Goldman Sachs credit card practices under investigation by US watchdog

Goldman Sachs, Apple's partner bank for its Apple Card offering, has revealed that it is facing an investigation by a U.S. consumer watchdog

The bank revealed the investigation in a quarterly 10-Q form filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is probing Goldman Sachs' credit card account management practices, refunds, and billing error resolutions.

The filing offered no other details about the probe, and did not name the specific credit cards or accounts that are included in the investigation.

However, it's likely that the investigation is centered on the Apple Card. Other than a co-branded credit card with General Motors, the Apple Card represents Goldman Sachs' only consumer credit card product.

This is not the first time that Goldman Sachs has been investigated for credit card products. In 2019, the bank was accused of discriminatory behavior on allegations that longer lines of credit were distributed based on gender.

In 2021, the New York State Department of Financial Services cleared Goldman Sachs of those claims after an investigation.

The Apple Card hasn't been spotless since its debut in 2019. Issues has included erroneous cash back rates and system problems that prevented users from making bill payments or accessing account management features.

20 Comments

tdknox 84 comments · 13 Years

About 2 years ago

The interest rates are high. I have >800 credit and still have 21%. But I have no complaints about their service or conflict resolution.

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

I almost always pay off my Apple Card monthly but I don't believe we're charged interest as long as we pay something. I could be wrong but I thought this is the way it's done. I know I'm not paying interested when buying Apple products on a 1 or 2 year purchase agreement.

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

scstrrf said:

my interest rate only recently went down from 23.99% to 21.99%.
Questionable at best, even if such usurious rates are standard practice in USA.

Those 20% rates are calculated per year, and they are nothing when compared to the fact that you can get cheques "cashed instantly" at many specialty shops, and they charge only 3% of the entire value of the cheque (plus a fixed fee.) So if you get your money 7 days earlier than you would have if you had waited for the cheque to clear, you are paying 3% per week for a loan, not per year. That's equivalent to 156% interest rate per year (52 times 3%) by comparison to the 20% you are concerned about.

I agree with you that that 156%/year is usurious.

mikethemartian 1485 comments · 18 Years

scstrrf said:

As an Apple Card user I like the product, but my interest rate only recently went down from 23.99% to 21.99%.
Questionable at best, even if such usurious rates are standard practice in USA.

Credit card purchases are unsecured debt that’s why the rate is so high. It is a risky loan. The card issuer has no collateral of the borrower that they can sell to offset the borrower not paying. All they can do is threaten to adversely report to the credit bureaus and sell the debt to a collector at a large discount.

sdw2001 17459 comments · 23 Years

scstrrf said:

As an Apple Card user I like the product, but my interest rate only recently went down from 23.99% to 21.99%.
Questionable at best, even if such usurious rates are standard practice in USA.

It’s not questionable at all. You just don’t like it. That is a standard credit card interest rate. They often run promotions where it’s 0% for a certain time.