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SE: NEXT installment or buy outright?
- Thread starter drewaz
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Why is that?
Seems like a no interest loan that only costs a few $/month is a pretty sweet deal .....
I also prefer paying in full, but as you say Next is a pretty good deal (but don't take it as an excuse to buy something you can't really afford!). The only real downside I can think of is that AT&T won't unlock your phone until the plan is paid off.
Why is that ?
The item is mine then , outright simple as that really .
I've always had the thing in my head , if I can't afford it then I don't have it.
I'm leaning the same way ... probably will go for the 24 month tier
I can always pay it off early if I have a need to
I guess I'm not sure about the benefit of the upgrade policy though .... you get a new phone but give up the older one ...
It's basically a convenience if you don't want the hassle of selling your old phone yourself. Of course you pay for the convenience by getting a slightly worse deal (similar to Apple's trade-in program).
you're right ... in the end, I'd rather spend a few bucks and save time and hassle.
Does AT&T have a fee attached when you trade in the phone? Someone told me it's something like 5% of ?
It's a no interest loan that can be paid off in full at any time. I don't equate that with buying something you can't afford at all, but opinions will differ.
Once half of the MSRP is paid off you can trade in for something else. I find that, particularly in recent years with resale values dropping, you won't get much more in a private sale than you would just returning the phone, if your goal is to have the latest device at all times. You might net an extra $50 or something, but that also includes the risk of selling it locally and/or shipping; I have never had a problem doing this and accepted the risk was par for the course "back in the day", but it's undeniably there.
Your phone WILL remain locked to ATT while on the payment plan. Really the nly downside in my eyes. SHould you travel or need/want to try another carrier, you won't be able to get it unlocked until its been fully paid for.
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Once half of the MSRP is paid off you can trade in for something else. I find that, particularly in recent years with resale values dropping, you won't get much more in a private sale than you would just returning the phone, if your goal is to have the latest device at all times. You might net an extra $50 or something, but that also includes the risk of selling it locally and/or shipping; I have never had a problem doing this and accepted the risk was par for the course "back in the day", but it's undeniably there.
Your phone WILL remain locked to ATT while on the payment plan. Really the nly downside in my eyes. SHould you travel or need/want to try another carrier, you won't be able to get it unlocked until its been fully paid for.
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No fee so long as at least 50% of the original MSRP (price at time of signing) has been paid off when trading in.
Why would you ever pay up front when you can get a free loan that comes with promotions? NEXT gets you deals and offers, pay upfront is for people with no credit or are too stupid to take advantage of free financing.
That's what I would think too but it seems a lot of people post about buying the phone outright and I wondered if I'm missing something. Interest free financing. I'm not sure how you can beat that.
I'll keep the phone for 2 years ... seems like the Next 24 is perfect. You can always pay it off if you want to later.
If you wanted an unlocked phone so you could use a foreign sim when you travel would be one reason. Other than that, no real downside to using NEXT.
Personally I prefer buying outright because (1) I get an unlocked phone for international travel, and (2) a $500 "investment" will yield next to nothing over a year or two anyway, and (3) I don't like the idea of dealing with payment plans for relatively cheap items like a phone. But it's just a personal preference. As long as people don't choose an installment plan because they don't have the money, I'd encourage them to use Next if they want to.
[doublepost=1459029959][/doublepost]At least everyone can meet their needs!
If I wanted to use a SIM from a foreign carrier, I'd just pay the phone off and get it unlocked.
As far as the payment plan: I pay for service monthly ... this just adds about $15 to it.
I think there are still a lot of people who don't understand how AT&T Next actually works.
Some think it's a lease ("you never own the phone"), which isn't true. Just like with the old 2-year contracts, you own the phone the minute it's in your hot little hands. You are never required to give it back, although there is an option to give it back if you want to do an early upgrade and not have to finish paying for it.
Some folks think that if you upgrade yearly, you're required to trade the phone back in with AT&T (which they don't like, because they can sell it elsewhere for more money). That's also not true. When you're ready to get a new phone, you simply pay off the remaining balance for your old phone. Then you're able to start a new Next contract for your new phone, and you can sell your old phone on Swappa/Ebay/Craigslist/where-ever-you-want. In this case, you're using AT&T's money (0% APR) for 11 months.
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If you're on Cricket, you don't have an AT&T account that you could use Next with in the first place, do you?
I've noticed something else - AT&T charges a $15 "upgrade fee" with Next, yet if I buy the phone at full price from them or full-price SIM-free from Apple (moving my SIM over), they won't. Although Next does make it a bit easier (even if you have the $400/$500 sitting around), I guess you could almost think of that charge as a bit of interest. ≈3%?
May want to change carriers would be a reason to purchase outright. I bought my iPhone 6s 5 days ago from Verizon on the payment plan to get $100 off ($549.00) promotion. 4 days later I paid it off. Nice little savings, but now I can opt to go to another Carrier if I want.
Realistically speaking you could have stayed making payments on it until the time you decide to leave.
Your best bet, hands down is to take the 24 month interest free payment plan with AC+ For a sim free phone.
Then take the full amount you were ready to pay now, put it in an interest bearing account, and when you're ready to upgrade, you'll have that money plus interest, and will actually make money on the phone, whether you upgrade early or not.
The only reason not to do it this way is if you're financially irresponsible and can't be trusted to leave that money alone.