Apple Card’s savings account got a little more generous this week. The interest rate ticked up from 3.4% to 3.5%, a small move, but one that plenty of cardholders will notice the next time they check their balance in Wallet. Put $1,000 in the account and leave it untouched for a year, and you’d walk away with $35 in interest under the new rate.
Apple and Goldman Sachs run the savings account together, and they don’t set the rate once and forget it. It moves up or down depending on broader economic conditions, sometimes tracking Federal Reserve decisions and sometimes not. Earlier this year, the rate actually dropped to 3.5% in April, so this latest change essentially brings it right back to where it sat a few months ago, though the path there wasn’t a straight line; it dipped as low as 3.4% before climbing again.
What’s notable here is that Apple’s rate now lines up exactly with Goldman’s own Marcus savings product, the one it sells directly to the public outside the Apple Card ecosystem. Marcus is currently dangling a limited-time bonus rate above 4.5% for new sign-ups, but that offer doesn’t extend to Apple Card users, who are stuck with the standard 3.5% for now.
None of this changes how the account actually works day to day. It’s still exclusive to Apple Card holders, still free of fees or minimum balance requirements, and still tightly integrated with Daily Cash, Apple’s cashback rewards program. Cardholders can route their Daily Cash straight into savings automatically, or move it over manually whenever they want. Money can also come from a linked bank account or an existing Apple Cash balance, so there’s more than one way to fund it.
Interest compounds daily rather than monthly, which matters more than people sometimes realize. Every dollar of interest earned starts generating its own interest almost immediately, and Apple deposits the accumulated total into the account at the close of each month rather than making users track it themselves.
Whether 3.5% is worth chasing depends on what else is out there. It beats a typical checking account by a wide margin, but savers willing to shop around, or take advantage of promotional rates like the one Marcus is currently offering, could find something better elsewhere.
