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How to set up an Apple Savings account
Apple's Savings account is intriguing and has great numbers: Here's what you need and how to set it up
Apple offered customers a savings account earlier this year. This option remains active and is an easy way to contribute to savings if you struggle to make savings deposits. Apple doesn't manage this account. It's a Goldman Sachs account that's tied to your Apple Card. There are no minimum balance requirements, and the annual account yield can vary. The yield started at 4.15%, which is one of the best savings account yields in the country.
How to delete your PayPal account
If it's time to say goodbye to PayPal, here's everything you need to do to delete your account
PayPal has become synonymous in many circles with online payments, but that doesn't mean everyone should have an account. Sometimes, it's time to close the curtains on PayPal. You may have been hacked, you may be restructuring your online banking for better budgeting, or you may be switching to a different kind of online wallet that's more comfortable to manage on your Android phone. And some people are still upset about the 2022 snafu.
The best buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps
BNPL apps allow you to finance with zero interest, among other tricks. Here's how they work
The sharp rise of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) apps leaves consumers, especially electronics consumers, with a question that's new and very old: Should they save the cash to buy more expensive items or use a type of financing?
Nvidia just purchased ARM for $40 billion
No immediate changes to Arm's open-licensing business are planned
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Arm Holdings is the company behind ARM processors, which power nearly every smartphone and tablet on Earth. SoftBank purchased Arm in 2016, and has been shopping around for potential buyers over the past few months. After days of speculation, it's now official that Nvidia is closing a deal to acquire ARM.
Samsung shares more information on its debit card, launching in the US this summer
Apple doeth, Samsung followeth
Following in Apple's footsteps, Samsung recently announced that it wants to introduce its own debit card. Today, the company has finally shared more information on that enterprise, calling it Samsung Money by SoFi as it's backed by said institution (which notably isn't a bank, as it states itself). The account-fee-free service is slated to launch "later this summer" in the US and will offer higher-than-average interest rates and rewards for saving money.
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- Both the Chinese and US LeEco sites now redirect to Le.com, home of the above-mentioned video streaming division. Perhaps LeMobile, the part responsible for making consumer electronics, is going away for good.
Chinese tech giant LeEco tried to enter the US market in late 2016 with a variety of Android-powered phones and TVs, but the company expanded too quickly. Just two days later, the CEO admitted that in a leaked memo, and two months later the company halted trading of its own stock due to massive losses. LeEco tried to sell its Silicon Valley property in March, it pulled out of buying Vizio, and 70% of the US workforce was let go.
Alphabet, every AP reader's favorite umbrella corporation for their favorite company, has posted the results of their first 2017 quarter's earnings. Things are looking pretty good, too. Revenue and income are both up from the same period last year, even though Alphabet's tax rates have increased.
Android Pay is spreading. If you manage your finances with a big bank, chances are you can make payments by tapping your phone against a payment terminal -- yes, even if you use Chase. If you do your banking with a smaller institution, you may have to cross your fingers.
There are many ways to send money to a friend using your phone. PayPal, Venmo, Facebook, Google. Not long ago, Square introduced Cash as its own personal method for you to take money that's in your bank account and stick it in another's. Now the company is introducing a feature that lets you set aside money specifically for this purpose.
BillGuard Is Shutting Down Its Web App, Will Only Be Available Through Mobile Apps Come February 1st
BillGuard is a service for tracking your spending and monitoring your credit, and an Android app is available in the Play Store that lets you do all of this from your phone. Soon you won't have the option to do so any other way. BillGuard has sent out an email to users stating that the web app will go away at the end of the month.
Using the stock market isn't free. Well, obviously. You're buying and selling stocks, after all. But on top of that, brokerage firms tend to charge fees to manage financial transactions. The Robinhood app lets you get around that fee, and now it has made its way over from iOS to Android.
Google apparently has a service in the works called Pony Express that will improve the way Gmail users manage the bills flooding into their inboxes, and perhaps even some that currently don't. This news comes through a Re/code report stating that the search giant is working with third-party vendors that print and mail out bills to bring even more of them online. Google will then give users the ability to pay these bills without having to leave Gmail.
Several years back this company called Square produced a product that let people accept credit card payments on their smartphones using this portable swiper-thingy that plugs into the device's headphone jack. PayPal saw this and decided that it wanted in on this action, so it produced a similar offering known as PayPal Here. The solution worked with phones, but many businesses relying on such products for point-of-sale like to use tablets instead. Now PayPal Here works with those too.
PayPal For Android v5.5 Brings Loyalty Cards And Faster Logins, But It Gives Check Scanning The Boot
Updates are typically exciting, but just like they can add new features, they can also take them away. Version 5.5 of PayPal's Android app tells precisely this type of story. The latest release adds in the ability to link loyalty cards to an account and reduce the strain on wallets everywhere. It also brings in faster logins, though this second change takes place behind the scenes, as the login screen looks just like it did before.
[New App] Mobilligy Hopes Consolidating All Bills Into A Single App Will Make Paying Them Less Sucky
Paying bills sucks. Everything about the entire experience, from reading the email/letter, writing the umpteenth check/visiting the umpteenth website, and kissing that hard-earned money goodbye, is considerably unpleasant. Then there's the consistently broken promise of doing better next month only to find that after forgoing all of that fast food, you actually managed to spend more money than the month before. Again, it sucks. The new Mobilligy won't make it not suck, but there's a chance it will at least make it suck less.
It's hard to love Intuit. Their most well-known product, Quicken, is what people use to manage their finances, and budgeting is about as exciting as watching your weight. That said, they've found immense success on Windows because their software was usable and, eventually, became a standard that users could expect banks and other financial services to be compatible with. Unfortunately, their Android app has not garnered the same reputation. Last year's release was plagued by a number of issues, and judging from the screenshots provided, it doesn't look like all that much has changed.
It's a good time for both the young and the young at heart. Disney has released four games into the Play Store all on the same day starring well-known characters like Muppets to lesser known stars such as ... a piggy bank? I may not know what the kids are into these days, but that says nothing to diminish the potential value of these four titles. First up, Monsters, Inc.
For the last couple of years, I've been using Mint to manage my bank account and credit cards. It offers a quick and easy way for me to know how much money I (don't) have at any given moment, as well as constantly monitor my credit cards. For me, simple is good - I don't bother with investments of any kind, so I have no use for a service that offers that sort of management. For those who do, though, the official Personal Capital app just hit the Play Store.
Mint Personal Finance App Updated, Brings Numerous Enhancements To Both Phones And Tablets
Mint Personal Finance App Updated
For as long as I can remember, I've been using Mint to manage my personal finances. It syncs with all my accounts/credit cards, and the mobile app is pretty fantastic. Today, the Mint team pushed a pretty major update to the app in the Play Store, which brings a whole slew of new features to both the phone and tablet interfaces:
Sprint's money troubles are no secret to anyone. After losing out on the Lightsquared deal, not to mention the decreased revenue from the iPhone deal (which should pay off in the long run), Sprint has had trouble making ends meet in the short term. Thanks to a new deal signed with the Western States Contract Alliance (WSCA), Sprint will receive $2bn in revenue over the next four years in exchange for its wireless services. Big customer.