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beaver82

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 27, 2008
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How does T-Mobile differentiate between "Awesome" credit and "Average" credit? For those that just switched to T-Mobile from another carrier, how was your experience on the credit check and deposit amount on a new device?
 
Every company has different criteria in the way they judge credit history in order to provide post paid service.
Everyone's personal situation will be different so you cant really compare credit decisions accurately.
 
How does T-Mobile differentiate between "Awesome" credit and "Average" credit? For those that just switched to T-Mobile from another carrier, how was your experience on the credit check and deposit amount on a new device?
I believe my credit was good when I switched from AT&T some years ago, T-mobile did not ask for a deposit. My credit score has gone downhill since (5 years ago) and T-mobile has not hindered me in no way when I have jumped or upgraded to a new device( 3 lines) and I've done this on 10 or more occasions in the last 5 years. So I'm assuming your credit should be decent to bypass a deposit from T-mobile. When I checked into switching to Sprint a while back, they requested a deposit, as I mentioned my credit is below decent/good :(
 
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How does T-Mobile differentiate between "Awesome" credit and "Average" credit? For those that just switched to T-Mobile from another carrier, how was your experience on the credit check and deposit amount on a new device?
I believe my credit was good when I switched from AT&T some years ago, T-mobile did not ask for a deposit. My credit score has gone downhill since (5 years ago) and T-mobile has not hindered me in no way when I have jumped or upgraded to a new device( 3 lines) and I've done this on 10 or more occasions in the last 5 years. So I'm assuming your credit should be decent to bypass a deposit from T-mobile. When I checked into switching to Sprint a while back, they requested a deposit, as I mentioned my credit is below decent/good :(
I signed up with them about a year and a half ago. Credit was good at the time, I qualified for zero down on the base model iPhone. However, we always get the highest capacity phone Apple offers so that required a deposit of $200 per device (both 128GB models).

Since then I have heard stories that T-Mobile no longer offers zero down.

Speaking to @roger1955, T-Mobile considers you as a customer with good credit if you have made more than 12 payments in a row on time. So, however bad your score may be in general as long as you've done that with T-Mob and are not behind in payments they see you as having good credit.
 
I signed up with them about a year and a half ago. Credit was good at the time, I qualified for zero down on the base model iPhone. However, we always get the highest capacity phone Apple offers so that required a deposit of $200 per device (both 128GB models).

Since then I have heard stories that T-Mobile no longer offers zero down.

Speaking to @roger1955, T-Mobile considers you as a customer with good credit if you have made more than 12 payments in a row on time. So, however bad your score may be in general as long as you've done that with T-Mob and are not behind in payments they see you as having good credit.
I signed up with them about a year and a half ago. Credit was good at the time, I qualified for zero down on the base model iPhone. However, we always get the highest capacity phone Apple offers so that required a deposit of $200 per device (both 128GB models).

Since then I have heard stories that T-Mobile no longer offers zero down.

Speaking to @roger1955, T-Mobile considers you as a customer with good credit if you have made more than 12 payments in a row on time. So, however bad your score may be in general as long as you've done that with T-Mob and are not behind in payments they see you as having good credit.
Yea, unfortunantly anything above the base model(32gb) requires a down payment, I just jumped from the 6s plus 64gb (99 deposit) to 7 plus 128 gb (199 deposit) :( just couldn't drop down to 32 gb from 64 gb. I won't be jumping with this 7 plus 128gb since the deposit does not move to the next phone you jump to. :(
 
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Yea, unfortunantly anything above the base model(32gb) requires a down payment, I just jumped from the 6s plus 64gb (99 deposit) to 7 plus 128 gb (199 deposit) :( just couldn't drop down to 32 gb from 64 gb. I won't be jumping with this 7 plus 128gb since the deposit does not move to the next phone you jump to. :(
So basically with any iPhone above the base, a deposit will be required even if you have perfect credit?
 
Yes, that is correct, I believe that's with all the major carriers( Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile & Sprint).

Not true with Verizon - I bought 4 iPhone 7 plus models- 3 (256gb) and 1 (128gb) all were no money down - only high Cali taxes

My sister really wants TMobile and the only reason she doesn't switch is the down payments on larger capacity iPhones with TMobile
 
So basically with any iPhone above the base, a deposit will be required even if you have perfect credit?

Its not a deposit. It has nothing to do with credit. If you have credit then charge the money on a credit card.
Its like before where you were getting an iphone for $199 with 2 year contract.
If you pay $99 or $199 it comes off the phone price. You either pay it upfront or spread out over 24 months you're still paying it one way or the other.
 
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I read somewhere a while back (I don't have T-Mo though) that T-Mo 'awesome' credit is 700 or above. Thats actual FICO and not the fake scores found at most credit monitoring services.
 
Yes, that is correct, I believe that's with all the major carriers( Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile & Sprint).
Not for Verizon and I didn't had to pay a deposit when I first signed up to get the 7 plus with the promotional credit when it was launched.
 
From what I understand T-Mobile sets your credit limit when you sign up and they will not change it, nor will they tell you what that limit actually is. What does get changed is the deposit. If when you first signed had to put a deposit down on say an iPhone 7, if you make 12 consecutive on-time payments then most phones will no longer require a down payment.

In respect to the iPhone X, T-Mobile told me specifically both over the phone and twitter that the only people that would not be required to have a down payment for that phone were those with extensive history with them.

Some people claim to have had that changed, but I don’t personally know anyone who had any success with that.
 
From what I understand T-Mobile sets your credit limit when you sign up and they will not change it, nor will they tell you what that limit actually is. What does get changed is the deposit. If when you first signed had to put a deposit down on say an iPhone 7, if you make 12 consecutive on-time payments then most phones will no longer require a down payment.

In respect to the iPhone X, T-Mobile told me specifically both over the phone and twitter that the only people that would not be required to have a down payment for that phone were those with extensive history with them.

Some people claim to have had that changed, but I don’t personally know anyone who had any success with that.
Sounds like T-Mobile has a lot of accounts in collections.
 
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So basically with any iPhone above the base, a deposit will be required even if you have perfect credit?
I’ve had t mobile for 5 years know we have 5 phone lines plus a tablet plus an iPod on ours and it’s not a “deposit” that your paying....basically when you have the jump on demand you get 3 Upgrades a year so what you are paying when you upgrade is the taxes for the price of the phone so even if you get the cheapest phone they have you still pay when you switch phones so basically the more expensive the phone the more taxes you pay .... and if you are on jump plan they do not even check your credi when you upgrade
 
I have been with Tmobile for 15 years and have 800 credit score. I’m far from rich, but I’m very smart with the money I do have.

When I went in to buy my max on launch day, they talked to me about financing it. The down payment plus taxes came to $4XX. I choose to pay cash, but it doesn’t seem like they give you the option to just pay the taxes up front like on a cheaper phone. Not sure if this helps, but it was my experience.
 
I have been with Tmobile for 15 years and have 800 credit score. I’m far from rich, but I’m very smart with the money I do have.

When I went in to buy my max on launch day, they talked to me about financing it. The down payment plus taxes came to $4XX. I choose to pay cash, but it doesn’t seem like they give you the option to just pay the taxes up front like on a cheaper phone. Not sure if this helps, but it was my experience.
Yea that’s what I was trying to explain lol I was responding to the other posts on how basically when you upgrade it’s not based on credit it’s based the phone you get
 
Yea that’s what I was trying to explain lol I was responding to the other posts on how basically when you upgrade it’s not based on credit it’s based the phone you get
Yep. They make it so your payment is $720/24 months = $30 per month. Strange to me for sure.
 
Go onto T-Mobile.com and look st the device you want. You will see that for the xs and the xs max models therenis a deposit plus monthly rate.

This is all assuming you have credit acceptable for them to do this. If you don't, that deposit will be higher.

Ultimately what this all means is that the iPhone upgrade plan through T-Mobile is effectively dead unless they change their policy. Or unless you decide you're happy with paying much more than 50% of the phone off before you trade up to the next one.

Take a look at the screenshot. I am not logged in. I have selected the top line of credit. And the deposits for a 64gb xs max is $379. Effectively your deposit is whatever the msrp ofnthe phone is north of $720.

C701248E-9B16-4C21-B3C5-52F1A6189902.png
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I’ve had t mobile for 5 years know we have 5 phone lines plus a tablet plus an iPod on ours and it’s not a “deposit” that your paying....basically when you have the jump on demand you get 3 Upgrades a year so what you are paying when you upgrade is the taxes for the price of the phone so even if you get the cheapest phone they have you still pay when you switch phones so basically the more expensive the phone the more taxes you pay .... and if you are on jump plan they do not even check your credi when you upgrade
You're paying much more than just taxes. You're paying every dollar of msrp above $720. People have noticed this since the X, mainly. It's a much more expensive phone.

Imo the iPhone upgrade program is officially dead through them at this point unless you're buying the base model phone, in this case the Xr.
 
I don’t know why Tmobile is looking to make the monthly payment $30 when you have to go $400 or more out of pocket for a max. Surely that has cost them many sales. If you only had to pay the taxes, the monthly price would be $45 or so. $15 extra per month is a lot easier to swallow than dropping $400 at the time of purchase,
 
I don’t know why Tmobile is looking to make the monthly payment $30 when you have to go $400 or more out of pocket for a max. Surely that has cost them many sales. If you only had to pay the taxes, the monthly price would be $45 or so. $15 extra per month is a lot easier to swallow than dropping $400 at the time of purchase,
If you'd skip out on the hill st any point in time you've paid a good chunk of it off from day one. Tmovikenisnessentislly reduxing their risk with the loan.
 
All T-Mobile is doing is lowering your monthly payment. When we were with Verizon years ago, yes, all you paid for upfront was the price for taxes, but your monthly payment was much higher on the device. With T-Mobile, you are making a down payment which lowers your monthly payment, hence why your payment is only $30 a month no matter which capacity you purchase. To compare with Verizon,

T-Mobile iPhone XS Max - Awesome Credit
64 GB - $379.99 down + taxes - $30 month/24 months
256 GB - $529.99 down + taxes - $30 month/24 months
512 GB - $729.99 down + taxes - $30 month/24 months

Verizon iPhone XS Max - Well Qualified Credit
64 GB - $0 down + taxes - $45.83 month/24 months
256 GB - $0 down + taxes - $52.08 month/24 months
512 GB - $0 down + taxes - $60.41 month/24 months
 
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