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Did you buy your iPhone outright, or pay monthly?

Did you buy your iPhone outright, or pay monthly?

  • Monthly (Through Carrier)

    Votes: 64 28.6%

  • Monthly (Apple Upgrade Program)

    Votes: 27 12.1%

  • Bought Out Right

    Votes: 124 55.4%

  • Other (Please State)

    Votes: 9 4.0%
  • Total voters
    224
rui no onna said:
Kinda regret paying cash for my car. Gonna take a while to build up that savings again
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Though I understand your perspective here, maybe I can help you feel better about that? Paying cash for a car tends to be far better than financing. Wasn't the purpose of saving for the car the reason you had it to spend to begin with? As long as whatever you could have had as a payment goes in to a savings account (then stocks or other financial instrument with better gains once at a certain level) you'll have enough for the next new car purchase. You may even have more available than what you would pay and you could reduce your monthly allotment for the next time moving the difference to a different savings vehicle. This is kinda sorta what happened in my case.
 
Outright purchase.
I do not like constantly owing money to anyone. So as long as I am able to fork it out all at once and bee done that is the way I will do it.
I used to do the same when ATT did the subsidy thing. Pay the $200 up front then immediately pay off the ETF aka remainder of the phone cost.
I already have enough subscription base things per month and don't need my phone on top of that. Those costs add up quick and you can easily end up having several hundreds of dollars per month consistently going out to various places. Have a bad month or three and things can get tight real quick.
 
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OriginalAppleGuy said:
Though I understand your perspective here, maybe I can help you feel better about that? Paying cash for a car tends to be far better than financing. Wasn't the purpose of saving for the car the reason you had it to spend to begin with? As long as whatever you could have had as a payment goes in to a savings account (then stocks or other financial instrument with better gains once at a certain level) you'll have enough for the next new car purchase. You may even have more available than what you would pay and you could reduce your monthly allotment for the next time moving the difference to a different savings vehicle. This is kinda sorta what happened in my case.
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I wasn't saving for a car. I was just saving period. It just so happened that we needed a new car last year (to replace a '94 Honda). I'm hoping I wouldn't need to purchase a new car for the next 15-20 years. :rolleyes:

Cash on hand instead of having to build those savings back up for the next 3-5 years offers peace of mind to me. That's an intangible benefit even if I would've ended up paying 2.75% APR for the privilege.
 
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If you do the payment plan:

THERE ARE NO LEASES. THERE ARE NO FINANCING. THERE ARE NO FINANCE FEES.
(if the above statements are wrong, please let me know)

I do not get most of the comments here.

The cost is the same if you pay it all on day one, day 60 or 2 years. So, you are NOT financing a phone. It just barely can be called a loan or lease.

You can always pay it off if you want. No requirement.

If you want to trade up, you already have a fixed value built it.
 
I usually buy outright, but current 0% finance offers are not a bad deals though, as of the last couple years. Limitations aside, it comes down to preference. There are two factors here, those who lease because they cannot afford the upfront cost, and those who do it for convenience. I'm not surprised the opinions in this thread are split.
 
Closingracer said:
I don't use apples program but if it's like carriers it doesn't even show up. Otherwise jt would just look like a line of credit and will help you actually assuming you're not late and pay it off.


Also a loan would also help your credit as well.
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If you have very good credit, a consumer credit account will be a negative. I agree on the carriers not showing on your credit report as they are the one financing. But, if you use Apple to finance they use a consumer credit company and no matter what you think, it is not good on your "good" credit. If you have 600-700 it might be a plus but if in the 800 and above range Citizens is a negative for sure.
 
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Newtons Apple said:
If you have very good credit, a consumer credit account will be a negative. I agree on the carriers not showing on your credit report as they are the one financing. But, if you use Apple to finance they use a consumer credit company and no matter what you think, it is not good on your "good" credit. If you have 600-700 it might be a plus but if in the 800 and above range Citizens is a negative for sure.
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Doing a Google search it's the same as a credit card.... If you pay it off you're fine.
 
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Closingracer said:
Lol you're probably one of those paranoid ones sacred about credit cards.... It's a line of credit and it won't hurt you if you pay it back.
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Have 7 credit cards for both personal and my company. You have no idea who I am, not "sacred" of credit, but does know what will hurt you and what will not.

You just want to argue and I do not want another "vacation" from here so I yield say bye.
 
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nostresshere said:
If you do the payment plan:

THERE ARE NO LEASES. THERE ARE NO FINANCING. THERE ARE NO FINANCE FEES.
(if the above statements are wrong, please let me know)

I do not get most of the comments here.

The cost is the same if you pay it all on day one, day 60 or 2 years. So, you are NOT financing a phone. It just barely can be called a loan or lease.

You can always pay it off if you want. No requirement.

If you want to trade up, you already have a fixed value built it.
Click to expand...
Caveat, the iPhone Upgrade Program through Apple requires AppleCare+ ($130). If you weren't planning on getting AppleCare to begin with, then that's a pretty significant additional expense.
 
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A weird mix of both. I usually hop on the monthly (formerly through AT&T, now through Apple, just to help build my credit rating), then I'll pay off the phone to keep it as a backup (or pass to friends/family who can't afford new phones).
 
Outright. Though the carrier only works if you want a new phone every 2 years because the monthly fee doesn't drop just because you're eligible for a new phone.

Monthly from Apple is basically a tax for those who are bad at math, and actually seeing only 10% of votes in that category reaffirms my faith in the intelligence of people.
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OriginalAppleGuy said:
Wasn't the purpose of saving for the car the reason you had it to spend to begin with? As long as whatever you could have had as a payment goes in to a savings account (then stocks or other financial instrument with better gains once at a certain level) you'll have enough for the next new car purchase.
Click to expand...

This logic is exactly why some people can retire at 55 to a life of luxury, travel, and freedom. While other people with the same income and standard of living work until their health gives out at 70 and they basically become a shut-in for financial reasons.

Enjoy your life and in the end know that the person you're arguing with will learn you're right after it's too late. If they want to be that obstinate, why go to the effort of helping them. It will just improve their life.
 
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DevNull0 said:
Though the carrier only works if you want a new phone every 2 years because the monthly fee doesn't drop just because you're eligible for a new phone.
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Do carriers still even have a 2-year contract?

My current plan, it's $15/mo line access fee for smartphones. If I get a new iPhone, I can either pay $750 outright or $31.25/mo for the next 24 months. Cost is the same either way.

Now the real savings is if I don't buy a $750 phone. Reckon after the iPhone 5s (6s for higher res), we're past the point of good enough that I'll probably keep my phone until it starts acting up.
 
Outright. I don't know what the future will bring. If I lose my job, my health or my house burns down, I'd rather own a device I can sell (if I have to) than be chained to a lease/loan/whatever I can no longer afford.
 
Mike82 said:
Outright. I don't know what the future will bring. If I lose my job, my health or my house burns down, I'd rather own a device I can sell (if I have to) than be chained to a lease/loan/whatever I can no longer afford.
Click to expand...
By cash flowing the phone instead of paying outright, I'd have that full purchase price available in the bank providing liquidity.
 
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We have been with the same carrier for over 10 years. I preferred the old plans where you would get a free or discounted phone by signing a 2 year contract. Now they want you to make installments for your phone for a 30 month period but they will discount your monthly phone plan to cover your monthly phone payments?????? Anyway, our car is paid for and we pay the balance on our credit cards each month, but making installment payments on our phone, which is reimbursed by the carrier, just sounded like the better way to go since we don't plan on changing carriers anyway. It's all just a big mystery anymore.:(
 
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