Apple Card called out for being sexist as male customers receive higher credit limits

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Recently, Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak and serial tech entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson had an exchange on Twitter talking about the Apple Card.

The two men, along with their wives, Janet Hill and Jamie Hansson, respectively, signed up to use it. However, as Bloomberg reported, they found something rather – how do you say – problematic about their credit limits.

The same thing happened to us. I got 10x the credit limit. We have no separate bank or credit card accounts or any separate assets. Hard to get to a human for a correction though. It's big tech in 2019.

— Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) November 10, 2019

When a user signs up for the Apple Card, an algorithm will generate the limit which has led to this ongoing backlash.

Both Wozniak and DHH received 10x and 20x the credit limit on their Apple Card applications

However, the state of New York is currently investigating Goldman Sachs, the bank the card is connected to. The inquiry will be examining the bank’s credit card issuing services and whether they are issuing them based on gender.

Linda Lacewell, Superintendent of New York State Department of Financial Services, released a blog on Medium detailing their stance on the issue.

New York law prohibits discrimination against protected classes of individuals, which means an algorithm, as with any other method of determining creditworthiness, cannot result in disparate treatment for individuals based on age, creed, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, or other protected characteristics.

The Apple Card was introduced last summer. Cardholders can even purchase a new iPhone through a financing plan.

As of this writing, Apple has not commented on this issue.

What do you think? Surprised by the findings? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Colin Barry

I like honey roasted peanuts because they are delicious. I also like the Metal Slug games and X-Men comics because they are awesome.