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

So didn’t tmobile know they would have to pay credit card charges when they set their prices?

I'm leaving T Mobile when my 24 months are up in October. To me this is a way of getting a price increase. I don't have a debt card only credit cards and I don't do online banking. T Mobile has been hacked. Until then I'm changing to paper bill. Good bye T Mobile

shame on you Tmobile! for stealing so much money back.  Nobody should use their debit card or bank account b/c TMobile has been hacked many times and sued for $500 million class action.

Jan 2023: 37 million accounts hacked.  https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/another-data-breach-has-hit-t-mobile-impacting-37-million-accounts/

Feb/Mar 2023: T-Mobile Announces Another Data Breach. https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/t-mobile-announces-another-data-breach/

Aug 2021: breach that affected over 54 million people with social security numbers etc. https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/t-mobile-data-breach-2021-heres-what-it-means-for-securing-your-data/

July 2022: T-Mobile Agrees to $500M Settlement in Massive Data Breach that affected >76 million people.  https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/t-mobile-agrees-to-500m-settlement-in-massive-data-breach/

T-MOBILE!!!  This is the whole reason we need to use credit cards!!  To protect consumers from you getting hacked.  And, credit cards companies charge maybe 3%!!!  You are trying to claw back and charge consumers closer to 15-20%!!!  You could charge maybe $5 total per bill but not $5/per line!!!  

AND this should ONLY be for new accounts!! not longstanding accounts that have been with you for years.  Those accounts should be grandfathered in!!!

Customers:  DO NOT give TMobile your debit card or bank account.  Eventually it will be compromised and thieves could empty your bank account.

Call them and band together!!!  

T-Mobile is on the roll lately (insert sarcasm) with three very unpopular policy changes.  First was the Netflix debacle which isn't really their fault but certainly affecting their customers-- although somehow I still share an account with someone not in my household and I've never received a message which is possibly because I pay for premium but who knows and who cares.  I'll cross that bridge if they ever flag me-- but it really pisses me off to no end that as T-Mobile customers we can't get the same cheaper "extra person" charge like a regular customer can simply because of the third party payment system!   Netflix needs to update that completely outdated thinking process. Then TMo brass made the apparent recent change to *only* allow their top account (Go 5G or whatever) to the cushy phone deals, effectively screwing Magenta Max customers with a plan less than a year old & forcing them to upgrade their account just to take advantage of the promos.   Take a look at every single current phone deal terms and conditions if you don't believe me.

Finally, the most egregious and most likely to get them in the hot water...is a company with an outright TERRIBLE track record of data breaches forcing their customers to a debit or bank account transaction only. That's not going to fly with a lot of people including myself-- has this company ever heard of network security and how important it is?.   I don't know if anyone's mentioned this but you should be able to change to a debit card to satisfy this stupid requirement but just pay your account off prior so it doesn't draw anything at the time.  If that doesn't work, several sites are banding together to substitute the processing fee they're trying to save with a huge mailing fee for the penny pinching company by everyone changing their account bill to a paper version.  Finally, I've heard if you are persistent enough (threaten to jump ship?) the T-force people will give you at least some sort of credit  (couple months) on your bill to allow you to keep the credit card active.  But... I have a strong feeling this ridiculous policy is going to be rescinded cause it's already been delayed like 3 months...but we'll see what happens now that i finally see the "warning" on my next bill.   I know I'm going to be very vocal when it comes to the cycle it hits me on you can bet on that.

Original "uncarrier" CEO John Legere would never let any of this slide that's for sure... it's a travesty what's happened since he's left.

In case you wonder just how bad their security has been (IE pathetic!), here's a scary reminder!

Best of luck to everyone.

MellyBee wrote:

In a chat conversation today with “Jivy”:

Me: Why is my credit card no longer eligible for the autopay discount?

Jivy: To be honest with you that one of the reason why the credit card is not eligible for a Autopay discount is because when you use the debit card it will make sure that you have funds on your account and will avoid any back out payment that might cause you a draft fees.

Me: Draft fees don't apply to credit cards, only debit cards.

Jivy: We get your point. Also we want to continue to provide customer with the best value in wireless through our Autopay Discount program and the best way to keep this program is to get you to use either a bank account or debit card for autopay. I understand that you may still prefer to use your Credit card as a payment method, and I can help you work through your options. However, I strongly recommend that we switch you over to an eligible payment method so you can keep the discount. Is this something you'd like me to help you with ?

Me: The best way for ME is to use my credit card, and especially since T-Mobile has suffered not one but MULTIPLE data breeches, two just this year! Tell me again why I should entrust my bank account information to T-Mobile?

Jivy: I totally understand you on that. And as part of T-Mobile my apology for this kind of inconvenience. Our systems and policies prevented the most sensitive types of customer information from being accessed, and as a result, customer accounts and finances should not be put at risk by this event. If you prefer, you can still use your credit card to pay your bill, however it won't be eligible for the AutoPay discount.

So basically, a fancy-worded “go f*** yourself” from T-Mobile.

This chat with "Jivy" is great example of how TMO "experts" -- particularly the ones offshore -- have ZERO understanding of the security implications of this change.  They offer silly scripted apologies but will never promise any restitution if something bad happens.                   

The key point is that if your funds are mistakenly or fraudulently withdrawn from your bank account using a debit card or account number, the funds may remain unavailable for days or weeks.  I just read about a couple who had their entire bank account drained while on vacation.  They eventually got their money back but the vacation was ruined. Before going along with TMO's latest "autopay condition," ask your bank about your protections if TMO has (another?) data hack.

I started with Sprint in 2003; stayed after the buyout with TMobile. So a loyal customer for 20 years and I think I'm done as soon as my phone contract is finished in 6 months. I have been having connectivity problems in my home since October 2022 (tower upgrade problems) and TMobile said those would be corrected in 4th quarter of '23-yes you read that right 15 months. I researched all the other major phone carriers and ALL of them are having similar problems in my area with upgrading to 5G, so I stayed. I am also frustrated that every time I have called customer service I get a foreign country (Philippines) and not only can I not understand the agent very well but they cannot understand me because they are unable to answer basic questions. All I hear is "I'm sorry you are having this issue" repeated numerous times. I have told them I do not want an apology, please stop apologizing and fix the problem. Unfortunately, they are unable to fix the problem and I have to go to the TMobile store and waste a lot of time there. Now, I don't bother to call customer service-just head over to the strip mall store and wait in line. This is a game changer! I will not give this company access to my debit or bank account. Too many security breaches, it's not worth the $10 discount to put my bank account at risk.

T-mobile community,

Although we are all possibly looking for a new carrier, keep in mind that the discount we are losing was also possible with the paperless billing option. 

I just switched my billing to a detailed summary statement that's doesn't cost anything as opposed to requesting a fully detailed bill. 

I say let's leave them a nice parting gift and all switch to a paper bill. Let's give them the subtle middle finger on our way out the door and cost them a little coin for a troubles of having to write our frustrations about their lack of loyalty to their customers on this website! 

Credit card fees are 1.95% - so taking away a $5/line benefit unless one turns over bank details (in my case $30 per month) is a poor economic decision.  If it is the fees that they want, charge me 1.95% per month to pay by credit card.  T-Mobile - this is a PRICE HIKE and one of about 15%!  Don't candy coat it any other way.  This is frustrating as credit cards provide free insurance for phones and other devices - that is worth more than the $30 discount.  Just a very sneaky and poor business decision to make customers pay more $ (or expose their bank info and lose other benefits from credit card companies!).  BAD MOVE T-MOBILE!!

fireguy_6364 wrote:

cant just toss TMO under the bus when it comes to the hacking without pointing out that ATT and V also got hacked..

Yes, I can. They are now demanding direct access to my BANK ACCOUNT and if the wankers don't take that seriously my account is in the Dark Web and my money gets sucked out. How about instead saying I would only get a $8 discount instead of $10???????? That would cover the full 3%, "My CFO is incompent" range! I would be surprise if T-Mobile pays over 1.3%!!! If they did, Shareholders should demand the CFO is terminated immediately!!! So knock it down to a $9 discount and that makes them money. So for the love of $1.15 they want me to risk giving a KNOWN SECURITY INCOMPETENT direct access to my bank account with NO chance recover of funds.

Nope, I will take the paper route and they can eat that cost which bigger than $10!

Not at all happy with this. Switched to Tmobile from Verizon 5 months ago understanding that if I give them a credit card number I get 10.00 off every month and my cost will never go up. That final price and credit card discount deal is what swayed me to switch providers. Now they change the game after locking me into a contract for 2 years and now tell me that in order to retain my quoted price I have to give them my unprotected bank account information or pay more which they told me would never happen!!! So now I either have to pay off the phones they told me I would get for free to switch to them OR give them direct access to my bank account info to a company that doesn't care enough to even protect protect my personal info OR give into price increase that I was promised would never happen as long as I didn't change my current plan….  BAD BUSINESS!