Last June, Apple introduced its foray into the very lively “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) market with a characteristic referred to as Apple Pay Later. Originally, it was anticipated to launch with the iOS16 replace in September, although it was delayed.
The excellent news? It’s now out there to randomly-selected customers and can roll out to all eligible customers within the coming months. The unhealthy information? Buy now, pay later providers don’t will let you earn factors and miles in your buy and can get you into hassle if you happen to miss funds.
With that in thoughts, let’s check out what this characteristic is and the way it works.
What is Apple Pay Later?
Apple Pay Later is Apple’s model of “buy now, pay later.” This lets you make separate, equal funds for purchases, as a substitute of paying abruptly.
Rather than making a big buy in your bank card and paying it off over time — which may imply paying curiosity — “buy now, pay later” options enable the power to make a number of funds over time with out paying curiosity.
Typically, these providers supply a set variety of funds over a collection of months out there with out charges or curiosity. However, these extra expenses can creep in if you happen to transcend the included phrases or miss funds.
Related: 10 travel-friendly options in Apple’s latest iPhone software program
How does Apple Pay Later work?
This characteristic lets you make 4 funds for a purchase order, cut up into equal quantities. You can take out a mortgage between $50 to $1,000 “anywhere that Apple Pay is accepted, in apps or online.” It is not, however, available for in-store purchases.
Each payment occurs every two weeks and is scheduled automatically in your Apple Pay wallet. Thus, you don’t have to worry about forgetting to make your payments.
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There are no fees or interest with Apple Pay Later.
The first payment with Apple Pay Later is due at the time of purchase, and then the remaining three payments are paid every two weeks — a total of six weeks from the purchase date. You can make the remaining payments early if you wish.
Apple Pay (as well as Apple Pay Later) isn’t limited to paying with Apple Cash or your Apple Card. While you can add most credit cards to your iPhone wallet, you’ll need to link a debit card as your repayment method when setting up a loan with Apple Pay Later.
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The Wallet app helps you manage your scheduled payments and outstanding balances. It also integrates into your Calendar app.
Auto-pay is the default setting, but you can turn off this feature if you can’t make your payment on time. When signing up for a new Apple Pay Later transaction, you’ll be able to see all your upcoming payments (from other loans) that are due within 30 days.
Note that the eligibility check requires a soft credit pull, but it won’t affect your credit score (or count toward Chase’s 5/24 rule), like signing up for a new credit card would.
Understanding how Apple Pay Later works is just one side of the equation. You should also understand how “buy now, pay later” choices can result in lacking out on helpful bank card rewards. You need to make sure you don’t depart helpful factors and miles on the desk when selecting your fee methodology.
Merchants who already settle for Apple Pay received’t have to do something in a different way to just accept Apple Pay Later. Apple leverages the GraspCard installments program because the fee know-how to course of every Apple Pay Later buy.
The credit score evaluation, choice and lending are managed by way of a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple referred to as Apple Financing LLC, which maintains the suitable state lending licenses.
Bottom line
The capability to purchase now and pay later is turning into more and more fashionable.
Its essential promoting level is making equal funds over time with out curiosity. However, it’s best to at all times make certain to make use of these options responsibly and never accrue debt just because you’ll be able to pay it off over time or as a result of the funds lack the weighty curiosity assessed on a bank card. Also, know that not all of those providers operate the identical and you could find yourself buying and selling away bank card factors or protections in some instances.
Apple Pay Later could be a helpful characteristic to make funds over time. Just ensure you are approaching it responsibly since our high rule in factors and miles is to at all times pay your payments in full and on time.
Read extra: A comparability of the highest ‘purchase now, pay later’ providers — and what to be careful for