A New Path to Apple Card Has Been Launched

Tech magnate Apple has just launched an interesting new Apple Card program for people who have their credit application declined.

Declined Apple Card applicants may begin seeing notifications on their device later that offer them the Path to Apple Card program. It's an opt-in program that can run for up to 4 months. It leverages the information that Goldman Sachs used to determine their credit worthiness to outline why they were declined and to help them improve the specific financial markers that would make them more likely to get approved next time. Once a user opts in on their device, they get a once-a-month update on their progress on specific tasks that are personalized to their rating.

Examples include:

• Resolving past due balances.
• Making payments to secured and unsecured debt accounts on time.
• Lowering credit card and personal loan debt.
• The updates also include specific steps to take to improve each of those markers.

Once a customer has completed the program, they are invited to reapply to Apple Card.

On the privacy front, Apple only knows whether when the user have chosen to participate in the program. It does not retain personally identifiable information or know details about the participants' financial situation. Goldman Sachs is also not sharing this data with third parties for advertising or marketing. Pretty much the same deal as the Apple Card itself.

The "payment wheel" inside the card's interface on iOS devices is one of the clearest, most well-made interfaces for any credit card ever offered. The approach Apple takes - an all out effort to make it as easy as possible not to pay interest on purchases unless the user absolutely feel thet they want to - is wildly different from the industry norms.

This additional financial health tool fits well within that overall philosophy. As a side benefit, these steps will doubtless result in an overall credit score improvement for participants.