off your Apple Card as you’d like, there are some workarounds you can consider. But you may want to think more long-term about the Apple Card – and maybe even switch to a different card for your everyday spending.
The Apple Card offers lucrative rewards when you use it to make purchases through Apple Pay, but many other rewards credit cards also allow you to manage your debt the way you want – and without all the red tape.
*Apple Card information was collected independently by Bankrate. Card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.
