A number of couples who applied for the card said that the application process seemed to utilise a sexist system which allocated men more credit than women.

The Times reported that Apple’s co-founder, Steve Wozniak said he received ten times the credit limit which was offered to his wife. He wrote on Twitter, that he and his wife had “no separate bank or credit card accounts or any separate assets.”

David Heinemeier Hansson, a software developer, tweeted his experience with the application process. He and his wife file joint tax returns and live in a state where assets acquired during marriage are considered jointly held. However, the card allocated him 20x the credit limit offered to his wife.

He wrote: “Guess what: HER CREDIT SCORE WAS HIGHER THAN MINE!!”.

A spokeswoman for Apple denied that credit decisions were based on anything other than a customer’s creditworthiness.