It certainly takes a change in crappy financial behavior to dig yourself out of the hole. A couple of years ago I had a 500 credit score and I was tired of being turned down for literally everything. Now I have 813 after pulling my head out of my nether region and making better financial choices.
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iPhone 7/Plus Is my old 7 Plus now a paperweight?
- Thread starter Swampbaby985
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I’m not following, but it sounds like you are wondering if you can sell this phone without paying it off. You make no mention about wanting to use it again.
Pay it off, otherwise you are definitely going to have a paperweight and a heavy hit to your credit.
A lot of ignorance in this thread. People acting like not paying a phone bill is the worst thing in the world. People thinking the phone police are going to come take your phone away. There are lots of reasons you may not pay a phone bill. Maybe you are focused on rent or food for children. So many people saying “just pay the bill.”. Do you all work for the carriers or something? Or just own stock in them?
I never said I planned to sell it.
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The heavy hit has already occured. In the rebuilding stage.
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Thank you! Finally someone who said something that made sense!!
Disagree. I think that's your interpretation. Most here look to the long term benefit of not having a debt hanging over your head, and the potential impact a bad credit rating can have.
No, there are two issues at play:
- Not paying money you owe to another party, and whether you should pay (comes down to your morals).
- The hit to your credit rating. If you don’t give two hoots about your credit rating, and have no desire to borrow money in the future, go ahead and not pay.
OP, have you spoken to AT&T and asked whether you can be put on a payment plan (ie pay $50 or $100/month until the debt is paid off)? Hopefully that won’t affect your credit rating any further.
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Something doesn’t add up here to me. We still have yet to hear from the OP why he didn’t pay his money, why he thinks he shouldn’t pay his money, and when he plans to pay his money. Also what he plans to do with the phone? I have a feeling he’s only given us half of the story. Hence all of the questioning and guesswork from us.
I don't owe this money to Verizon, had you bothered to read my past statements instead of chastising me and attacking my morals or lack thereof like you put it, you would have discovered that the iPhone is on AT&T and that I am now with Verizon, on my 1st upgrade since switching to them.
They wouldn't come repo a phone.. However it'll ding his credit pretty bad.
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So? You have a device you didn't pay off, regardless of network. Do the right thing and pay your debt.
First off; sorry, meant AT&T. My post has been edited for accuracy.
Second: I'm not attacking your morals. It's not for me (or anywho) to dictate their morals onto you. I'm simply trying to help you out, and offer a potential solution which doesn't get you a worse credit score (noting your previous comments about your rating and medical bills). A poor credit rating is something we'd all prefer not to have against your name.
Third: Regardless of who you owe money to, have you called them and tried to work out a payment plan?
You asked a question, and then for every answer you received, you pushed back on it until someone told you you could keep the phone and not pay it off.
Seems to me, what you really mean by ‘something that made sense’ is,
‘Someone who said what I really wanted to hear, so I can ignore the 20+ people who are telling me an inconvenient truth’.
And you came here for permission, not advice.
Up to you what you do with that reflection.
OP, I'm not gonna debate right or wrong with you or give you a speech on morals, but I'll answer your question with a question- You did not pay your agreement with another provider what do you think?
So rather than pay off your iPhone 7, you skipped on the bill and instead bought an S7, and Pixel 3 after that? That's not cool...
As for your iPhone 7, it is likely still locked to AT&T so you can't use it on another GSM carrier in the U.S. I wouldn't think. Unless you want to call the company you defrauded for assistance unlocking the phone...
As for your iPhone 7, it is likely still locked to AT&T so you can't use it on another GSM carrier in the U.S. I wouldn't think. Unless you want to call the company you defrauded for assistance unlocking the phone...
This thread does bring up an important point. People often complain about carriers locking ‘their’ phone, legitimately for example when they want to travel and use a different SIM. But the phone is not ‘their’ phone until ‘they‘ pay for it, it’s the carrier‘s phone, and the carrier can lock or blacklist their phone if they want to. Just like the car or house that you have a loan on. Try stopping payments on your house or car and see how that works.
The solution is of course to buy SIM free from Apple, put it on a CC if you have to and you’ll never have to worry about locking again.
The solution is of course to buy SIM free from Apple, put it on a CC if you have to and you’ll never have to worry about locking again.
I don’t think it just comes down to morals. Maybe he simply doesn’t have the money. Maybe paying the phone bill is the difference between him/her or their children eating or not. Sure it’s a smart idea to advise them of the long term risks in not paying, but all the posts saying “just pay the bill” aren’t all that helpful don’t really take the whole situation into consideration.
The first mistake was buying the phone new. For many years, I have bought my iPhones second hand, usually about 2 years after they came out.
Anyone who is short of money and thinks buying a phone new is a bargain is a fool. Add up all the monthly fees for the length of the contract, and decide if the total cost of ownership is worth it. Compare that to the one-off cost of buying an unlocked used phone, and the cost of a cheap SIM.
If OP is still short of money, then perhaps best just to accept your mistake, don't pay off phone. Leave it in a drawer or send for recycle. Have to decide if your credit hit is worth it. I don't use credit cards so I don't care about my credit rating. It does make a difference if buying a house though, which I doubt OP is doing soon.
You could find out what your deadline is for repaying the phone, or ask for a cheap repayment arrangement like others have said. If you're short of money it may well be worth it to return or sell your current phone, and go back to using the 7+, assuming that's possible and assuming it's not a totally terrible contract which it could well be.
Anyone who is short of money and thinks buying a phone new is a bargain is a fool. Add up all the monthly fees for the length of the contract, and decide if the total cost of ownership is worth it. Compare that to the one-off cost of buying an unlocked used phone, and the cost of a cheap SIM.
If OP is still short of money, then perhaps best just to accept your mistake, don't pay off phone. Leave it in a drawer or send for recycle. Have to decide if your credit hit is worth it. I don't use credit cards so I don't care about my credit rating. It does make a difference if buying a house though, which I doubt OP is doing soon.
You could find out what your deadline is for repaying the phone, or ask for a cheap repayment arrangement like others have said. If you're short of money it may well be worth it to return or sell your current phone, and go back to using the 7+, assuming that's possible and assuming it's not a totally terrible contract which it could well be.
Very true. We don't know the OP's situation (only from what the OP has told us to date); that's why I suggest the OP call up AT&T, and arrange a payment plan. At the very least it won't make their credit rating any worse, and can let the OP slowly pay off the debt in a manner that allows them to balance any other items they need to purchase to live (ie food etc).
Unfortunately the debt isn't going to go away, so (IMHO) you're better off dealing with it under a set of circumstances that work from you, rather than being forced into a compromised/uncomfortable situation.
He doesn’t have the money to pay off the iPhone, yet proceeds to buy an S7 Edge and a Pixel 3 after that. And in all likelihood now still aims to use the iPhone in some capacity. Call it what you want, I call it fraud.
I highly doubt the OP is some father of three starving, orphaned kids.
If they were in severe financial straits, why are they buying several new phones?
As I’ve said before, we’ve only had half a story from the OP. Something does not add up here. It’s like trying to get blood out of a stone with him.
Or maybe you bought another phone on another carrier, like this OP did?