Last June, Apple announces its breakthrough enter very actively “buy now, pay later” market (BNPL) with a feature called Apple Pay Later. It was originally slated to launch alongside the September iOS16 update, although it was delayed.
Good news? It is currently available to randomly selected users and will roll out to all eligible users in the coming months. The bad news? Buy now, pay later services that do not allow you to earn points and miles on purchases and can get you in trouble if you miss payments.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at what this feature is all about and how it works.
What is Apple Pay Later?
Apple Pay Later is the version “Buy now, pay later.” This allows you to make separate, equal payments for purchases instead of paying them all at once.
Instead of making a big purchase on your credit card and paying it off over time—which can mean paying interest—the “buy now, pay later” features enable the ability to show multiple payments over time Not available pay interest.
Typically, these services offer a certain number of payments over a series of available months with no fees or interest. However, those additional fees can add up if you go over the included terms or miss payments.
Related: 10 travel-friendly features in Apple’s latest iPhone software
How does Apple Pay Later work?
This feature allows you to make four payments for a single purchase, divided into equal amounts. You can borrow $50 to $1,000 “anywhere Apple Pay is accepted, in-app or online.” However, this loan is not available for in-store purchases.
Each payment occurs every two weeks and is automatically scheduled for Pay for apple purse. So you don’t have to worry about forgetting to pay.
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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 — for a total of six weeks from the date of purchase. You can make the remaining payments early if you want.
Apple Pay (as well as Apple Pay Later) is not limited to Apple Cash or Apple card. While you can add most credit cards to your iPhone wallet, you’ll need to link your debit card as a 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.
Automatic payment is the default setting, but you can turn it off if you can’t pay on time. When you sign up for a new Apple Pay Later transaction, you’ll be able to see all of your upcoming payments (from other loans) that are due within 30 days.
Note that the eligibility check requires a pull soft creditbut it won’t affect your credit score (or count towards Chase’s 5/24 Rule), just like applying for a new credit card.
Understanding how Apple Pay Later works is only one side of the equation. You should also understand how the “buy now, pay later” option may result in missing out on valuable credit card rewards. You want to make sure you don’t leave valuable points and miles on the table when choosing your payment method.
Merchants who already accept Apple Pay won’t need to do anything else to accept Apple Pay later. Apple leverages its MasterCard installment program as its payment technology to process each Apple Pay Later purchase.
Credit evaluation, determination, and lending are administered through a wholly owned subsidiary of Apple called Apple Financing LLC, which maintains the appropriate state lending licenses.
bottom line
ability buy now and pay later is becoming more and more popular.
Its main selling point is its equal payout over time with no interest charged. However, you should always make sure to use these features responsibly and don’t accumulate debt just because you can pay it off over time or because of heavy underpayments that are rated on a credit card. use. Also, know that not all of these services work the same, and you could end up trading off credit card points or protection in some cases.
Apple Pay Later can be a useful feature for making payments over time. Just make sure you’re approaching it responsibly because Our top rules for points and miles Always pay your bills in full and on time.
Read more: Compare the top ‘buy now, pay later’ services — and what to look out for
