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To Everyone Considering Edge / Next / Easy Pay - Read This

I

imaketouchtheme

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 5, 2007
1,097
4
So.....to everyone that is considering AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, or Sprint Easy Pay, here's a great alternative.

Instead of financing the phone through the carrier and having to follow crazy rules, why not purchase the phone outright at Walmart (24 months no interest), Best Buy (12 months no interest) or Apple (12 months no interest) and not have rules. You can pay it off early as well AND put down a down payment.

Seems like the better choice to me... That's what I did.

EDIT: Since people don't know, you get the same discounts whether you pay for the phone up front or finance it on the respective plan.
 
What rules are you talking about? I am paying 0% interest by doing next and if I want to pay it off I can, if not I trade it in after 12 months and get a new phone.
 
Knowimagination said:
What rules are you talking about? I am paying 0% interest by doing next and if I want to pay it off I can, if not I trade it in after 12 months and get a new phone.
Click to expand...

You can't make double payments or put down a down payment. There's lots of rules, you may just be unaware. ;)

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Starrbuck said:
Plus we get discounts on our plans.
Click to expand...

You get the same discount if you pay for the phone outright as well.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
You can't make double payments or put down a down payment. There's lots of rules, you may just be unaware. ;)

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You get the same discount if you pay for the phone outright as well.
Click to expand...

Why would I want to make double payments or a down payment on a 0% interest offer?
 
yg17 said:
Because I don't want to open up a line of credit and have my credit score take a hit.
Click to expand...

Then improve shortly thereafter?

That makes no sense. :rolleyes:

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Knowimagination said:
Why would I want to make double payments or a down payment on a 0% interest offer?
Click to expand...

To pay it off early? Lower monthly payments? There's a million reasons. You can't possibly say that having more options is a bad thing.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
To pay it off early? Lower monthly payments? There's a million reasons. You can't possibly say that having more options is a bad thing.
Click to expand...

If I am going to pay it off early I will just pay it off all at once. You make it sound like this is a horrible option, but it is a no credit check one time solution to buying the phone. I could easily pay cash for the phone instead, but if AT&T wants to let me spread it out instead then I will just leave that money in the bank for now.

A line of credit isn't even available to some people who will be utilizing these type programs.
 
Paying it off early would not be beneficial to the customer if you're on one of these plans such as NEXT. We are on this plan for a reason, because we'd like to upgrade after 12-18 months. If we pay it off early we have to pay $749. If we pay for it for 12-18 months, we pay about $300 and get a new phone upgrade.
 
dndandrea said:
Paying it off early would not be beneficial to the customer if you're on one of these plans such as NEXT. We are on this plan for a reason, because we'd like to upgrade after 12-18 months. If we pay it off early we have to pay $749. If we pay for it for 12-18 months, we pay about $300 and get a new phone upgrade.
Click to expand...

And trade in your phone for much less than what it's worth.

I may or may not work for one of the carriers and understand the plan better than some. If you don't think your iPhone 6 will be worth $350 in a year then the carriers have brainwashed you perfectly.

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Knowimagination said:
If I am going to pay it off early I will just pay it off all at once. You make it sound like this is a horrible option, but it is a no credit check one time solution to buying the phone. I could easily pay cash for the phone instead, but if AT&T wants to let me spread it out instead then I will just leave that money in the bank for now.

A line of credit isn't even available to some people who will be utilizing these type programs.
Click to expand...

It's not a horrible option, but it's not the best option either.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
So.....to everyone that is considering AT&T Next, Verizon Edge, or Sprint Easy Pay, here's a great alternative.

Instead of financing the phone through the carrier and having to follow crazy rules, why not purchase the phone outright at Walmart (24 months no interest), Best Buy (12 months no interest) or Apple (12 months no interest) and not have rules. You can pay it off early as well AND put down a down payment.

Seems like the better choice to me... That's what I did.

EDIT: Since people don't know, you get the same discounts whether you pay for the phone up front or finance it on the respective plan.
Click to expand...

This is certainly an option, but I don't understand why you think it's a better choice? Really, what difference does it make at all? You're still financing a phone, and at least if you finance through your carrier there's no exploding interest rate (that is retroactive with Best Buy, btw) at the end of the initial term if for some reason you can't pay it off in time. AT&T's financing term is 20 month, which means smaller payments than with Best Buy, and at 12 months you can trade in your phone for another under the same financing terms, another feature you don't get with BB which leaves you paying off the entire phone in 12 months and then relying on market forces to sell and make back what you would have saved going through AT&T.

In fact, dig deeper. Right now, a used 64GB iPhone 5S (the biggest in terms of storage for the last gen) is going for it looks like on average around $400. When I turn in my iPhone 6+ next year at 12 months, I will be skipping around $380 in payments on that phone, and I don't even have to bother with trying to sell it which means no selling/shipping fees or meeting strangers in a parking lot.

I just am not seeing why you think financing another way is "better".
 
imaketouchtheme said:
You can't make double payments or put down a down payment. There's lots of rules, you may just be unaware. ;)

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You get the same discount if you pay for the phone outright as well.
Click to expand...

I read some of the fine print. No penalty from ATT if I pay off the NEXT phone early.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
And trade in your phone for much less than what it's worth.

I may or may not work for one of the carriers and understand the plan better than some. If you don't think your iPhone 6 will be worth $350 in a year then the carriers have brainwashed you perfectly.
Click to expand...
Then you get to pay $800 for a new phone...
 
Not saying there's a downside, but there's better options.

Look at Swappa. Your phone prices are way off.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
You can't make double payments or put down a down payment. There's lots of rules, you may just be unaware. ;)

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You get the same discount if you pay for the phone outright as well.
Click to expand...
I think you are unaware. Edge or Next or Tmobile jump program rules. All allow to pay off the phone anytime you like. They do have limitations on upgrading but not "lots of rules", some rules are to stop flipping the phones, but so what? Plus It's WALMART. Since it is a zero interest phone why make double payments or a down payment. Save the cash until you can pay it off. But after reading the rest of your posts I'm guessing Walmart family plan or something like straight talk. No thanks.
 
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PNutts said:
You are paying AT&T handsomely for that convenience.
Click to expand...

Knowimagination said:
Says you anyway. There is literally no down side, but you go ahead and help us all see the light... :rolleyes:

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How do you figure?
Click to expand...

I'd like to know as well. How are you "paying handsomely" for a 0% loan?

I don't see how any 0% plan with no fees is a bad thing. As far as I remember from finance classes, assuming inflation and such, present value is higher than future value. Better to take that $650-950 and put it toward a loan or in an interest bearing account and then make your payments on the 0% instead.
 
imaketouchtheme said:
Not saying there's a downside, but there's better options.

Look at Swappa. Your phone prices are way off.
Click to expand...

Swappa has static phone listings based on what the seller is asking for. When I look at ebay I see used 64GB 5S iPhones whose listings are nearing the end going for around $400 dollars (up or down a little bit depending on the condition.
 
Also, sometimes you get carrier discounts with these programs. I know with Verizon's Edge, you get $10 or $25 off a month depending on your data plan. So this actually makes it cheaper than 0% financing through the store.
 
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