Apple Card: Unrelated purchases made on the same day are being combined into one charge on statements.

Question

Level 1

16 points

Apple Card: Unrelated purchases made on the same day are being combined into one charge on statements.

This makes it confusing to reconcile my Apple Card statement. I have to go into the Wallet app, find the charge, then drill down to find which 2 transactions made on the same day were combined to make that charge. It happened once on my June statement and again this month (July) in the Apple Wallet (the July statement hasn’t been generated yet). Both times it was an Apple TV movie purchase combined with an App Store purchase. Avoiding same day purchases wouldn’t help as there is no way of knowing exactly when they will be billed. I have had my Apple Card since 2019 and have never seen this. When I call Apple Card support, I get Goldman Sachs who tells me that this needs to be resolved through Apple.

iPhone 15 Plus

Posted on Jul 22, 2025 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

Jeff Donald

Level 8

41,628 points

Jul 22, 2025 8:54 AM in response to ddeninger

The merchant, in this case Apple, has the right to combine small purchases in to one larger charge to save the consumer excessive credit card fees. This is a usual and customary practice among large merchants that sell small ticket items.

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Answer 2

Mac Jim ID

Level 9

54,668 points

Jul 22, 2025 10:07 AM in response to ddeninger

You can read more about batch processing here. I suspect you have not previously made multiple small purchases from a single merchant before where batch processing would be used in this manner.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/batch-credit-card-processing.asp

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Answer 3

ddeninger Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 22, 2025 9:47 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Thanks Jeff. I’m not quite sure how that works. I’ve never seen combined charges on any of my 10 other credit cards over the years. I never carry a balance unless I have a 0% APR promotion, so I don’t have any fees except of course for my AMEX $95/year fee, which pays for itself with cash back rewards. Maybe this has something to do with buying apps and movies from the same company that offers the credit card?

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Answer 4

Jeff Donald

Level 8

41,628 points

Jul 22, 2025 10:17 AM in response to ddeninger

I use my American Express Blue Cash Preferred for my online Apple purchases (6% cash back). So, it’s not the card. I’ve experienced it at merchants that sell items under $5. The fees on individual transactions would be outrageous on a daily basis. Banks and Payment Networks and processors would love it. Consumers would get the penalty of forcing a minimum transaction of say $10 or $15.

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Answer 5

ddeninger Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 22, 2025 11:55 AM in response to Jeff Donald

Thanks Jeff & Mac. It now makes sense to me why this is done. It just seems odd that Apple is just now starting to do this to my account. I’ve had the card for 6 years. This card is great for buying Apple products on a payment plan with 0% interest so I don’t mind the combined charges so much now. It is still fun to show off the titanium card.

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Answer 6

Jeff Donald

Level 8

41,628 points

Jul 22, 2025 4:02 PM in response to ddeninger

Agreed and I’m glad it was something simple and that we could adequately explain the situation to you.

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