Apple Inc., the world’s largest technology company, has launched a savings account linked with its Apple Card. The savings account, which has been built in partnership with Goldman Sachs, offers an annual percentage yield (APY) of 4.15%.
The maximum balance allowed for the account is $250,000, the same amount insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This new offering of Apple has the potential to pose competition to other banks, as the APY offered is much higher than the national average of 0.35% as per the FDIC.
The new savings account needs no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. Once users establish this Goldman Sachs account, all their daily Apple Card earnings will be transferred into it and yield interest.
How does the savings account work?
According to Apple, “When you buy something with Apple Card, you get a percentage of your purchase back in daily cash. There’s no limit to how much daily cash you can get.”
If a user does not want the daily cash to go into this account, they can change the destination. They can also add more money to it. “To build on their savings even further, users can deposit additional funds into their Savings account through a linked bank account, or from their Apple cash balance,” the company said in a press release.
Users will have access to a straightforward savings dashboard in their wallet, where they can handily monitor their account balance and interest earned over time. Withdrawal of funds can also be completed anytime through the dashboard of the account by transferring them to a connected bank account or their Apple cash card, with no charges.
How is it different from a regular savings account in India?
The Apple savings account offers an interest rate of 4.5%, which is much higher than the rates offered by leading Indian banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Punjab National Bank which offer interest rates in the range of 3 to 3.50 percent.
Here’s a compilation of current interest rates provided by these banks on their savings accounts.
| Name of the Bank | Interest rates (%) |
| Axis Bank | 3.00-3.50 |
| DCB Bank | 2.25-7.00 |
| HDFC Bank | 3.00-3.50 |
| ICICI Bank | 3.00-3.50 |
| IndusInd Bank | 3.50-5.50 |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | 3.50-4.00 |
| Punjab National Bank | 2.70-3.00 |
| State Bank of India | 2.70 |
| Yes Bank | 4.00-6.25 |
Note: The interest rates are as of 19 April 2023.
Apple has made a pioneering move in the financial services industry with the launch of a high-yield savings account. This new product of Apple could challenge other banks, as the APY proposed is much higher than the national average of 0.35% as reported by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple wallet, discussed that this savings account is intended to allow users to extract more value out of their daily cash Apple Card benefit as well as make it more straightforward to save money every day.
