How do i pay my apple credit card bill

The Apple Card launched in late August with a lot of hype about how the credit card's app emphasizes the importance of transparency and financial well-being. A little more than a month later, new cardholders are getting their first statements and, with it, the full experience of using the card for an entire billing cycle. 

The Apple Card is a mobile-first credit card and cardholders make payments within the Wallet app. If you want to check your statement balance, total account balance, bill due date, minimum payment or potential interest charges, simply open the Wallet app and select your Apple Card. From within the Wallet app, you're able to schedule payments from an external bank account and your Apple Cash account.

In this guide, CNBC Make It reviews how to link a bank account, use Apple Cash as a payment source, make Apple Card payments and use the payment tools Apple offers cardholders.

How payments work with the Apple Card

Apple is very transparent about when payments are due and how much it will cost to carry a balance on your card. When you open the Wallet app and select your Apple Card, your total balance (which includes your previous monthly balances and any interest charges you might have accrued, new spending from the current month, payments, credits and pending transactions) and bill due date is displayed.

To view your statement balance (aka monthly balance, per Apple), select "Pay" and your balance will be displayed in large text within the simulation wheel. The example below shows a total balance of $187.36, August monthly balance of $143.76 and due date of September 30.

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You'll notice a green check mark, which indicates that if you pay the monthly balance in full, you won't incur interest charges. The simulation wheel includes a "payment nudge" that allows you to select a payment amount and see how much interest you'd be charged for the given payment. If you move the "nudge" to a point less than your monthly balance, you'll incur interest charges, which Apple displays so you know the consequences of not paying in full.

How to link a bank account

Before you can pay your Apple Card, you'll need to link a bank account. If you already have Apple Cash set up, when you go to add a bank account, you'll be asked if you want to add the same bank account. If you select yes, the bank account is automatically added. If you don't have Apple Cash set up or if you want to add another bank account, follow the steps below. The first bank you add will become your default account.

Here are the steps to add a bank account to your Apple Card:

1. Get your bank account number and bank routing number.
2. Open Wallet on your iPhone and tap Apple Card.
3. Tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.
4. Scroll down and tap Bank Accounts.
5. Tap Add a Bank Account, then follow the instructions on your screen.

How to use Apple Cash as a payment source

Since the Apple Card is linked to your Apple Cash account, you can use any balance you have in your Apple Cash account to pay off all or part of your Apple Card's monthly balance.

Your Apple Cash account will automatically display as a payment method, though you may need to verify your identity.

If the balance in your Apple Cash account is less than the amount of your Apple Card payment, the remaining balance is paid from your default bank account.

How to make a payment

No hunting online for statements, Apple Card shows you both your balance and your payment date right there in your face.

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It's not the best part of owning a credit card, but since we have to pay them off, Apple has made the process remarkably fast and easy for Apple Card payments.

Give Apple some credit, so to speak. Where most firms seem to disguise the best ways to pay off their credit cards, Apple has been upfront with how to do it. And specifically about how you can do it so that you pay no interest.

The rules are the same as for any other card, but Apple has made the method particularly clear. In doing so, it has created a system that encourages you to avoid paying fees or charges.

You can check your outstanding balance at any moment, you can make a one-off payment, or you can schedule a payment to happen later. It's all done via the Wallet app.

Know where you stand

Check your balance. If you open Wallet on your iPhone and tap on Apple Card, you'll get a button marked Pay.

As soon as you tap that, you're taken to a Choose Amount screen that shows your balance both as a text figure across the center of the screen, and as a large circle graphic around that.

Within the circle, you'll get text telling you the total balance at the top, and then what interest you'll be paying at the bottom.

There's a very clear line saying when payments are due, always the end of the current month, and beneath the circle there is advice. That advice changes depending on how you tap and hold on the circle and drag its slider around.

If you have it slid all the way to its full extent, meaning you're paying off the entire card, then the circle is green, there is no interest charge, and you can tap the Pay Now button.

Or rather, there's no interest charge if you pay the entire amount before it's due. The billing cycle ends at 23:55:59 on the last day of the month, but don't push it.

If you can't pay off the whole amount by a day or so before the end of the month, you can instead slide counterclockwise and eventually the circle will turn red. It does that at your minimum repayment amount, whatever that is. So you can quickly see both what you owe in total and also what you have to pay or else.

Pay later

The benefit of doing a one-off payment to Apple Card like this is that it probably could not be easier, probably could not be faster, and it surely could not be simpler.

However, the problem with is that it depends on you doing this. You do get notifications reminding you, but still, if you keep putting it off, there will come a day when you haven't paid the card in time.

Apple won't then charge you any late fees, as some cards would, but the amount stays on the card and you pay interest on it.

To avoid this, you can do one of two things.

First, if you're putting it off because you haven't got the money to pay today, schedule the payment for when you'll have been paid. You can do that as a schedule one-time payment, meaning you tell it now to pay, while you've thought of it, but it won't happen until the day you know you'll have the funds.

Open the Wallet app, tap Apple Card, tap Pay, slide the circle or wheel around to how much you want to pay, and then tap Pay Later.

Then you're prompted to enter a date and that's it, you're done.

When you make a one-off payment, you have the option to pay from your Daily Cash account or your bank.

There is an odd limitation on this. Where you can make a regular one-off payment using either your bank or a set-up Apple Cash account, a schedule one-off can only be done via your bank account.

Pay regularly

If Apple fails to make us more financially astute, at least we should all take one lesson from Apple Card — you need to pay credit cards off regularly. Preferably, you need to pay them off completely, and regularly.

With Apple Card, you can also just set up a recurring regular payment. In the Wallet, tap on Apple Card again, then the More button — an icon of ellipses in a circle — and then Scheduled Payments.

Tap Continue to confirm you want to do this, then set the amount. You can chose Pay My Bill, which will always pay off the entire amount outstanding, or Pay Different Amount. With that, you can set a specific dollar amount that you want to automatically and regularly pay toward your Apple Card bill.

Then you need to say if you want this to repeat every month, and then specifically what day of the month you want it to happen.

Instant customization

You can set up regular payments at any time, and they don't preclude you from making the occasional one-off payment either.

You can set up your card so that it's paid automatically from your bank account

If you want to change the regular payment date or amount, you need to cancel the one you've set up and start again. However, cancelling the old regular payment is particularly easy. You tap on your payment as listed in the Wallet app then tap Cancel Payments. Confirm that you want to do this, and it's done.

Apple has thought of everything, and it has made everything far easier than the average credit card. Except for how if you lose your iPhone, you're not only cut off from all these simple financial tools, you you'll find it tricky to make payments at all.

At best, you'll have to use another iOS device — so get a replacement phone fast or make sure you've got an iPad too. At worst, you'll have to call Apple Support on 1-800-275-2273.

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