During its WWDC 2022 keynote, Apple announced its new “Apple Pay Later” program, which is set to debut this fall and allows shoppers to break their payments for purchases into four equal installments, over six weeks.
The company is apparently also handling the lending through the use of its new wholly-owned subsidiary, as opposed to using an existing financial institution.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple has created Apple Financing LLC to handle the lending aspect. This also marks the first time that Apple has bundled loans and credit assessments with other financial businesses in-house.
Apple Financing LLC currently has all the necessary state lending licenses, allowing it to offer this feature. It apparently also operates separately from the main Apple corporation.
Many of Apple’s financial services, though, are slowly moving under Cupertino’s broader umbrella. A “secret initiative” the company calls “Breakout” will also supposedly handle subscription payments for a rumored program designed to split the cost of new iPhones and other hardware into smaller monthly installments.
It’s been noted that the Apple Pay Later program won’t make any money from interest payments or fees.It’s also been noted that Apple can still charge merchants anywhere from 2 to 8 percent of the purchase amount, and with Apple handing the financing in-house, it can profit from the Apple Pay merchants.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via The Mac Observer and Bloomberg