Can you pay off your Apple Card with a balance transfer?

Key takeaways

• There’s more than one way to pay off an Apple Card, including online payments or recurring and one-time payments.

• Officially, the Apple Card doesn’t allow for balance transfers to the card, and it doesn’t appear to let consumers transfer their Apple Card balances to other balance transfer cards either.

• It may be possible to complete a balance transfer, but be prepared for the possibility of extra fees or Goldman Sachs denying or canceling your request.

It’s easy to see why the Apple Card* is so popular. Cardholders don’t pay an annual fee, foreign transaction fees or any late fees, but still have the chance to earn:

• 3 percent cash back on goods and services purchased directly from Apple

• 3 percent cash back on purchases with select merchants that let you pay with your Apple Card and Apple Pay

• 2 percent cash back on other purchases where you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay

• 1 percent back on all other purchases made with the physical card or online where Apple Pay is not accepted

And there’s more than one way to pay off an Apple Card, including online payments or recurring or one-time payments in your device’s Wallet app. If your device is missing or stolen, you can call an Apple Card specialist to avoid missing a payment.

However, when you dive into the Apple Card’s terms and conditions from Goldman Sachs, you’ll notice one interesting omission: The Apple Card doesn’t have a balance transfer APR or a balance transfer fee. That’s because this card doesn’t allow balance transfers to it at all.

But can you transfer your Apple Card balance to another card? The answer is complicated. Here’s what to know if you’re wondering how to pay off an Apple Card with a balance transfer but you keep running into roadblocks.

Can you transfer a balance from the Apple Card to another credit card?

Officially, no, the Apple Card does not appear to support balance transfers. Cardholder reports vary, but you can read real user experiences in places like the myFICO forum and Reddit. The consensus seems to be that it may be possible to transfer an Apple Card balance to another card, but results are inconsistent.

It appears to come down to what Apple considers “non-conforming payments.” Here’s what Apple says about payments it considers to be non-conforming in its cardholder agreement:

“We may reject any payments that do not comply with our payment instructions set forth in this Agreement or on your Monthly Statement (each a ‘Non-conforming Payment’) in our discretion. If we accept a Non-conforming Payment, crediting your Account for the payment may be delayed and may result in additional interest billed to your Account.”

Apple also says:

“We may accept any Non-conforming Payments, late payments, partial payments or payments with restrictive endorsements, without losing any of our rights, including our right to close your Account. We may deposit any payment you send us for less than the total outstanding balance of your Account that you mark ‘paid in full’ or with any similar language or otherwise seek to provide as full satisfaction of a disputed amount. If we do, this payment will not fully satisfy the disputed amount or otherwise affect our rights to payment in full.”

That said, Apple reserves the right not to accept any balance transfers from the Apple Card. It’s only required to accept a payment method that it has outlined, such as submitting online payments, paying through the Wallet app or by talking to an Apple specialist.

If Apple does accept a payment method that isn’t listed as an option to cardholders, there’s a possibility it could close the account. Even if a payment is sent and marked “paid in full,” it doesn’t mean Apple will accept the transfer. Rather, the issuer reserves the right to still pursue full repayment.

Alice Lesperance, a credit cards editor at Bankrate, successfully completed an Apple Card balance transfer to her Citi Double Cash® card but was not optimistic about it working out:

Below, you can see that the amount for the transfer was charged to Lesperance’s Citi card as a balance transfer but displays as an “Offline Payment” on Apple’s end in the Wallet App:

While Lesperance’s experience was relatively straightforward, other cardholders report mixed results, like long wait times for the balance transfer to post or error messages when attempting the transfer. However, making the attempt might be worth it for you if you’re carrying a significant balance on your Apple Card from month to month.

Alternative ways to pay off your Apple Card

Ultimately, Apple does not control how you pay off your balance with its credit card. If you have debt on an Apple Card you would prefer to consolidate and you’re unable to complete a balance transfer through the standard process, here are workarounds to consider.

Write a balance transfer check to yourself

While you may not be able to sign up for a balance transfer card and transfer your Apple Card balance the traditional way, balance transfer checks can help you transfer your balance with a few more steps. When you’re approved for a balance transfer credit card that offers balance transfer checks, you have the option to complete a check paid to yourself. With this strategy, you can write yourself a check for the amount of debt you want to consolidate from your Apple Card, and then simply pay off the balance on your Apple Card using the same funds.

Bankrate Insight

Keep in mind that even the best balance transfer credit cards charge a balance transfer fee that’s 3 percent to 5 percent of the debt you transfer. This fee kicks in on any balance transfer checks you write to yourself, adding 3 percent or 5 percent to the new amount you owe.

Be very careful that your checks are specifically “balance transfer checks” and not simply “convenience checks.” Those convenience checks are usually cash advances, rather than balance transfers. And cash advances come with signficantly higher fees and no intro 0 percent APR period. If in doubt, contact your issuer for clarification.

With that in mind, make sure you choose a balance transfer credit card that offers a 0 percent APR period that’s as long as possible — or at the very least long enough to pay off your balance in full before the introductory period ends. Your interest savings will make paying the balance transfer fee well worth it.

Take out a debt consolidation loan

You can also consider consolidating debt with a personal loan, which may make it easier to avoid racking up more debt. Personal loans come with a low fixed interest rate, a fixed monthly payment and a fixed repayment timeline, so you know exactly when you’ll pay your debt off.

When you take out a personal loan, you get the amount you borrow as a lump sum of cash upfront. When you deposit your loan proceeds in your bank account, you can use the money to pay off your Apple Card and begin making payments on your loan.

Before borrowing money, compare personal loans to find the best option for your needs and your budget. Personal loan rates can be as low as 10.3 percent for consumers with great credit, and many personal loans come with no application fees, no origination fees and no hidden fees.

The bottom line

If you’re feeling frustrated that you can’t pay off your Apple Card how you want to, you have a few workarounds to consider. However, you may want to start thinking more long term about the Apple Card — and perhaps even transition to another card for your everyday spending.

The Apple Card does offer lucrative rewards when you use it to complete purchases through Apple Pay, but plenty of other rewards credit cards will let you manage your debt the way you want — and without all the red tape.

*Information about the Apple Card has been collected independently by Bankrate. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.