Consumer complaint received 2024-03-13
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card — Credit card company won't increase or decrease your credit limit
Company: GOLDMAN SACHS BANK USA (PA)

WHAT HAPPENED After many difficulties with identification, I finally got an Apple Card in XXXX, XXXX. I was shocked to find that I was given a credit limit and interest rate far inferior to those my husband obtained when he got his card ( $ XXXX19.24 % versus $ XXXX16.24 % ). My husband and I own everything in common, are joint owners of one other credit card that weve had for many years and file a joint income tax return. We had identical excellent XXXX credit scores of XXXX before I applied to Apple when mine dropped to XXXX. 

I contacted Apple Card customer service on XX/XX/XXXX to ask why my terms- as a female - were inferior to my husbands. I was told that Apple does not take gender into account when establishing terms, only information from the credit bureaus. I asked why my terms were so much poorer when our scores were identical and asked for a review by Goldman-Sachs . I was told that it was not possible to ask for a limit increase before 180 days had elapsed. This missed the point- it was the initial limit that was in question! 

A subsequent search to see if Apple 's other female customers had encountered the same problem revealed that gender discrimination was widespread when the card was introduced. Apple co-founder XXXX XXXX wife got one tenth his limit despite the fact that they share all their accounts and assets! I was therefore heartened to find a Business Insider article ( XX/XX/XXXX ) about the problem quoting a statement released by XXXX XXXX, the CEO of Goldman-Sachs : `` We hear you. Your concerns are important to us and we take them seriously Some of our customers have told us they received lower credit lines than they expected. In many cases, this is because their existing credit cards are supplemental cards under their spouse 's primary account- which may result in the applicant having limited personal credit history. Apple Card 's credit decision process is not aware of your marital status at the time of the application. If you believe that your credit line does not adequately reflect your credit history because you may be in a similar situation, we want to hear from you. Based on additional information that we may request, we will re-evaluate your credit line. 

Encouraged by the CEO 's statement, I contacted Apple again the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to ask for my credit line to be re-evaluated. The representative was very sympathetic and offered to connect me with a supervisor. XXXX told me that he would escalate the issue to upper management, who would get back to me within a week. Nothing happened, apart from a stock email stating that the issue was being looked into '', so I contacted Apple again on XX/XX/XXXX. I then spent a frustrating 3 hours (! ) trying to persuade the representative to connect me with a supervisor. I tried again on XX/XX/XXXX but was told there was a system issue preventing account verification and again on XX/XX/XXXX when I reached supervisor XXXX. She first told me that Apple had responded on XX/XX/XXXX. When I pointed out that this was only an acknowledgement, she said they were unable to give another limit. After I asked whether Goldman-Sachs was still investigating or if the case was closed, she offered to get the matter escalated once again with a call back so the result could be explained in detail. I asked for this to be done by email. Its now a month later and Apple has still not contacted me. 
COMPLAINT I believe that Apples procedures gave a discriminatory decision in setting the credit limit and interest rate for my new credit card. That there is a systematic problem in this area was acknowledged by the CEO of Goldman-Sachs in XXXX. Despite her statement promising a review when such situations occur, Apple failed to do so.