Apple Card tweaked its privacy policy to enable new data-sharing opportunities with Goldman Sachs
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Apple has introduced changes to Apple Card's privacy policy that enable it to share new data with Goldman Sachs, the card's issuer, with the aim of helping it better assign credit to applicants and cardholders, per TechCrunch.
Apple can now share anonymized data regarding consumers' relationships with Apple - like how often they make transactions with Apple and how long they've had their Apple ID - with Goldman to improve its credit decisions. Consumers can opt out of this process.
Additionally, Apple is giving applicants and cardholders the option to share this information with Goldman and remove the anonymous aspect, if they want Goldman to reevaluate their initial credit offer from Apple Card or raise their existing credit line.
These adjustments are likely part of an effort to address previous accusations about the fairness of Apple Card's credit decisions. There were multiple anecdotal complaints in November 2019 that Apple Card's credit assignment process discriminated based on gender, as some women reportedly received less credit than their husbands despite filing joint tax returns and jointly owning property, assets, and income.
Apple's new changes to its privacy policy may help alleviate such concerns because new anonymized data could help Goldman provide more appropriate credit lines. Also, giving consumers the opportunity to share personal data to reevaluate or raise their credit limits offers them a way to address potential discrepancies.
Changing policies is risky for Apple because Apple Card's privacy is a key part of its appeal to consumers, but these adjustments ultimately may not scare many cardholders away.
Thirty-four percent of US iPhone users who responded to a Business Insider Intelligence survey in June 2019 said that Apple Card's new level of privacy and security was one of the top three features they found most attractive about the card. As part of Business Insider Intelligence's 2019 Payments Survey, we polled US iPhone users about the Apple Card from a survey sample that was mostly male (78%), high-income (61% above $100,000 in annual income), suburban (53%), and well-educated (85% bachelor's degree or better). Eighty-eight percent of these users also consider themselves tech early adopters.
Though our data isn't reflective of the general population, we believe it can serve as an indicator of the way tech-savvy adults perceive Apple's latest foray into payments. And considering 77% of US credit and debit cardholders selected security as one of the most important factors they'll consider when choosing how to pay in the future, per Deloitte, there appears to be widespread interest in payment privacy and security.
While these changes could damage Apple Card's appeal, they may not be particularly impactful since consumers can opt in and out of data sharing. Apple is set to share more data from consumers, which may concern some users. But because it's anonymized and consumers can opt out, it may not bother too many consumers. Similarly, consumers have to opt in to share information that's linked to them personally, and they'll only do so if they want their credit line to be reevaluated, so this may not hurt Apple Card's appeal much either.
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