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

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.

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..

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...

Diertch wrote:

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. 

I think people should first leverage Twitter Facebook and other crowd social media to drum up support for getting TMo to reconsider this ill conceived change.  

I plan to shop for a better carrier.  In the mean time, I am looking at cutting services to compensate for the loss of the autopay discount.  
 

I don't want paper in my mailbox and I don't want to miss payments.  So perhaps I'll keep paperless but use my bank's bill pay service to send TMo a hard copy check every month.  

Losing the $20 per month discount is akin to being charged a 13% surcharge for for my ~$150/month bill.  There is not a credit card company on the planet that charges anywhere near that.

As many have pointed out on this thread, CC charges are a part of doing business and there are other ways they can cut costs like doing away with some of the perks most don't care about.  Debit card transactions are not fee free either.

There is NO WAY I will use my debit card in anyone's autopay system. CC companies protect us from fraud and they have that built into their cost of doing business with the interest they charge us and the fees they charge vendors to use them.  T-Mobile is asking us to forego that protection or charge us a premium for it.

Years ago I left Sprint due to a billing policy issue.  Kind of deja vu all over again now that they have merged.  Unfortunately for me, I was happy with my T-Mobile service until this.  

I hope they reconsider.

Tony V

HNDAV4 wrote:

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 even get me started about those guys...

 

yeah Verizon started this years ago.. for them if you want the discount you must use a debit card/bank info or their own Verizon CC card..

i think ATT is one of the last bigs to still do the CC card discount..but if im thinking right that also depends on which plan you are on.

and dont get me started with Comcast lol.

Coolguy4 wrote:

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.. 

20+ years T-Mobile customer and have began switching carriers. I have found three others Mint, Visible, US M0bile that save me significantly over T-Mobile before this money grab at the expense of their customers banking information security. See my other posts where I laid out the facts. The potential billions more they make if you prefer to keep your banking information secured from their frequent (massive) data breaches. Once my children get their phones switched, I'm done with them. They are a German company now anyway so they give a flip about Americans wishes for security. My new carrier is are USA all the way.

jlfliberty wrote:

My new carrier is are USA all the way.

Mind sharing what USA carrier you went with?

jlfliberty wrote:

You defending T-Mobiles security breaches and money grab?

No, I am just as upset as everyone else on losing the discount and having my bill increase artificially.  Just weighing options and seeing what others have considered / done.

jlfliberty wrote:

fireguy_6364 wrote:

HNDAV4 wrote:

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 even get me started about those guys...

 

 

yeah Verizon started this years ago.. for them if you want the discount you must use a debit card/bank info or their own Verizon CC card..

 

i think ATT is one of the last bigs to still do the CC card discount..but if im thinking right that also depends on which plan you are on.

 

and dont get me started with Comcast lol.

I agree with the other commenters that point out your continual defense of T-Mobile with (They did it too!). I also agree that you sure seem to be working for T-Mobile.

funny how that is the first thing people jump to when they dont agree with what is being said.. or the fact that you jumped in on this when i was responding to another poster that pointed out pretty much the same thing i have been saying..TMO isnt the only one that has done this..

my point since day one of this was yall need to put in a tad bit of research before posting.. as an extra example...TMO is currently looking into purchasing Mint..one of the 3 fully American companies you just mentioned. which now puts you down to 2 fully American companies.

anywho...side note for anyone in here..most banks have bill pay..personally have never used it but one would think that their security for such a thing would be higher than just dumping your bank info or debit card info to a company...anyone use the bill pay options and have any info on how it works etc? might be the work around if it has higher security