Apple Card and Gender?

Apple Card - and gender issues?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/11/goldman-wants-to-fix-the-apple-card-flaw-that-has-users-claiming-bias.html

Apple Inc - the company with the iPhone, AppleWatch, Mac Computers and more is getting into the credit card business with Goldman Sachs.  

At first blush, one would think - “Hey Apple is moving out of electronics and into finance - that’s good”.  Well, that is good (mostly for the Apple corporation). Apple has made some slight inroads with ApplePay, where you can pay for purchases by flashing your iPhone at a Near Field Communication device (NFC).  With a full-service credit card, that makes money that can be used (especially) on Apple products, that helps make customers “sticky” (that is, make customers want to ‘stick’ with Apple products).  

So, they have made an Apple Credit card with Goldman Sachs - that seemingly has a gender problem.

Goldman Sachs is looking into ways that family members can share a single Apple Card account after a few high-profile users complained that their spouses were discriminated against.

The controversy surfaced over the weekend after a tech entrepreneur tweeted that he got 20 times the credit limit that his wife got, prompting Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to add that “the same thing happened” to him.

The article states: 

““As with any other individual credit card, your application is evaluated independently,” Williams said in a statement. “We look at an individual’s income and an individual’s creditworthiness, which includes factors like personal credit scores, how much personal debt you have, and how that debt has been managed.”

“That setup makes it “possible for two family members to receive significantly different credit decisions,” Williams said. He added that the bank is actively exploring ways to allow users to share their Apple Card with family members.

“The Apple Card is directly linked to a user’s iPhone, where the application process happens, helping explain the appeal of individual accounts. In some cases, shared accounts could lead to legal disputes over who must repay debts if a couple separates.”

Credit account limits are largely based on a person’s credit score from one of the main credit bureaus.  But, frequently credit reports are based on a man’s spending. Many household accounts are in the name of the husband and the wife - but the man’s name is frequently used as the main determinate.  

So, as Apple (and Goldman Sachs) tried to determine credit limits, the credit reports tended to be more oriented to males.  Thus if a couple got Apple Cards as a couple, the husband might get a credit limit of (say) $20,000 and the wife might get a credit limit of (say) $2,000.  

So, it looks like discrimination or a common problem with credit bureaus based on past gender practices.  In my former household, my wife handled most of the bill paying and financial chores - yet, my guess is in our separate ways, my credit limit might be significantly higher as I had higher earnings throughout my life.

Sometimes it seems as any little problem can be blown out of perspective and I sense that Apple, Goldman Sachs, and the credit bureaus will be rethinking how credit reports can be more gender-neutral!!

What do you think?  In a world where men traditionally get paid more for the same jobs as women, is credit processing just a byproduct of the ‘system’ or a fault that needs addressing.

Karen