WSJ: Inside Apple’s ‘unhappy marriage’ with Goldman Sachs for Apple Card

Chance Miller | Jan 14 2026 - 1:39 pm PT

Last week, Apple officially announced that Chase is set to take over Apple Card, ending its deal with Goldman Sachs.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal, based on conversations with “20 people familiar with the matter,” goes in-depth on what Apple told people was an “unhappy marriage.”

An unhappy marriage for Apple and Goldman Sachs

According to the report, Apple wanted Goldman Sachs to “approve nearly all applicants” for Apple Card. This led to Goldman Sachs approving a higher-than-normal number of subprime borrowers. In fact, more than 30% of Apple Card balances are to people “with credit scores below what most lenders define as prime.” That’s a higher percentage than many banks who specialize in subprime lending.

Once Apple officially sent a proposal to Goldman Sachs to end their relationship, the company began conversations with other issuers.

In its pitch to one firm, Apple said that its relationship with Goldman Sachs was akin to “an unhappy marriage.”

“It said the two companies were willing to stay together, but no one likes being married to someone who doesn’t want to be married to them,” the report says.

Apple, Goldman Sachs, and other issuers also considered “using a private-credit fund to take on the balances.”

One potential solution Apple, Goldman and interested card issuers explored was using a private-credit fund to take on the balances. Those lenders have increasingly been turned to for complex bespoke financing deals across Wall Street and have backed consumer lenders, but a deal this big and complex would have been new ground.

Apple approached a boutique investment bank to help find a fund and approached a small fintech company about a deal with a private-credit partner.

Goldman bankers reached out to private-credit firms to gauge their interest and Barclays, considering its own bid, approached KKR about arranging a deal to help.

Goldman hoped that Apple would make a decision on who would take over Apple Card by early March 2025. Then, conversations between that company and Goldman would begin. That timeline never came to fruition, and Goldman executives reportedly felt that it was because “Apple wasn’t following through on what it needed to do.”

At one point during the negotiations, Apple was reportedly working on three contracts with Chase, American Express, and Synchrony.

“Synchrony was convinced it was getting the deal and started exploring how to make the card turnover as low-cost as it could,” the report says.

In May 2025, however, Apple reportedly told Chase it was its “preferred partner.”

Apple, however, also reached out to Capital One and told executives that “a deal was imminent but it had one last chance to get in.” Capital One said it was focused on its acquisition of Discover, but nonetheless did take meetings with Apple and Goldman Sachs as late as June.

Ultimately, Apple went with JPMorgan Chase, who also secured protection in the event “card delinquencies spiked or performance deteriorated in the period after the banks signed the contract.” Chase also negotiated for the right to “walk away before the deal closed.”

Another detail in the story:

JPMorgan had secured a discount on the balances to help cover potential losses, but had wanted more protection in case the loans grew worse. Goldman executives, meanwhile, didn’t feel the need to bend much now that the Apple program was finally looking profitable

The transition from Goldman Sachs is expected to occur over the next two years, and Apple has said it will provide more details as the deal progresses.

Updated January 15, 2026 with tidbit about Apple program looking profitable.

My favorite iPhone accessories:

Follow Chance: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, and Mastodon.