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iPhone Upgrade Program Causing Headaches for Some Launch Day Customers
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Who said anything here about government assistance? Where are you getting this from outside of an assumption of why you think people are being declined?
BL.
Add me to the laundry list of folks who had issues. Flawless credit and was declined and was like WHAT???? Then the guy says oh your credit card is your company card (company I own and my name on card) and that's prob why.
We go through the process again and I give them my personal debit card which carries a decent balance. At least enough to pay off the iPhone at anytime ... Decline! Oh you can't use a debit card.
I don't have a personal credit card ... One reason I have great credit ... Low debt!
Frustrating as if I was told this upfront I could have saved time, hassle and credit inquiries. The manager on duty gave me a case for the time and hassle. I paid for iPhone 6s Plus and was out the door.
We go through the process again and I give them my personal debit card which carries a decent balance. At least enough to pay off the iPhone at anytime ... Decline! Oh you can't use a debit card.
I don't have a personal credit card ... One reason I have great credit ... Low debt!
Frustrating as if I was told this upfront I could have saved time, hassle and credit inquiries. The manager on duty gave me a case for the time and hassle. I paid for iPhone 6s Plus and was out the door.
I never thought about this but I can't imagine a credit inquiry from a company being a "soft" pull. Soft pulls are those that we do ourselves isn't it or ones we haven't authorized? I think if we give approvals and sign our names, that's considered a "hard" pull.
Apple could just give the phones away and charge a monthly fee with a link to the customers iTunes account and avoid all of this...
Yes but hard pulls typical ask for income and employer, household monthly expenses and whatnot. Also, they use a credit card to start the loan process, if you have a credit card you clearly have been approved for financing in the past, therefore only a soft would be needed.
I ran into the same problem. I have excellent credit and was denied. I don't understand why. I didn't get a reason back from Citizens One yet. I tried twice in store with the same credit card. Does anyone know if you can go back and try again with a different credit card or do I have to wait or try another approach? Is it worthwhile going back to the store and trying again?
I believe the only time I've given permission w/o giving financial information is to phone and utility companies. Installment/Revolving credit apps along with rental properties usually ask for all of that other stuff.
Apple should have used Rent a Center or Aarons.... They approve everybody.... Good or Bad Credit is OK!
It was listed in the terms of eligibility on apples site right after they announced it. It wasn't easy to find but if you google iPhone upgrade eligibility it will come up. So to be fair apple did technically inform everyone of how the process works, although not very actively and they should have said it in their email after reserving your phone.
Everyone–
TL;DR: Don't use Chase or Amex till further notice. Citizens One is aware and the the credit check is a hard inquiry still if you try.
Longer: I'll save the horrible in-store experience story, but after getting home (I ended up doing ATT Next, I can return and swap later if things change... May just buy it outright) I called Citizens One:
Currently -any- Chase visa card is not eligible for the program and neither is American Express. Irrelevant of Personal or Commercial. They are looking into it and taking "all feedback down". They expect to know more in 24 hours and will be calling me back. I'll update once the supervisor calls. To be honest, super friendly and short hold time.
TL;DR: Don't use Chase or Amex till further notice. Citizens One is aware and the the credit check is a hard inquiry still if you try.
Longer: I'll save the horrible in-store experience story, but after getting home (I ended up doing ATT Next, I can return and swap later if things change... May just buy it outright) I called Citizens One:
Currently -any- Chase visa card is not eligible for the program and neither is American Express. Irrelevant of Personal or Commercial. They are looking into it and taking "all feedback down". They expect to know more in 24 hours and will be calling me back. I'll update once the supervisor calls. To be honest, super friendly and short hold time.
What a ***** experience at the Cumberland Mall Apple Store in ATL. As many here I have an 800+ FICO score and pay everything on time. Turned down on 3 different cards after multiple tries on 2 visits. They ran them a total of 10 or more times so I'm hoping that won't damage my credit. They said there was a know problem with Chase cards which 2 of mine were. The biggest problem is they have no way to know if it was a data entry error, a system error or an actual credit issue that caused the rejection. It's far less than I expect from an Apple customer experience.
I paid full price for the phone but plan to make some calls next week to sort this out. I'll return the phone and go with T-Mo JOD if they can't make it work. I'd much rather do the Upgrade Program if The First National Piggy Bank of Podunk can get their heads out of their asses so as not to have to return a perfectly good phone.
My reasons for going with one of these programs is to lock in my sale price for next year and reduce the hassle and fraud risk of selling the phone myself. That is worth the slightly higher overall cost. I also like that with the Apple program you only pay for the half of Apple Care + that you use unlike my current 6 which I'm trading into Amazon with a year left on the plan.
I'm going to drop an email to Tim in the hope that somebody will see a trend and address it.
I paid full price for the phone but plan to make some calls next week to sort this out. I'll return the phone and go with T-Mo JOD if they can't make it work. I'd much rather do the Upgrade Program if The First National Piggy Bank of Podunk can get their heads out of their asses so as not to have to return a perfectly good phone.
My reasons for going with one of these programs is to lock in my sale price for next year and reduce the hassle and fraud risk of selling the phone myself. That is worth the slightly higher overall cost. I also like that with the Apple program you only pay for the half of Apple Care + that you use unlike my current 6 which I'm trading into Amazon with a year left on the plan.
I'm going to drop an email to Tim in the hope that somebody will see a trend and address it.
Why in the world anyone is doing the Apple upgrade program is beyond me. It's patently stupid. When you break the math out compared to most carriers, it's way, way worse. And Apple Care+ doesn't even cover loss. Stupid in my opinion.
checking your
BL.
Clearly you haven't done the math correctly then.
AT&T Next. $37.45 X 12 months = $449.40
Upgrade program. $36.48 X 12 = $437.76 + includes AppleCare+ and Phone is unlocked from the getgo. So you are getting $566.76 for the price of $437.76. Cheaper than AT&T Next by far.
You win!
If you had financed your phone you may have been lucky to make a $50 ROI by the end of two years. You did it in less than an hour
#50
Had an 8am reservation for a 6S at my local store intending to use the upgrade program, but Citizen's Bank would not authorize to two different Chase credit cards. But I received emails from Citizens with truth in lending disclosures each time. Very odd. Anyone else experience this? Ended up purchasing it outright with ACare+ which I was going to do anyway on this round of upgrades until I saw the Upgrade program announced. I only lose unlocked status, but not going to move away from Verizon anytime soon anyway. Looking forward to having my $40 a month line charge at Verizon dropped to $15 a month once off contract. Now I just have to decide whether to sell my 6 or pass it to another family member. Amazon will give me $429 for it...
Had an 8am reservation for a 6S at my local store intending to use the upgrade program, but Citizen's Bank would not authorize to two different Chase credit cards. But I received emails from Citizens with truth in lending disclosures each time. Very odd. Anyone else experience this? Ended up purchasing it outright with ACare+ which I was going to do anyway on this round of upgrades until I saw the Upgrade program announced. I only lose unlocked status, but not going to move away from Verizon anytime soon anyway. Looking forward to having my $40 a month line charge at Verizon dropped to $15 a month once off contract. Now I just have to decide whether to sell my 6 or pass it to another family member. Amazon will give me $429 for it...
The reason many people are getting declined is because the card has to have an available credit limit of 3 months payments and the tax.
There are also some credit cards that do not qualify for the program, like discover card does not seem to work well.
There are also some credit cards that do not qualify for the program, like discover card does not seem to work well.