what's up with T-mobile removing autopay discount for credit cards?

Who the Fck want to put there debt or bank number on a Company that got hacked and stole our information not once but twice.. I'm canceling auto pay and now will switch providers. T-mobile going to be the next Bed Bath & Beyond. Poor management.. 

So this is an obvious money grab, no doubt about it. Even if they are paying as much as 3% to run a charge (which I doubt) that's still only $1.50 per line @ $50.00 a line. The rest of the 5 bucks is pure profit for them. They have no doubt run the numbers and decided that the $3.50 a line they'll make on those of us not dumb enough to give them the access they want more than compensates for all the ill will and lost customers they're generating. If even half their clients say screw it and pay the 5 bucks per line that's about 175 million per month, or over 2 BILLION a year. That ain't chump change, even to a large corporation.

But that being said, I'm not as pissed as I could be. We just changed over to TM from ATT a couple of months ago. Using their Keep and Switch promo on one phone, they paid off my wife's iPhone to the tune of over 500 bucks. Doing a trade in on my Flip 4 ( a phone which is often a ticking time bomb that I really wanted out of) they paid most of it off and I got a S23 for nadda as long as I stay with them for 2 years. We're also on their Go5G Plus 55 deal @ $100/month for two lines . Add on that we're no longer paying for Netflix and we're still way ahead from what we were paying ATT + Netflix.

So is it total BS, sure. But as it seems other carriers are doing it or thinking about it, well, it could be worse. Like paying Comcast, but don't aún get me started about those guys...

for those throwing out the “I’ll pay with a check and see how they like it” threats..keep in mind that you’ll be mailing this in via snail mail so it might or might not make it in..which if it doesn’t that issue falls on you...not TMO..

If everyone just turned off paperless billing and autopay, this would make them reconsider. They'd now have to print out hundreds of thousands of bills, pay postage and then process paper checks. I guess they're hedging that people will not do that. I love the simplicity of autopay using a CC but if i have nothing to gain from it, then i have no issues going back and doing things the old fashioned way. 

Agree. I quit AutoPay over this and will continue to pay via credit card. Let's see how that affects their bottom line. T Mobile has been hacked before. Why they would ask clients to risk their bank accounts is beyond me. I'm more open to switching to another service now. We'll see how much more it costs and whether they continue to do this.

Worlack87 wrote:

Adding my respectful feedback to this discussion:

I actually quite enjoy being a T-Mobile customer. They have been providing a service for me, at a reasonable cost, for years now. I am happy with the coverage.

I am here today to express my disagreement with the choice to require debit or bank account for autopay. Many millions of credit card customers get an awesome benefit on their credit cards called "Cell Phone Protection". I have two credit cards that offer this. Essentially the benefit is: If you pay your monthly phone bill on that credit card, the credit card company offers you a protection plan on your phone (if it breaks). I have used this on an old iPhone 6S when it broke and I was cut a check for repair, it was great! No need to purchase AppleCare.

I want to continue to take advantage of this benefit for peace of mind when using my iPhone, but now T-Mobile changes their policy to cut the $5 plan discount if we don’t get off credit cards.

Additionally, one of my credit cards requires me to make 5 purchases per month in order to receive full points - setting up autopay for my phone bill here at T-Mobile for that card was a no-brainer, but now I have to remove this monthly purchase?

Extremely disappointed and hope someone reads our feedback and reverses course.

Excellent point . . . that coupled with the T-Mobile data breaches and potential headaches from having a debit card "stolen" means I'll be losing my autopay discount. Not positive that I'll be jumping ship but I'll sure be open to offers from other carriers. I see why they are doing this BUT they should have grandfathered existing customers!

magenta8618215 wrote:

Just un-enroll from autopay.  Let them mail you a paper bill and send them a check for payment.  See what that does to their costs.

I'm keeping autopay for now (and losing the discount), just changed to get a paper bill as a protest. Maybe they did me a favor, I'll be looking for a new phone soon and now I'm free to move?

Telecom wrote:

Data breach is more important than getting $5-$10 auto discount. Debit card is direct access to bank account and loosing all money if hacked. Better to change the carrier. 

Not true. Debit cards that are backed by Visa and MasterCard offer the same fraud protections as credit cards do. Some even offer rewards and/or deals. At the same time, most banks offer card controls that can limit debit spending, spending categories, single transaction accounts, alerts, locks, etc.  I get pending debit alerts in real time and all it takes is phone call to halt any suspect activity before the COB - debits don't occur until close of business. Once I notify the bank the burden falls on them to prove it wasn't fraudulent activity.

I don't like it any more than anyone else but nearly everything I have now is eliminating discounts when paying by credit card (some add a fee when paying by credit card). TMO isn't unique in this whether it be taxes, utilities, or just about anything else. Not apologizing for TMO's action but folks need to get over it at this point and change carriers if it's a burden or simply continue using their credit cards.

In reality I've got a second free (no minimum balance) checking account with a debit card (and strict debit spending controls) that I keep a minimal balance in as needed for bill payments. It has no overdraft protection.

Data breach is more important than getting $5-$10 auto discount. Debit card is direct access to bank account and loosing all money if hacked. Better to change the carrier. 

This is such BS…I prefer to pay with  my CC to receive my rebates but now I'm forced to use my bank account. I'm definitely looking for another service provider because I don't think it's fair to be FORCED to use a bank account only. It's such an inconvenience.  At least allow current customers to stay the same and any new customers pay with their banks.  TMobile will lose a lot of business.