Customers who apply for Apple Pay Later are evaluated on several factors, including their purchase history with Apple and the devices they own.
Apple Pay Later is a "buy now, pay later" service that the company announced in June 2022. It offers customers the opportunity to finance their purchases through four payments within six weeks. A new report According to Bloomberg, Apple Pay Later's eligibility criteria will depend in part on a user's history with Apple, including spending at the Apple Store, the App Store, and even the Apple devices they own.
Apple's purchase history data ends with Apple Pay
The criteria for granting loans were uncovered during an internal company test. According to the report, the testers were granted loans of up to $1,000. Bloomberg claims that the new service allows Apple to tap into its "treasure trove" of data about its customers. This data includes spending at the company's retail stores, transactions in the App Store, and peer-to-peer payments with Apple Cash. Apple can easily find out which customers own which devices, who has an Apple Card, and how much they spend through Apple Cash peer-to-peer payments. However, Apple's purchase history data ends with Apple Pay. As a reminder: The says Apple about Apple Pay and the data collected:
Apple Pay Later: The launch is expected in the next few weeks
Apple does not store or have access to the original credit, debit, or prepaid card numbers you use with Apple Pay. And when you use Apple Pay with credit, debit, or prepaid cards, Apple does not store transaction data that can be traced back to you — your transactions remain between you, the merchant or developer, and your bank or card issuer.
It remains unclear what data Apple has available to determine a user's creditworthiness, other than knowing which purchases were paid for with which method. Presumably, the privacy policy and terms of use will provide further details on how Apple actually determines creditworthiness. The report explains that credit offers expire after 30 days and that a copy of ID, full social security number and two-step verification in an Apple account are sometimes required to apply for a loan. Importantly, credit status with Apple Pay Later does not affect access to other company services. Apple Pay Later was originally scheduled to launch in 2022, but has been postponed to early 2023. It is currently being tested by employees and is expected to launch in the next few weeks. However, it remains to be seen whether and when the service will launch here. (Photo by Unsplash / Martin Sanchez)
