Goldman Sachs denies claims of Apple Card gender bias

Following accusations that married couples are seeing different credit ratings in their Apple Card applications, bank Goldman Sachs has issued a statement saying all scores are individually calculated.

Following accusations of gender bias against married women over Apple Card credit limits, issuing bank Goldman Sachs has issued a statement denying any sexism.

We wanted to address some recent questions regarding the #AppleCard credit decision process. pic.twitter.com/TNZJTUZv36
— GS Bank Support (@gsbanksupport) November 11, 2019

In a statement tweeted by its @gsbanksupport account, Goldman Sachs acknowledged the concerns that it had been sexist, but insisted that credit decisions were completely independent of gender. Instead, it says, they are based on previous debt, current income and similar data.

"Based on these factors," says the tweeted statement, "it is possible for two family members to receive significantly different credit decisions. In all cases, we have not and will not make decisions based on factors like gender".

Previously, David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails, alleged that Apple and Goldman Sachs were being gender-biased against women who apply for the Apple Card. He suggested this based on the sizeable disparity between his application and that of his wife.

Later, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak reported having a similar situation with his partner.

The Apple Card launched on August 20 in conjunction with Goldman Sachs. It has been designed primarily to be used with Apple Pay on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac. The card features a cash-back reward system, called Daily Cash, that gives 3% back on all Apple purchases, 2% back on purchases made with Apple Pay, and 1% cash back on everything else.

83 Comments

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

About 5 years ago

I'm retired -- which means that my savings are high and my income is low. As a result GS gave me the lowest credit line of all my cards (about half).

Does that mean that they discriminate against retired people?

EsquireCats 1268 comments · 8 Years

It's literally in the banks favour to offer a customer as much credit as possible. Just because David Heinemeier Hansson doesn't fully know the criteria for how credit is allocated doesn't mean that this should have blown up into a top-news article on news websites worldwide. It just goes to show the media frenzy that occurs with the Apple brand.

steven n. 1229 comments · 13 Years

Logic will never sway the mindless prattling of ideologically processed individuals.

crowley 10431 comments · 15 Years

Something doesn't have to knowingly target gender to be sexist. There seems to be something off in the algorithm if it's giving such widely disparate results for individuals who you would otherwise expect to get the same or similar result. It is very logical to question that.

tomahawk 171 comments · 23 Years

crowley said:

Something doesn't have to knowingly target gender to be sexist. There seems to be something off in the algorithm if it's giving such widely disparate results for individuals who you would otherwise expect to get the same or similar result. It is very logical to question that.

Not necessarily. My wife and I each have our own credit cards (she also has access to mine) and are both listed on our accounts, etc.

Even though we are both listed there are a couple of accounts that I am still listed as the primary (there was no other way to do it and I had the accounts before we were married). I also used credit cards more often and for longer.

Despite the fact that our credit scores are going to be nearly the same I am going to qualify for a much higher credit line than she is simply due to my stronger credit history.

Want an even worse example, my mom owned 50% of my parent’s business and was denied a credit card in the business’ name.

A lot of banking only lists one primary account holder and who ever has that is going to have more credit history.