Apple’s latest foray into fintech is attracting a lot of interest, but is it too interested in users’ lives?

Since becoming a force in the tech world, Apple has made several moves into financial technology, also known as fintech. In 2014, it introduced Apple Pay. The company dipped its toe into banking when the credit card, Apple Card, arrived in 2019. Now the tech giant is making a bigger splash with the Apple Card savings account, which comes with an impressive interest rate of 4.15%.

The account is baked into the iPhone operating system, along with your Apple credit card, in the Apple Wallet app. If that sounds like a lot of Apple-only features piled on top of each other, that’s because it is.

For that reason, Vox senior reporter Sara Morrison said setting up her account was “shockingly easy.” She also said she’s made more in three weeks with Apple than she did in nearly three years with her previous savings account — although, to be fair, some conventional financial institutions offer similar savings rates, in line with the Federal Reserve’s interest rate campaign. hiking.

But these benefits of being an Apple customer come with questions about how far the company reaches into customers’ lives.

“It’s in your car. It is in your financial life. It’s in your health services. I mean, it’s everywhere,” Morrison said. “And it makes sense that banks are in there. But when you think about it, it’s gotten so far so quickly into so many things.”

Morrison wrote about his experience with the account in Vox. “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke to Morrison about what it’s like to tap your iPhone. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kai Ryssdal: You opened one of these Apple savings accounts. First of all, how was it? A couple of taps and boom, are you in?

Sarah Morrison: Yes, it was shockingly easy. Apple products are always pretty easy, but the last time I opened a savings account at another bank, it was a much longer and more complicated process. And this was literally a few taps.

Ryssdal: However, I wonder how shockingly frictionless it was to give Apple more access to your money.

Morrison: I mean, there’s always a consideration of how much a company should want from me, and your financial life is certainly a big part of that. I had these concerns when I opened the Apple card, which you need to have to get the savings account. That’s a concern, but there’s also an interest rate of 4.15% on the savings account.

Ryssdal: It is nothing. However, I wonder what Apple’s reputation for frictionless service means to competitors in this space, because now your savings account is on the phone, and it’s pretty easy.

Morrison: Yes, and one thing that Apple is notorious for is that it has a ton of control over its devices. All of this is in the Wallet app.

Ryssdal: If someone had told you five years ago, maybe eight years ago, that Apple was going to have a savings account, what would your reaction be?

Morrison: I mean, absolutely not. I never understood why they would do that, why anyone would want to use Apple as a savings account when there are banks. For me – I’m a bit old – Apple was a computer manufacturer. Now there is much more. It’s in your car. It is in your financial life. It’s in your health services. I mean, it’s everywhere. And it makes sense that banks are in there. But when you think about it, it has come so far so fast into so many things.

Ryssdal: So what’s next? Will we see an Apple loan app? Are we going to see a Robinhood thing where you can actively trade? I mean, in theory, Tim Cook and the gang in Cupertino are looking for more ways to get more of your money.

Morrison: Yes, in theory. I’m not sure how much further they want to go into financial services because you get into a whole regulatory thing. I mean, Apple isn’t an actual bank – they’ve teamed up with Goldman Sachs to offer the banking service. But they have the “buy now, pay later” service which is quite new, which they created their own kind of loan company to do. So it’s not out of the question that they expand it. You have to think, what is the business interest for Apple to do that? But I wouldn’t rule it out. I wouldn’t rule anything out.

Ryssdal: Let me ask you this. You said you get 4.15% on your Apple Savings account now. How much has it meant to you in the three weeks they’ve had your money?

Morrison: I have received an interest payment. So far it’s been three weeks, and I think that was more in that month than I’ve gotten in the last year, possibly two years, maybe three, from my previous high interest savings accounts. So it is significant. I was very happy to see it.

Ryssdal: “High yield” in air quotes there. But that’s kind of what I’m saying, right? I mean, they’ve made this very attractive for you to give them more access.

Morrison: Yeah, I mean, when I saw 4.15% and I looked at my savings account at the time, which was a fraction of that, I was actually kind of mad at my old bank. I said, “No, I’m going to go with an FDIC-insured account that gives me as much money as possible.” It’s inflation. I feel like I’m losing money at a certain point when the interest rate isn’t high enough, so I might as well lose a little less money on this.