If You Lose Your iPhone, You Won’t Be Able to Make Payments on Your Apple Card

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From not paying your bill on time to leaving a high balance on your card, there are plenty of things you shouldn’t do when you have a credit card. If you’re an Apple Card holder, you can add losing your iPhone to that list.

The Problem

The Apple Card, unlike other credit cards, lives entirely within the Wallet app on your iOS device. Apple’s own financial platform is the only way to see recent activity, previous statements and total balances.

But, as BuzzFeed News pointed out in a recent piece, the Wallet app is also the only way you can make a payment on your Apple Card. Most, if not all, other credit cards have some type of browser- or web-based payment platform. The Apple Card does not.

If you lose access to the Wallet app — like by losing your iPhone, you won’t be able to make a payment.

And while the Apple Card doesn’t have late payment fees, missing a monthly payment could mean additional interest charges.

In other words, making sure you keep an especially close eye on your iPhone may end up being just as important of a credit habit as paying off your Apple Card’s balance every month.

So What Can You Do?

Of course, losing an iPhone or having it stolen isn’t always something you can avoid. So, if you don’t have access to your device, what can you do to avoid additional interest charges?

While Apple’s credit card support documents don’t say, BuzzFeed News actually posed the question to an Apple Support representative.

  1. First off, they recommended that users access the Wallet app on an iPad or another iOS device that they own.
  2. If that’s not an option, users can contact Apple Support to be connected to a Goldman Sachs Apple Card specialist. From there, they can make a payment over the phone — though users will need to provide their full name, date of birth, the phone number associated with their account, and the last four digits of their social security number to do so.

It’s worth noting that if you have automatic monthly payments set up, it could help you avoid additional interest if you lose your iPhone. Just something to keep in mind.

Will Apple Change This?

Even if the Apple Card is a way for Apple to keep users locked into the iOS ecosystem, not having an online, browser-based payment portal still seems like a major disadvantage.

Because of that, Apple may very well change that in the future. It’s important to remember that the Apple Card is still early in its rollout. There are obviously some kinks to work out.

Even if Apple didn’t want to go with a dedicated Apple Card payment portal, it could always do something as simple as add the Wallet app to iCloud.com. Easy solutions are possible, it’s just a matter of Apple implementing them.

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