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Eric Idle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 4, 2020
524
381
While reviewing my wife's Apple Cash balance I found it stuck at $499 for the past year. Sadly, it has been that long since any review. My balance is now at $900 and keeps growing with every purchase. My wife's balance has been stuck at the same amount regardless of how much she spends. Calling Apple support says that her Apple Cash balance is capped at $500 and that all the cash due the past year has been lost. I can't understand this. Why is my balance allowed to go past $500 while hers is not? Why was there no notification from Apple that all this money was being lost?

Apple's losing two customers over this as we will both cancel our cards. I spend far more than my wife, earning $900 in cash back in less than one year.

This hopefully will help others so that they do not lose the Apple Cash due to them from using their Apple Card.
 

Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,922
2,029
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
The info page on Apple's website does not state any maximum for Apple Cash and the fact that your own card has a larger balance just shows that your claim that there is a maximum of $500 is not correct.

Further, if you scroll down to the 'small print' on the link below you'll see "Apple Cash Family accounts can send or receive up to $2000 per transaction or within a seven-day period". There are no other maximums mentioned on either that page or in the detailed terms and conditions for the Apple Card & Apple Cash that can be reviewed if you click the link.

One possible explanation is that the Apple Cash debit card has been administered by Discover (just now switching to VISA), and perhaps there is something going on with Discover that has led to this. But Apple should be able to help you figure out if that is the case and if you will need to contact Discover.

I recommend that you reach out to Apple again and pursue this because there is something wrong with your wife's Apple Cash account and the person you spoke to previously may simply not have been able to determine the problem or reason for the issue and explain it correctly and remedy it.

 

BigBlur

macrumors 6502a
Jul 9, 2021
642
704
Did your wife verify her identity? $500 is the limit if her identity hasn't been verified yet.

Otherwise, the maximum limit is $20,000 for verified identities (or $4,000 if you're using Apple Cash Family).
 

Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,922
2,029
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
Did your wife verify her identity? $500 is the limit if her identity hasn't been verified yet.

Otherwise, the maximum limit is $20,000 for verified identities (or $4,000 if you're using Apple Cash Family).
Excellent, thanks. I didn't come across that support page earlier and it should clarify this when the OP contacts Apple (if he does).
 

Eric Idle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 4, 2020
524
381
Did your wife verify her identity? $500 is the limit if her identity hasn't been verified yet.

Otherwise, the maximum limit is $20,000 for verified identities (or $4,000 if you're using Apple Cash Family).

Thank you for your reply. I don't see any way to tell whether or not either myself or my wife have verified our identities. I don't remember doing this but I have had my Apple Card for a long time and might have forgotten. What you have found might explain why my wife lost all her cash back awards the past year. Apple says that there is no way to get this money back. It's gone forever.

It would have been REALLY nice for Apple to send a notification and let us know what was going on once my wife maxed out her Apple Cash bank card.
 

Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,922
2,029
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
I don't recall doing this myself when first setting up Apple Card or Apple Cash, but the option is no longer available to me in the app or in my settings which means I must have done it at some point.

My expectation is that this is part of the setup of these cards and if they are bypassed in the beginning (not everything needs to be completed, sometimes you get a 'remind me later' or similar option) then it could easily be forgotten. Perhaps reminders were sent and similarly overlooked. Seems that is what may have happened here, not intentionally.

The other thing that should have flagged this to the OP would have been the lack of daily cash being added to the Apple Cash account once it reached the $500 limit. If the Apple Cash account was not being used very often (or at all) then that would also be easy to overlook. But what is the point of accruing the Apple Cash for using the Apple Card if it isn't used once in a while for something? I suppose if you don't need it, then it becomes a kind of de-facto savings account that is out of sight, out of mind.

In the past when people used paper checks and actually manually balanced checking accounts each month (seems archaic now, I know), something like this wouldn't go unnoticed. Today its normal to manage all of these things digitally but there is a new kind of diligence still needed.

Apple is pretty good at telling you when you run into some kind of limit, but this may be one example of a situation that can fall through the cracks. Very unfortunate.
 

Eric Idle

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 4, 2020
524
381
One more post to bring closure to this issue and help others who might run into this problem. I found that my wife had not verified her identity with Apple Cash so that is most likely the reason why she maxed out at $499 on her Apple card. A few days ago she dumped her Apple Cash into our checking account and so went back to 0. Today we see a deposit of money into her Apple Cash that surely represents the 1 year's worth of purchase cash back from all the time she could not add to her Apple Cash. So it seems we are not losing any money afterall. That's good, but nobody at Apple could figure out why this was happening. She talked to 3 layers of support with Apple and one layer at Discover I presume. She said she talked to "the bank". Very odd that no one could help her during a nearly 2 hour phone call.

Veryfy your identity!!
 

Phil77354

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2014
1,922
2,029
Pacific Northwest, U.S.
One more post to bring closure to this issue and help others who might run into this problem. I found that my wife had not verified her identity with Apple Cash so that is most likely the reason why she maxed out at $499 on her Apple card. A few days ago she dumped her Apple Cash into our checking account and so went back to 0. Today we see a deposit of money into her Apple Cash that surely represents the 1 year's worth of purchase cash back from all the time she could not add to her Apple Cash. So it seems we are not losing any money afterall. That's good, but nobody at Apple could figure out why this was happening. She talked to 3 layers of support with Apple and one layer at Discover I presume. She said she talked to "the bank". Very odd that no one could help her during a nearly 2 hour phone call.

Veryfy your identity!!
Great to hear! And thanks for letting us know how this worked out.
 
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