Apple to let family members build credit together with new ‘Apple Card Family’

Apple is extending its “family sharing” group service model to the Apple Card.

In May 2020, the tech giant will release “Apple Card Family,” which lets a holder of the Apple Card co-own the card with another person, sharing and merging share and merging their credit lines while building credit together equally. The new offering also enables parents to share Apple Card with their children, with optional spending limits and controls. The group can track its spending on iPhone, with a single monthly bill. 

Apple Card customers can add up to five people to their Apple Card account by sharing Apple Card with them in Apple Wallet. All users must be part of the same Family Sharing group to participate in Apple Card Family, and be 13 years of age or older. Any eligible customer who is 18 years or older can be added as a co-owner.

Apple Card Family is modeled on the Apple Family Sharing program through which Apple lets subscribers allows up to five other family members to share access to such services as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, iTunes and iCloud storage.

“We designed Apple Card Family because we saw an opportunity to reinvent how spouses, partners, and the people you trust most share credit cards and build credit together,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple VP of Apple Pay. “There’s been a lack of transparency and consumer understanding in the way credit scores are calculated when there are two users of the same credit card, since the primary account holder receives the benefit of building a strong credit history while the other does not. Apple Card Family lets people build their credit history together equally.”

Apple initially launched Apple Card in August 2019 as a digitally-oriented alternative to traditional credit cards. Apple Card is built into the Apple Wallet app on iPhone, connecting it to the Apple Pay digital payment service and providing users the ability to manage their card on their iPhone. 

Apple works with Goldman Sachs as the issuing bank for Apple Card, which makes all eligibility and credit decisions as a part of Apple Card Family.