MANILA, Philippines – Apple now has its own credit card, Apple Card, as announced at its March 25 event.

The credit card exists in two ways: virtually in an iPhone or through an actual physical card.

Apple emphasizes the ease of application. A user just has to go into the Apple Wallet app, sign up, and get accepted “within minutes.” The digital card is accepted anywhere Apple Pay is accepted. The physical card is designed to be used like a traditional credit card where Apple Pay is not yet accepted.

It is due for launch summer 2019 in the US with no word yet on availability in other markets. (READ: Everything Apple announced at its March 25 event)

Apple promises that their credit card is better than traditional credit cards in several ways. The accompanying app lets users track spending, monitor purchases, monitor balance, and see the due date for their bill. In the purchase tracker, merchant names are transformed to the brand names a user can easily recognize as opposed to the legal names found in traditional credit card billing.

Unlike traditional cards, Apple’s physical card has no credit card number, CVV (card verification value), expiration date, or signature – information that may be stolen. Instead, authorization information is stored in the Apple Wallet app, with transaction authentication done either through facial authorization (Face ID) or fingerprints (Touch ID).

Apple also says that it doesn’t track what users bought, where the items were bought, and how much was paid as the data and the spending tracking happen in the device and not on Apple servers.

Apple also touts a tool that lets users see just how much interest they will eventually have to pay depending on the amount they’re paying. Apple also promises that they have “no late fees, no annual fees, no international fees, no over-limit fees.”

Goldman-Sachs is the issuing bank partner for Apple Card with Mastercard as the payments processor.

Apple also has a cash-back program instead of a points rewards program like many credit cards. In Apple Card’s system, users get 2% “Daily Cash” cash-back from all purchases; 3% from purchases of Apple products; and 1% when using the physical card. – Rappler.com