Why does AT&T charge $600 just for a deposit ?

[nostresshere]

Guys, read above. He's a teenager...that's asking his parents to pay for an iPhone 5 that they can barely afford. ...He's insistent on the iPhone 5.

This guy does not need an iphone at all. He MAYBE should have a basic $10 phone, just like my brother with shakey finances has.

If for some reason he really does need a smart phone, go with an Iphone3 or Iphone4. This is totally insane. Remember, half of America still uses non-smartphones and are doing just fine.

 

[Cosmo M3]

Have ****ty credit

blame at&t

 

[negrohero9]

How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data.

This makes no sense to me.... How can AT&T deposit have anything to do with Sprint Unlimited Data

 

[WesCole]

And as long as you pay for the iPhone in full, I see no reason why you should have to sign a two year contract with a carrier to have service for it. Much less put a deposit down on top of the contract commitment. A two year agreement should only be a requirement due to a subsidy, not for any other reason.

I had an account with AT&T and a $1200 monthly bill with 4 lines on a friends and family plan. One month one of my friends didn't pay his $200 portion, leaving a $200 balance. Even though I had just paid $1000 on the bill, due to that $200 balance they cut all 4 phones off right before a busy holiday weekend. Even though the next day I paid the $200 in CASH in person to an authorized AT&T dealer, AT&T took 5 DAYS to reconnect the phones, saying there was "absolutely nothing that could be done" because of the holidays. Meanwhile I still paid for those days without any service at all, making me look unprofessional and pathetic.

They are the definition of EVIL corporate GREED, not only charging whatever they wish regardless of cost to them, but making sure to squeeze every single drop out of their customers... from locking phones so that when you travel you cannot use other SIM cards and are stuck with a $4000 bill upon your return, charging for Facetime, throttling grandfathered data plans, $20 for SMS that doesn't use any resources on their data network... the list just goes on and on. As a tech head I agree that they have the fastest network overall, and as an addict to having the best I will admit to willingly pay outrageous sums of money to having the fastest cellular experience... but if anyone offered a faster experience I would drop them faster then a punctured lithium battery emitting smoke.

I have to ask...how could 4 lines cost you $1200 per month?

 

[saud0488]

This guy does not need an iphone at all. He MAYBE should have a basic $10 phone, just like my brother with shakey finances has.

If for some reason he really does need a smart phone, go with an Iphone3 or Iphone4. This is totally insane. Remember, half of America still uses non-smartphones and are doing just fine.

About 90% of the people on these forums don't NEED an iPhone. They just want one to be cool. I run an online business and probably don't NEED one either but for the sake of returning emails faster is why I have one.

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Seems this kid, amongst many others are paying for the mistakes of the older generation. I don't think he needs one but people that are in the 18-20 range with no credit will likely find it hard. There's a lesson in there though; if you can't afford it don't buy it. Something a lot of us westerners could learn from.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I assume it's because of your credit or lack there of.

Agreed. For whatever reason OP, your credit rating needs some improvement. Work on improving it so you don't face this issue in the future.

 

[upnorth85]

I agree, the US credit scoring system gives the highest score to some one who has a "range" of credit accounts such as mortgage, car loan, credit cards etc. Worse it does not take into consideration assets and income. A person who is in debt to their eye balls and is one paycheck from default will score better than some one who has paid off his/her mortgage in a short time and buys his/her car on cash and pays off all credit cards each month but may have a higher than average bill each month based on the income. That is why when the recession came, credit scores of "prime" debtors fell like bowling pins.

That said, I too have no desire to buy a service or product that may require my credit check to be done. I have frozen my credit files and put away the unlock pin. I buy things on full price and avoid giving my SS number where ever I can.

And no, I do not have an iPhone! I do aspire to own one, and am waiting to buy a 32 or 64 GB white one to use on T-mobile as and when Apple sells unlocked version to anyone who wants to buy one. I do have a 9 month old SGS2 which is good for now, but having used iPads for years, I prefer the robustness and stability of an iOs system.

They tried to do the same to me when I attempted to switch from Verizon. My scores are great but I guess I have a thin file. Never any mortgages, car payments, or loans. Just a couple cc's that i pay every month. I stuck with Verizon.

You can contest it with AT&T but it didn't get me anywhere.

 

[moosquared]

That's total bull....I mean just for a freaking deposit? It's not even an upgrade fee or anything like that and how does AT&T expect someone to pay that kind of money ? If for $50 more we can get it unlocked without a contract.
How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data. I hate such hate for at&t...I am sure lots feel the same way about this. We all should protest to make att have lower monthly payments. $60 just for 450 minute minutes talk and 300MB that's barely anything for 2012. But yes...the question is why would AT&T want to charge $600 for a stupid deposit? In this economy?....So freaking angry.

It's not only AT&T. Other carriers also charge you a huge deposit if you have a bad credit score or no credit at all. When I was an International student in the US, I had to pay $500 deposit for a Nokia phone.

Sure, it's a hefty price to pay, but they need a guarantee that you'll be able to pay your bill since you can't provide a decent credit score. Get a family plan with a family member or friends. It's cheaper than just opening a single line for yourself. Just remember to pay them on time.

 

[qckslvrsiete]

Your wife ruin your credit? Who was irresponsible you or her? Just saying.. What do you mean often times and need to look at the individual basis? At the end of the day, something happen to the person that made their scores low. We all know what determines what makes your score low so I guess you can call it whatever you want. You are right corporations don't care about the person they look at the number to make a decision.

I'm fortunate enough to afford credit monitoring, and in the last five years have benefited from it by identifying and subsequently stopping two attempts at identify theft that I would not have noticed had I not been alerted.

Point being, I wouldn't have done anything wrong, but if I didn't have credit monitoring my credit score could have been ruined through no fault of my own. Some people don't have that luxury and could easily have been scammed out of their personal info and had something completely unrelated to them ruin a credit score that would otherwise be worthy of no deposit.

I'm not saying that's the case for the OP, but credit scores are certainly not the tried and true gauge of financial responsibility some of the posters on here are making them out to be.

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Here's OP's post copied and pasted from the thread linked
On page 1. It's one of OPs other threads.



It's gone from the site..now it's a 300MB for $60 that's a horrible deal.
The economic is horrible right at the moment and my dad will buy my the next iPhone maybe but the monthly plan has to be cheap and I checked sprint's but it's $80...for the cheapest
I thought it was $75? I checked like last month
I just am pissed that for basically nothing cost so much. I mean if they give you unlimited text for at&t than that would be a good deal but just for a lame basic plan. I am a teenager so I don't have my own job yet. I am very concern about the next iPhone's monthly plan because since it will be 4G who knows if it will be insanely high. We need to do a protest or something about those greedy companies over charging people just like the Facetime thing for at&t all they care about is money when they already have Billions of dollars and the hard working people is barely able to have food at the table because of this mess.


Here's the link. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1432725/


So do you guys feel sorry for the guy now? Hey OP, try making less beats and music on your iPad, log off the forums, and go get a job. Problem solved.

I had to chuckle to myself after reading that quote. Apparently the need to own an iPhone 5 is as basic as need to eat.

 

[hkfan24]

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[/COLOR]

I had to chuckle to myself after reading that quote. Apparently the need to own an iPhone 5 is as basic as need to eat.

Right? I really hope OP learns a lesson from everyone's insight. He's been non-stop trying to get the iPhone 5 and while it's a great phone, it's not life or death like he has made it seem the past few weeks. Plus, who on earth has the heart to put their parents in a financial bind just for an iPhone 5?

He said he's a teen and can't get a job. My bet is that he's a freshman in High School.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Again, you need to work this out with AT&T and stop creating threads that mimic a virtual temper tantrum.
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16019867#post16019867

 

[jaysen]

Blame your parents for having bad or no credit.

Just sad.

 

[wookiee2cu]

About 8 years ago I had two friends sign up with AT&T and get phones. One friend had bad credit and didn't have to pay a deposit, the other friend had no credit (commonly referred to as a 'ghost') and he had to put down a $1,000 deposit and got it back after the first year. No credit is worse then bad credit because with bad credit at least you can gauge the risk.

 

[joshwithachance]

Don't get mad at AT&T just because you have bad or no credit. Go with Sprint as they are the most lenient with credit requirements and try again in a year or 2.

 

[ZipZap]

I am pretty sure that after a year you can get your deposit back. AT&T does not need to ask for the deposit, you just fit the profile and therefore they require it.

See if you can get the phone at full price buy it then go home and call and say you want to add service.

If you're working see if your company has a corporate deal as this often trumps the deposit.

 

[martiansoldier]

That's total bull....I mean just for a freaking deposit? It's not even an upgrade fee or anything like that and how does AT&T expect someone to pay that kind of money ? If for $50 more we can get it unlocked without a contract.
How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data. I hate such hate for at&t...I am sure lots feel the same way about this. We all should protest to make att have lower monthly payments. $60 just for 450 minute minutes talk and 300MB that's barely anything for 2012. But yes...the question is why would AT&T want to charge $600 for a stupid deposit? In this economy?....So freaking angry.

Just so you know, your deposit is refundable, usually after a year. If you paid $650.00 for the phone, you are not going to get $600.00 back.

I opened my account with ATTWS back in 2002 and I had only been in the US for 5 months at the time. So, obviously my credit was lacking at the time and I was asked to pay a $200 deposit, which I did and was refunded a year later after I had made all my payments in a timely manner.

If you ask me, I'd say that there is nothing wrong with any company asking for a deposit when you sign up for their services and based on your credit, they figure that you may have to pay a deposit.

 

[hkfan24]

I am pretty sure that after a year you can get your deposit back. AT&T does not need to ask for the deposit, you just fit the profile and therefore they require it.

See if you can get the phone at full price buy it then go home and call and say you want to add service.

If you're working see if your company has a corporate deal as this often trumps the deposit.

He stated himself that he is a teenager and doesnt have a job. He also said that his parents are buying it for him but can barely cover the cost. This is why he is ranting. He didn't expect this big of a monkey wrench from the carriers. No way that he's even a junior or senior in high school. I'm guessing softmore and below. Either way, OP needs to be grateful if he got a phone at all but th iPhone 5 is life or death to him.

 

[scaredpoet]

Do you have a source for this? When I worked in Best Buy Mobile (two years ago, I was 18 at the time)

Oh, then you should know exactly what the credit classes are, for AT&T and other carriers. Please enlighten us!

 

[erratikmind]

That's total bull....I mean just for a freaking deposit? It's not even an upgrade fee or anything like that and how does AT&T expect someone to pay that kind of money ? If for $50 more we can get it unlocked without a contract.
How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data. I hate such hate for at&t...I am sure lots feel the same way about this. We all should protest to make att have lower monthly payments. $60 just for 450 minute minutes talk and 300MB that's barely anything for 2012. But yes...the question is why would AT&T want to charge $600 for a stupid deposit? In this economy?....So freaking angry.

Prepare yourself . . . Life will toss you much more engaging issues than this.

 

[tymaster50]

don't we all just wish we can buy whatever we want? Sadly only people born into hardworking families are rewarded easily. The rest of us can barely afford stuff even if we work our asses off.

 

[fullmanfullninj]

Oh, then you should know exactly what the credit classes are, for AT&T and other carriers. Please enlighten us!

Chill dude, I was just asking for a source. Wasn't attacking you.
All I know is that if a customer had bad credit or no credit at all, the deposits would be 500 or 600. At the time, Verizon had the highest deposit and Sprint the lowest (that didn't mean much though, Sprint would still be 500).

Since I didn't ask each customer what their credit score was, I wouldn't know the exact credit score, never said I did either. Like I said, these deposits are set in place by each carrier. All our software did was just communicate with each carrier.

Again...chill dude. I wasn't calling you out, I just wanted to see where you got that from because I haven't seen anything different than a standard 600$ deposit.

 

[Blorzoga]

That's total bull....I mean just for a freaking deposit? It's not even an upgrade fee or anything like that and how does AT&T expect someone to pay that kind of money ? If for $50 more we can get it unlocked without a contract.
How stupid is AT&T they are so heartless and greedy..because of them sprint eliminated their unlimited data. I hate such hate for at&t...I am sure lots feel the same way about this. We all should protest to make att have lower monthly payments. $60 just for 450 minute minutes talk and 300MB that's barely anything for 2012. But yes...the question is why would AT&T want to charge $600 for a stupid deposit? In this economy?....So freaking angry.

Why is your credit so bad? Did you default on a loan? Maybe your creditors are as angry as you are.

 

[alnova1]

About 6 months ago I was going to buy a 4S and went to AT&T and they said I would need a $600 deposit. My credit has declined in the past couple of years due to lack of work..I'm self-employed. I decided to just for the hell of it, call AT&T and see what my deposit would be. To my surprise I had no deposit and was approved for 3 lines! My credit hasn't improved in that short of time so it's weird but I have an iPhone 5 and I'm trying to rebuild myself again.

 

[okwhatev]

I have to ask...how could 4 lines cost you $1200 per month?

International data use (AT&T wouldn't unlock the phones...) combined with at least 10-12GB of data a month. High high volume users. I realize it's a tiny portion of users... but some of us actually use the phone's abilities to the max nearly all the time.

But we always paid on time. Yet AT&T had no problem simply pulling the plug for 5 days on a VERY good customer over $200 that was only a couple days delinquent.

Perhaps you can see why I hate them so very much.

 

[hkfan24]

Why is your credit so bad? Did you default on a loan? Maybe your creditors are as angry as you are.

He said hes a teenager with no job and that his parents are buying him the phone.