Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Upgrade Program Experience Thread

I had a reservation today at 7:30pm at the Apple Domain Store for an iPhone S 128gb. At first I was hesitant about the upgrade program and planned to buy the phone outright.

But the rep was pushing the upgrade program hard as the payment method to use. I told him I had heard people were getting declined all day. He replied that if I was declined when we tried, then I would have been his first.

Here is a bit of background on me - I'm on an AT&T unlimited grandfather plan. It's a personal plan, but I'm only an authorized user. So I did have to give him the last 4 of the social security of the account holder, in order for him to access the AT&T account and see that I was authorized. He said the fact that I had just renewed my contract in June wouldn't be a problem. He just needed to access the account to switch my old iPhone 6 to the iPhone 6s.

Also I have had atleast one active credit card for 5 years. The card I used today, a Visa, I've had for 4 years. I had plenty of credit available on it so that Citizens could do the three month test charge. My Experian Credit is 689. I've only had one hard pull on my credit and that was a year ago. I've also always made payments on time and my addresses are the same across all accounts.


That all being said, I was still very nervous about being rejected for the program.

It took roughly 10 seconds or so after he had me enter my information on the back of his device to get a response. I was accepted. I was definitely relieved. Right after he said I had been accepted, I got the email from Citizens. He then told me he had heard rumblings about declines from other reps, but that he believed it was mostly overblown compared to mine and other people's comments to him. (Sorry not trying to flame anyone who was rejected/I didn't say I agreed with his overblown statement/a definite problem exists with the problem rejecting credit worthy individuals)

Side note, I've been prepping my credit card since I reserved my phone. I paid a good chunk of it down the day after preorders/reservations went live, so that it would have enough time to appear on the card, prior to using it today.

So that's me and my experience with the Apple Upgrade Program.
 
I'm more or less concerned with the hard inquiry aspect and whether it happens every time you upgrade or not at all.

Been researching all day. There have been answers given that covers every possible outcome.

Apple stated that it was a credit check but a soft pull. However, many are receiving hard pulls on their credit reports.

Commonly stated in this thread is that an installment loan inquiry is an automatic hard pull on your credit report. However, there are several people who swear they were not hit with hard pulls.

I personally at the beginning of the year took out an installment loan for $14,000 and I swear WAS NOT A HARD PULL. I even investigated why it wasn't and was told that they soft pulled my credit in the decision process and would not need to be hard pulled on acceptance of the loan offer.

This means not all loan institutions automatically necessitate a hard pull.

Last question for me is if there is indeed a hard pull, and upgrading after 12 payments initiates a new 24 month loan installment agreement, will they hard pull each year?

How is this even something not easily known on day one??
@@
 
Orien said:
I have no idea whether AUP does hard pulls, but I wouldn't say that's always the case. I've gotten CLIs of 20k without even a soft pull, due to existing relationships.
Click to expand...
Update on that, I did indeed get a hard pull to Experian from Citizen Bank.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dave420
I was very nervous after reading all of the bad experiences. I called Chase ahead of time to make sure they wouldn't deny any large purchases. But there was no need. The upgrade program authorization was approved immediately. The Apple Store employee said he heard of others being rejected but three of the four he already did were successful.
 
I actually had a reservation for this morning for an iPhone 6S Plus 64GB Rose Gold. After reading everything here and double thinking my plans, I ended up not making the hour long journey down to the Apple Store.

At this point, a phone is not worth a hard inquiry to my credit report. Not when I'm working on rebuilding my credit to qualify for a mortgage next year. I'd rather "use" that inquiry for a credit card or a loan when needed.

It's also not worth stressing out over whether or not I (or you) will get approved. From the sounds of it, there's glitches and many who seemingly should have gotten approved haven't.

Unless you're rocking a super old phone, most likely the phone you have is good enough to wait til you qualify for a carrier upgrade. Or buy a phone outright.

I say all this not to bash Apple or act superior, but instead to remind everyone that is upset about being declined or worried about it, that it's just a phone. Coming from someone who has owned nearly every iPhone on or close to launch day (and gave up her iPhone 6 Plus just 9 months after purchasing it), the better that phones have gotten, the less important it is to own the latest and greatest right away. The problem with this forum is we all tend to get caught up in the hype and forget that it's just a phone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacBoook160
I picked up my phone yesterday around 12pm. Still haven't received an email with my Apple receipt or my Citizens Bank loan information. I called the store yesterday evening to make sure my email address was correct and it was. Nothing in the SPAM folder either. :/ The Apple Rep seemed dumbfounded. I wonder what the issue is. Thankfully I have a printed copy of the receipt with the loan number at the bottom.
 
tigerfan41 said:
the better that phones have gotten, the less important it is to own the latest and greatest right away.
Click to expand...
I was just talking to me wife about this last night. I use to get the latest MBP until Apple came out with one that was a legitimate desktop replacement for my needs. I still have my mid-2012 Retina which I bought right after launch and I haven't seen a need or desire to replace it. The 6s+ just might be at that level for me. It replaced my 6+ because of the speed and 2gb RAM. Now I don't expect the iPhone to last as long as my MBP but I can definitely see a longer upgrade cycle for me moving forward.

I bought the 6s+ using AUP. If the program doesn't get more customer friendly then I doubt I'll use it again. As for the hard pull, which Apple lied about, I don't see a reason why they would have to do it again since the bank will have a history of payments that should negate the need for a credit check. If they do require a credit check on each purchase then I certainly won't ever use AUP again.
 
Well I just talked to citizens bank they said something may have went wrong with my app. First off she said that my credit should reflect a inquiry on my report which it does not. Also when doing the app it processed than immediately asked me to pay full price which she said was odd based on other people accounts of the process. Also my card was new and had never been used which may have been the problem. The citizens rep wants me to go to the Apple store today to have them retry it since they only ran it once. She said only let them run it once as you only get three tryst in a 30 day period. She also wants me to use my Capital one Card instead of my Apple rewards Visa and that card may have had the problem.

At this point I don't even know if it's worth the trouble. I have the Apple Rewards Visa which gives me 18 months no interest since this is my first purchase. Also I can garuantee you will be better off just paying upfront and then sale it right before the new one come out. Because you are paying for the phone and apple care for 2 years and don't think you will get a credit for Apple care for only using it for one year. If you sell a phone with apple care you would definitely come out on top of this program.
 
Cyberguycpt said:
Also I can garuantee you will be better off just paying upfront and then sale it right before the new one come out. Because you are paying for the phone and apple care for 2 years and don't think you will get a credit for Apple care for only using it for one year. If you sell a phone with apple care you would definitely come out on top of this program.
Click to expand...

The phone and AppleCare payments are combined and spread over the 24 months. If you upgrade after 12 months of payment, you will have only paid half of either. Also, even if you buy an iPhone in full and add apple care within 60 days, you can always cancel it and get a prorated refund. I did it just yesterday.
 
HopefulHumanist said:
The phone and AppleCare payments are combined and spread over the 24 months. If you upgrade after 12 months of payment, you will have only paid half of either. Also, even if you buy an iPhone in full and add apple care within 60 days, you can always cancel it and get a prorated refund. I did it just yesterday.
Click to expand...
My bad, yeah you are right on that part. You just lose on the upfront taxes you pay. Depending on state could me more that others or non existent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HopefulHumanist
Warbrain said:
People still believe that everyone was hard pulled? Guys, many weren't.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying everyone was hard pulled what I'm saying is that according to the finance company that issues the loan it should have been a hard pull If you slipped through the cracks then you are lucky be happy about it. But according to the ones that really should know, it should have been one. No matter what an apple rep says.
 
Smooth process. 3:30 pm. Surprised with credit bottom of Fair. Used Barclay Apple Rewards card. Even did in store setup shopped cases and bought watch strap. Out in 40 minutes.
 
Greg M said:
I was just talking to me wife about this last

I bought the 6s+ using AUP. If the program doesn't get more customer friendly then I doubt I'll use it again. As for the hard pull, which Apple lied about, I don't see a reason why they would have to do it again since the bank will have a history of payments that should negate the need for a credit check. If they do require a credit check on each purchase then I certainly won't ever use AUP again.
Click to expand...


Yeah, this is the aspect that has me most perturbed about the whole thing. Apple clearly dropped the ball on this and should have done a better job coordinating with Citizens about the application process. They clearly stated it would be a soft pull.

I really would love to know 100% if they are hard pulling on every upgrade because that's a definite deal breaker for us.

@@
 
Anyone have different address between drivers license and cc's billing address?

My DL has a different address because of my job. I've seen that maybe that's one reason people have been refused??

Anyone?
 
appygirl82 said:
Anyone have different address between drivers license and cc's billing address?

My DL has a different address because of my job. I've seen that maybe that's one reason people have been refused??

Anyone?
Click to expand...
There was at least 1 report I read here about someone having a DL that didn't match CC billing address. But others have said that was problematic, or at least potentially problematic. I temporarily changed my credit card billing address and iTunes store billing address to match my DL. Once the purchase goes through later today (fingers crossed) I'll switch everything back.
 
Cyberguycpt said:
I'm not saying everyone was hard pulled what I'm saying is that according to the finance company that issues the loan it should have been a hard pull If you slipped through the cracks then you are lucky be happy about it. But according to the ones that really should know, it should have been one. No matter what an apple rep says.
Click to expand...

No one is getting straight answers this weekend. Your rep says one thing, another will say a different thing.
 
daniels said:
There was at least 1 report I read here about someone having a DL that didn't match CC billing address. But others have said that was problematic, or at least potentially problematic. I temporarily changed my credit card billing address and iTunes store billing address to match my DL. Once the purchase goes through later today (fingers crossed) I'll switch everything back.
Click to expand...

I also thought of an idea....ill just use my passport as my primary ID and bring a utility bill. Passports don't have an address on them so I'll be good there :). No need for my DL!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back