A few days ago, it was reported that some users were experiencing difficulties transferring funds from their Apple Card Savings account to their bank accounts. One user Kevin Smyth attempted to transfer $10,000 to his bank and found out that the transaction could not be completed as the process was under review. Anyone with a similar problem would have been livid, seeing as how a financial service introduced by Apple was behaving erratically to the extent that users believed that their funds were left in limbo.
Smyth required the $10,000 from his Apple Card Savings account to do some remodeling work in his basement, only to find he could not complete his transaction
It took some users around a week for their transactions to complete, and that can appear as a lifetime for anyone who has to make a series of payments in those seven days. Smyth had deposited around $200,000 in the Apple Card Savings account, and with a 4.15 percent APY, it would have been considered a safe long-term investment. However, he required $10,000 for the remodeling of his basement, and you can imagine his surprise when the transaction could not go through.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Smyth later contacted Goldman Sachs, who then told the user to contact his U.S. bank, but the Apple Card Savings account holder did not get any positive result. Goldman eventually told him that the transaction was under a security review, prompting Smyth to tweet at Apple CEO Tim Cook on May 25, asking if his plan was to partner with a bank and keep the customer’s life savings hostage.
After completing the transaction, Smyth took it one step further and emptied all of his $200,000 from the Apple Card Savings account to American Express. While this means that he cannot earn a 4.15 percent APY, it also means that his funds will be available to him in the snap of a finger, and not where he has to wait a week or more. Apple has yet to comment on this incident, but the company’s banking partner has stated that transactions this large require some kind of security review.
Apple and Goldman Sachs should have expected that users in the millions would begin using the service since it provides an attractive APY, but both entities may review the rules and alleviate them for the purpose of retaining customers.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
