A US financial regulator has opened an investigation into claims Apple's credit card offered different credit limits for men and women. It follows complaints -- including from Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak -- that algorithms used to set limits might be inherently biased against women.

New York's Department of Financial Services has contacted Goldman Sachs, which runs the Apple Card. Any discrimination, intentional or not, "violates New York law", the Department of Financial Services said.

The Bloomberg news agency reported on Saturday that tech entrepreneur David Heinemeier Hansson had complained that the Apple Card gave him 20 times the credit limit that his wife got. In a tweet, Hansson said the disparity was despite his wife having a better credit score.

Woz, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs, tweeted that the same thing happened to him and his wife despite their having no separate bank accounts or separate assets.

The Tame Apple Press is doing its best to move the spotlight away from Apple and have instead tried to push the focus on its financial partner in the project, Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs spokesman Andrew Williams fended off the accusation saying that "our credit decisions are based on a customer's creditworthiness and not on factors like gender, race, age, sexual orientation or any other basis prohibited by law".

But Hansson said he was concerned about the reliance and unwavering faith in technology remains.

He explains that "it does not matter what the intent of individual Apple reps are, it matters what THE ALGORITHM they've placed their complete faith in does. And what it does is discriminate."