Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the Apple Card during a launch event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, on March 25, 2019.
Noah Berger | AFP | Getty Images
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Apple and Goldman Sachs on Wednesday to pay more than $89 million for mishandling consumer disputes related to Apple Card transactions.
The bureau said Apple failed to send tens of thousands of consumer disputes to Goldman Sachs. Even when Goldman Sachs did receive disputes, the CFPB said the bank did not follow federal requirements when investigating the cases.
Goldman Sachs was ordered to pay a $45 million civil penalty and $19.8 million in redress, while Apple was fined $25 million. The bureau also banned Goldman Sachs from launching new credit cards unless it can provide an adequate plan to comply with the law.
“Apple and Goldman Sachs illegally sidestepped their legal obligations for Apple Card borrowers. Big Tech companies and big Wall Street firms should not behave as if they are exempt from federal law,” said CFPB director Rohit Chopra.
Apple Card was first launched in 2019 as a credit card alternative, hinged on Apple Pay, the company’s mobile payment and digital wallet service. The company partnered with Goldman Sachs as its issuing bank, and advertised the card as more simple and transparent than other credit cards.
That December, the companies launched a new feature that allowed users to finance certain Apple devices with the card through interest-free monthly installments.
But the CFPB found that Apple and Goldman Sachs misled consumers about the interest-free payment plans for Apple devices. While many customers thought they would get automatic interest-free monthly payments when they bought Apple devices with an Apple Card, they were still charged interest. Goldman Sachs did not adequately communicate to consumers about how the refunds would work, which meant some people ended up paying additional interest charges, according to the CFPB.
It also meant some consumers had incorrect credit reports, the agency said.
“Apple Card is one of the most consumer-friendly credit cards that has ever been offered. We worked diligently to address certain technological and operational challenges that we experienced after launch and have already handled them with impacted customers,” Nick Carcaterra, vice president of Goldman Sachs corporate communications, told CNBC. “We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the CFPB and are proud to have developed such an innovative and award-winning product alongside Apple.”
Representatives from Apple did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Anthropic is in talks to raise a $3.5 billion funding round, significantly more than the amount previously expected, CNBC has confirmed.
The round would roughly triple the artificial intelligence startup’s valuation to $61.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. Lightspeed Ventures is leading the funding, with participation from General Catalyst and others, the sources said.
The financing, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, signals continued investor demand for top-tier AI companies, even in the face of potential disruption from China’s DeepSeek. Anthropic is backed by Amazon and Google, and had initially set out to raise $2 billion, according to a source.
Anthropic declined to comment.
The company’s last private market valuation was $18 billion. Amazon has poured $8 billion into the startup.
Anthropic was founded by early OpenAI employees and is the creator of the popular chatbot Claude. Earlier Monday, Anthropic released what it says is it’s “most intelligent AI model yet. Its so-called hybrid model combines an ability to reason — or stopping to think about complex answers — with a traditional model that spits out answers in real time.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Monday said the U.S. government is inefficient and in need of work as the Trump administration terminates thousands of federal employees and works to dismantle agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Dimon was asked by CNBC’s Leslie Picker whether he supported efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. He declined to give what he called a “binary” response, but made comments that supported the overall effort.
“The government is inefficient, not very competent, and needs a lot of work,” Dimon told Picker. “It’s not just waste and fraud, its outcomes.”
The Trump administration’s effort to rein in spending and scrutinize federal agencies “needs to be done,” Dimon added.
“Why are we spending the money on these things? Are we getting what we deserve? What should we change?” Dimon said. “It’s not just about the deficit, its about building the right policies and procedures and the government we deserve.”
Dimon said if DOGE overreaches with its cost-cutting efforts or engages in activity that’s not legal, “the courts will stop it.”
“I’m hoping it’s quite successful,” he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Dimon also addressed his company’s push to have most workers in office five days a week, as well as his views on the Ukraine conflict, tariffs and the U.S. consumer.
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading: Berkshire Hathaway — Class A shares of Warren Buffett’s conglomerate jumped nearly 4% following a strong earnings report . The conglomerate said its operating profit skyrocketed 71% to $14.5 billion in the fourth quarter, led by a 302% jump in insurance underwriting. Auto insurer Geico had the most positive effect on Berkshire’s insurance results. Meta Platforms — The Facebook parent company slipped more than 1% and was on pace for a fifth straight down day. Meta has dipped roughly 10% over the past five sessions, which marks its longest losing streak since August. Palantir — Shares tumbled 8.7% on Monday, on track for its fourth straight down day. The retail investor favorite has recently shown signs of fizzling , with shares down more than 24% compared with where they traded five sessions ago. Domino’s Pizza — The pizza chain pulled back 2% after fourth-quarter results missed analysts’ expectations. Domino’s reported earnings of $4.89 per share on revenue of $1.44 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet were looking for $4.90 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion. Same-store sales, a key metric for restaurants, also grew less than anticipated. Alibaba — The Chinese e-commerce giant plummeted 9%, reversing some of the 15.3% gain it saw last week following a better-than-expected earnings report . The move lower comes despite Morgan Stanley upgrading the stock to overweight from equal weight this week, with the firm citing accelerating cloud revenue growth as a catalyst. Robinhood — The brokerage stock fell more than 2% on Monday, putting it on track for its fifth straight losing session. Last week, Robinhood was downgraded by Wolfe Research to peer perform from outperform, and two corporate insiders disclosed recent stock sales. Nike — The clothing and footwear stock gained more than 4% after Jefferies upgraded Nike to buy from hold, and said the company is turning “back on its innovation engine.” Freshpet — The pet food stock advanced more than 8% after an upgrade to buy from hold from Jefferies, with the firm asserting that shares are “worth 50% above” where they are trading currently. The firm added that it expects Freshpet can grow sales 23% by 2027. Rivian — Shares tumbled nearly 8% after Bank of America downgraded the electric vehicle maker to underperform from neutral. Analyst John Murphy pointed to mounting competitive pressures, a softer-than-expected 2025 outlook and slowing EV demand alongside a potential pullback in U.S. EV incentives as reasons for the downgrade. Energy stocks — Power company stocks were lower on the heels of the a TD Cowen report last week concerning data centers and Microsoft. Analyst Michael Elias said Microsoft had “cancelled leases in the U.S. totaling ‘a couple of hundred MWs’ with at least two private data center operators.” Talen Energy and GE Vernova pulled back 2% each, while Vistra dropped nearly 4%. Constellation Energy shed about 7%. — CNBC’s Yun Li, Alex Harring, Lisa Kailai Han, Jesse Pound and Sean Conlon contributed reporting.