Forum Discussion
AUTOPAY with Credit cards
Here's my question and i think I'll call my local congressman and or congresswoman. T-Mobile has removed the auto-pay discount feature if you choose to pay with a credit card in lieu of a debit card. Their reasoning is the charge that CC companies charge a fee. That fee is like 3.5% maybe and that may be on the high side and that is the full percentage cost for a one-time charge. So my bill is about $120 with the 3.5% fee would be $4.20. With T-Mobile's plan they are NOW CHARGING ME an extra $20 a month because i choose not to link my bank account to pay my bill. How is this even FAIR? THIS IS EXTORTION! I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO CALL YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURES AND INFORM THEM OF THIS HIWAY ROBBERY THAT IS GOING ON WITH T-MOBILE.
They're trying to encourage people to sign up for their Tmoney bank, deposit funds into that, Instead, and give you a 2% interest rate. (Or whatever the base rate is 4%).
I'm doing it for the $5 credit off my $20 bill. My credit union as well as my brokerage both give a much higher rate of return for leaving cash there, so I won't use it as a bank. But a $5 return on $20 is pretty decent, to now only have a $15 bill. I'll use the $5 to pay for their voicemail speech to text, so my bill stays essentially the same: more often than not I cannot understand what people are saying when they leave voicemail.
To-date, the cheapest service I've found is tmobile: pay for a separate wifi Hotspot for $15, and $20 for unlimited talk and text. If you bundle with tmobile, it costs somewhere around $60, instead.
On reddit, there are several threads in how to bypass the fee for paying with a credit card, one method is to autopay $1 from one's bank, a d the rest by CC. Many customers like the insirance that CC offer for their phone service, but your TOS may prohibit insurance payments if the bill isn't 100% CC. .
Actually you need to contact the FCC I believe. They are the ones that regulate the cell phone companies, I do believe. Good luck, and thanks for letting me know about this. I had no idea that it had to be a debit card linked to your checking account and not a credit card. Shows you what a dummy I am.
AT&T and Verizon requires bank account for autopay discounts. If you have a Verizon credit card you can still get the discount.
Pjtaurus you are spot on! If you have a CC on file before this went into effect you're fine but if you need to cancel the CC because it's compromised, you're screwed. Who ever made this decision at T-Mobile needs to be canned!
Junkmonkey732 wrote:
Pjtaurus you are spot on! If you have a CC on file before this went into effect you're fine but if you need to cancel the CC because it's compromised, you're screwed. Who ever made this decision at T-Mobile needs to be canned!
I have the same credit card on file when it went into effect and lost my autopay discount.
The autopay discount was a perk and not a part of the base rate of your plan.
gramps28 - then you're really getting screwed. I never lost my discount until today when I tried to use a different CC. Are you on the Magenta Plan?
One 55+ plan. You're the only person I've heard that kept it.
