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To those who have Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program, what do think vs. buy outright?

Luba

Luba

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 22, 2009
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I'm intrigued by Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program with its 0% financing and you don't pay for AppleCare+ all upfront. How has it worked out for you? Do you get priority when pre-ordering? Is Apple's trade-in program fair, meaning you receive a bit less than selling on eBay or Craigslist? I'd settle for $50-$100 less than I would get from Craigslist or eBay as I wouldn't have to spend time selling it myself.

Does IUP make sense only if you want to upgrade every year. I suppose you could upgrade every other year if you so choose.

If the trade-in amount is fair then the only qualm I have with IUP is giving my SSN out. As we know nowadays the fewer places that know your SSN the better.
 
Well we only had two years to work with so far. Last year it was a disaster and the IUP people were upset and rightfully so. Apple did the right thing and put out a special pre-order queue for the 7/7+ before launch and that resolved that issue. This year they did a much much much better job and you don't have to go to a store anymore.

As for costs you can pay it off for two years and ownt he phone outright or you have the option to trade it in for a new phone. It is still a 0% loan for a new phone for 24/mo similar to many other carriers.

The only problem I really have is the Citizen's One interface is terrible and slow and that you can't just pay off a larger chunk at least that I can tell. I could probably call and ask but meh.
 
I don't see the downside. I don't mind paying full price and then selling when I upgrade but now its much easier. Purchaser price of $800 plus AppleCare at $150 and tax is nearly $1050. After a year if I trade it in the price I paid is roughly 480, which means I would have had to sell the phone for nearly $600. While doable and could probably get a little more for it, nowadays not worth my time for maybe an extra $50. Pretty sure you can even pay the balance off if you felt like you could get significantly more selling on your own. Also I have the freedom to not upgrade and then keep the phone outright after 2 years of payments.
 
The only downside I see is the credit pull. And with Next every year now I don’t see a difference between financing with att or with Apple.
 
nrvna76 said:
The only downside I see is the credit pull. And with Next every year now I don’t see a difference between financing with att or with Apple.
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I understand it’s only a one time credit pull. I’ve done next before and then decided to switch cell services and was forced to pay big the chunk off before cancelling AT&T.
 
Ntombi said:
I have Next, and the only benefit with Apple’s version is that AppleCare Plus is included. I may switch over because of that.
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It’s only ‘included’ because you pay for it.. you can’t add it to your next payments?
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techiegirl said:
I understand it’s only a one time credit pull. I’ve done next before and then decided to switch cell services and was forced to pay big the chunk off before cancelling AT&T.
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Every time you upgrade though. Which is likely to be yearly.
 
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0% interest on IUP is very misleading, if not an outright lie. They don't allow you to use debit card for monthly payments forcing you to use a "real" credit card. Works great if you carry zero balance, otherwise that "0% interest" is a myth.
 
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TrainFromUkraine said:
0% interest on IUP is very misleading, if not an outright lie. They don't allow you to use debit card for monthly payments forcing you to use a "real" credit card. Works great if you carry zero balance, otherwise that "0% interest" is a myth.
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You shouldn’t be carrying a balance on a credit card. Therefore, 0% interest is not a myth. I did the IUP and will continue this year and will never pay a penny of interest. If you feel as though you can’t manage a $50 payment on your credit card without needing interest payments, it may be best to buy the phone outright for you.
 
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After a few months they let you switch it to a bank account or debit card. At least that's what I did. You just HAVE to use a CC for the first 3 months, if I remember correctly.
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Luba said:
How has it worked out for you? Do you get priority when pre-ordering? Is Apple's trade-in program fair, meaning you receive a bit less than selling on eBay or Craigslist? I'd settle for $50-$100 less than I would get from Craigslist or eBay as I wouldn't have to spend time selling it myself.

Does IUP make sense only if you want to upgrade every year. I suppose you could upgrade every other year if you so choose.

If the trade-in amount is fair then the only qualm I have with IUP is giving my SSN out. As we know nowadays the fewer places that know your SSN the better.
Click to expand...

I don't trust Ebay or Craigslist as I have been scammed on ebay and even though the seller's account was raided for my money, I got back only a small percentage of what I lost. I won't ever do a used phone on ebay. So, for me, this doesn't factor in.

Spending $44/mo x 2 for my phone and my wife's phone is a lot more palatable than $2k. Also, the option to upgrade after one year if I want is nice too. I do get an email allowing for pre-ordering - a 5 minute process - when a new phone comes out, which is nice.

I plan on keeping my phone for 2 years so I own it outright. So it made sense to me because I'd rather keep $2k in my bank and make 0% interest payments over the course of those 2 years.

My SSN has already been leaked as a previous Federal employee. I've had a credit lock and monitoring since then. It doesn't bother me that I have to use my SSN to do a 0% loan with Apple.
 
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I currently purchase outright/unlocked every year and sell my previous phone for decent price to help fund the next one. Along with saving ~$40/month throughout the year I typically have enough funds to purchase the new device.

However, IUP isn't available where I live. If it was, I'd maybe make use of it instead, mostly for the convenience.
 
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I went in to an Apple store today (in the UK) to ask about my Upgrade Programme and what's going to happen with the X.

He seems to imply there is priority preorder (or at least different stock) for people already on the AUP as opposed to people to trying to order one fresh. I'll go back in and speak to someone else another day to see if I get an answer though.

The main reason I went in was to see what would happen if I was unsuccessful preordering for release date; if I have to wait an extra month or two to upgrade on the AUP, is there any compensation for the delay?
Technically, my phone is worth less and less as a trade in to Apple past the 12 month mark. I would have paid in per month more than I'm getting out by upgrading so after a certain point I'd be better off paying off the phone and selling it myself after the 20 months.

He didn't really have an answer for that and it seems that you're kind of out of luck if you get delayed. I think if I can't preorder one for release day and the wait seems unreasonable, I won't bother getting the X on the AUP and will buy outright or use the standard Apple finance option instead
 
Jamnabot said:
I went in to an Apple store today (in the UK) to ask about my Upgrade Programme and what's going to happen with the X.

He seems to imply there is priority preorder (or at least different stock) for people already on the AUP as opposed to people to trying to order one fresh. I'll go back in and speak to someone else another day to see if I get an answer though.

The main reason I went in was to see what would happen if I was unsuccessful preordering for release date; if I have to wait an extra month or two to upgrade on the AUP, is there any compensation for the delay?
Technically, my phone is worth less and less as a trade in to Apple past the 12 month mark. I would have paid in per month more than I'm getting out by upgrading so after a certain point I'd be better off paying off the phone and selling it myself after the 20 months.

He didn't really have an answer for that and it seems that you're kind of out of luck if you get delayed. I think if I can't preorder one for release day and the wait seems unreasonable, I won't bother getting the X on the AUP and will buy outright or use the standard Apple finance option instead
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That is correct. Those in the IUP will be able to get pre-approved before the preorder date, similar to what happened with the X, as confirmed by an online Apple rep. Therefore on the 27th, its a one-button deal making the ordering process quicker.
 
macrumorsperson said:
You shouldn’t be carrying a balance on a credit card. Therefore, 0% interest is not a myth. I did the IUP and will continue this year and will never pay a penny of interest. If you feel as though you can’t manage a $50 payment on your credit card without needing interest payments, it may be best to buy the phone outright for you.
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Great job being condescending d-bag. Nobody asked you for financial advice.
 
TrainFromUkraine said:
Great job being condescending d-bag. Nobody asked you for financial advice.
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No need to call me names... there were a few important points here: 1. Its general advice that credit card debt is the worst debt out there, it is generally considered sound advice to avoid it. 2. If someone is calling out Apple for lying about 0% interest, I thought it would be proper to correct them about that since it is misleading to say they do not offer that rate when clearly they do.
 
macrumorsperson said:
No need to call me names... there were a few important points here: 1. Its general advice that credit card debt is the worst debt out there, it is generally considered sound advice to avoid it. 2. If someone is calling out Apple for lying about 0% interest, I thought it would be proper to correct them about that since it is misleading to say they do not offer that rate when clearly they do.
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They clearly do not, which is why I am calling them out on it. True 0% interest offer would give people flexibility to pay with a bank draft or by debit card.
 
TrainFromUkraine said:
They clearly do not, which is why I am calling them out on it. True 0% interest offer would give people flexibility to pay with a bank draft or by debit card.
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If you did your research properly, you would see you can actually contact Citizens One Loans and change payment to a “0%” debit card or ACH transfer... HOWEVER... even if you are putting it on your credit card, Apple is still not charging you interest. You are choosing to NOT pay your credit card and therefore yes, you will pay interest. If you have the money to pay the 0% DEBIT card purchase, surley you won’t need to worry about paying any interest on your CREDIT card if you can pay the balance in full! Your logic is flawed.
 
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I recently looked into the iup program thinking I might go that route if I were to upgrade my 6s. The fact that they require a CC to get on this program rather than just a debit card made me change my mind. I will just pay for my upgrade outright or use Next on ATT.
 
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