Does Apple Card Discriminate Against Women?

When Apple Card officially debuted in the U.S. in August, one of its convenient features was the ability to apply for the card from your phone and get approved in a matter of seconds. Even better, you could see how much you’d get approved for before agreeing to the terms of the card and seeing the impact of opening a new account on your credit report.

But if you’re not the only person in your household who’s applied for the card, that ease of applying plus the near-instant verdict may have created some tension. Word on the street is that women are getting lower credit limit offers from Apple Card, which is backed by Goldman Sachs.

It all started when David Henemeier Hansson, told his many twitter followers about how he had gotten offered a credit limit 20 times what his wife had been offered. After trying to get answers from Apple and being told it was just “the algorithm” at work, Hansson and his wife pulled her credit score to find she has a stronger profile than he does.

Hansson isn’t the only one who has noticed this discrepancy. Steve Wozniak, the uh, cofounder of Apple, tweeted in response that he was offered a limit 10 times what was offered to his wife.

The public accusations have spurred the New York Department of Financial Services to investigate whether Apple Card is violating the state’s laws regarding equal treatment of consumers regardless of sex, an article from Bloomberg noted.

Goldman Sachs made a statement on Twitter that “As with any other individual credit card, your application is evaluated independently,” noting that individual income, credit scores, existing debt, and debt management factor into the approval process. “Based on these factors, it is possible for two family members to receive significantly different credit decisions.”

Hansson told Bloomberg that Apple bumped his wife’s credit limit “as soon as this became a PR issue.” While he said in that interview that he doesn’t believe there’s anything malicious happening, he continues to have concerns about the application process. “How do you know there isn’t an issue with the machine-learning algo when no one can explain how this decision was made?” he said to Bloomberg.

We’ve reached out to Apple and Goldman Sachs for comment and will update if they respond.

Married couples, even if they merge their checking accounts, file joint taxes, and share credit cards, still have individual credit reports and credit scores. Your combined credit histories only come into play if you’re applying for credit as cosigners.