Forum Discussion
24 or 30 Months?
In September of 2021 I paid off (2) iPhone 12s and traded them in for (2) iPhone 13s on the 55+ Magenta Max plans. They put me on the 30 month equipment payoff plan. Should I have been put on the 24 month equipment payoff plan? Now coming up to the iPhone 15 in September 2023, I want to upgrade to the 15. Do I have to pay off the remaining 6 months before I trade them in? Who gets 24 month pay off and who gets 30 months? My FICA score is over 800 and I am on the Forever Upgrade program.
There is a lot going on in this thread, so I appreciate the opportunity to clarify the different programs, who gets what, and answer all the questions.
- Should I have been put on the 24 month equipment payoff plan? The 24 and 30 month financing options were more of a preference so there is no answer to whether you debería be on one or the other. The 30 month plan allowed you to have lower payments which is nice to most people, but it isn't really something that is offered any more.
- Who gets 24 month pay off and who gets 30 months? The 30 month financing was offered to you because of your "well qualified" status. Since it is not offered anymore, everyone gets the 24 month option.
- Do I have to pay off the remaining 6 months before I trade them in? I wanted to make sure that I got this answer right, so I reached out to our Forever Upgrade team to double check on this one. Since the Forever Upgrade program allows you to upgrade after 24 monthly payments, you will not have to pay off the remaining balance to get the trade in offer when the new devices come available.
- Difference between the Forever Upgrade, Jump!, and Jump! on Demand. Forever Upgrade is an iPhone only offer that allows you to lock in your trade in value and upgrade to a new iPhone every two years. These are the basics, but in case you like the fine print here is the Support page Upgrade para Siempre | Asistencia de T-Mobile. Jump! is a feature that is included in our P360 service. Jump! allows customers that are financing on EIP to upgrade their phone after paying off half of the device balance. The halfway mark is usually hit at 12 months (unless a downpayment is made). So at the 12 month mark, they trade in their phone, we close out the remaining balance on that phone, and the person pays the downpayment and taxes on the new phone to start a new EIP agreement. Jump! on Demand (JOD) is an 18-month lease agreement that you can sign up for instead of EIP. On JOD, you could upgrade every 30 days if you wanted to. A new lease is started for every upgrade, but it gives a lot of freedom if you like to upgrade a lot. If you find a phone that you really like and want to keep, you can pay the 18 month lease and then the purchase price of that phone at the end of the lease term. The monthly payments and purchase price always add up to the full retail price of the phone, so you don't pay any extra to have that flexibility.
This quickly turned into a long answer so I bolded the questions to try and make it easier. I really hope this clarifies everything.
Dennis in Venice wrote:
I have 30 months but it was a T-Mobile payback ….so I got a free phone and they divided the cost over 30 months and I pay the same amount each month so it nets to zero each month. So if I get my forever upgrade at 24 months, do I still continue with the extra six payments which zero out? Or does TMobile pay the extra up front.
Hola @Dennis in Venice I was able to find the answer to your question on the Forever Upgrade page on T-Mobile Support.
- La opción de que se cancele el saldo restante de tus pagos está disponible por Internet, por teléfono y en tiendas T-Mobile. This option is not available through Walmart, BestBuy, o Tiendas de Apple. If your Equipment Installment Plan is currently receiving promotional credits, the remaining credits will stop once the remaining installment balance is paid for you.
Essentially, this means that during the upgrade process there is an option to select that the remaining 6 months on the phone you are trading in gets paid off. The charge and credit that zero out on this current device go away and then you will see the new device payments and credits take their place.
Dennis in Venice wrote:
I have 30 months but it was a T-Mobile payback ….so I got a free phone and they divided the cost over 30 months and I pay the same amount each month so it nets to zero each month. So if I get my forever upgrade at 24 months, do I still continue with the extra six payments which zero out? Or does TMobile pay the extra up front.
You would more than likely be on the hook for the 6 months if you took an upgrade before the EIP promotion ends. Ultimately, it depends on the terms of the EIP and promotion but a lot of the more recent EIP's are centered around locking you into that term to get the full benefit of the promotion.
I have 30 months but it was a T-Mobile payback ….so I got a free phone and they divided the cost over 30 months and I pay the same amount each month so it nets to zero each month. So if I get my forever upgrade at 24 months, do I still continue with the extra six payments which zero out? Or does TMobile pay the extra up front.
do you ned to go into the store for this upgrade. I've tried the phone and the internet and all it will give me is $650 trade in for a 13 pro and the phone person said I need to pay off balance. (30 month plan)
Thank you HeavenM
There is a lot going on in this thread, so I appreciate the opportunity to clarify the different programs, who gets what, and answer all the questions.
- Should I have been put on the 24 month equipment payoff plan? The 24 and 30 month financing options were more of a preference so there is no answer to whether you debería be on one or the other. The 30 month plan allowed you to have lower payments which is nice to most people, but it isn't really something that is offered any more.
- Who gets 24 month pay off and who gets 30 months? The 30 month financing was offered to you because of your "well qualified" status. Since it is not offered anymore, everyone gets the 24 month option.
- Do I have to pay off the remaining 6 months before I trade them in? I wanted to make sure that I got this answer right, so I reached out to our Forever Upgrade team to double check on this one. Since the Forever Upgrade program allows you to upgrade after 24 monthly payments, you will not have to pay off the remaining balance to get the trade in offer when the new devices come available.
- Difference between the Forever Upgrade, Jump!, and Jump! on Demand. Forever Upgrade is an iPhone only offer that allows you to lock in your trade in value and upgrade to a new iPhone every two years. These are the basics, but in case you like the fine print here is the Support page Upgrade para Siempre | Asistencia de T-Mobile. Jump! is a feature that is included in our P360 service. Jump! allows customers that are financing on EIP to upgrade their phone after paying off half of the device balance. The halfway mark is usually hit at 12 months (unless a downpayment is made). So at the 12 month mark, they trade in their phone, we close out the remaining balance on that phone, and the person pays the downpayment and taxes on the new phone to start a new EIP agreement. Jump! on Demand (JOD) is an 18-month lease agreement that you can sign up for instead of EIP. On JOD, you could upgrade every 30 days if you wanted to. A new lease is started for every upgrade, but it gives a lot of freedom if you like to upgrade a lot. If you find a phone that you really like and want to keep, you can pay the 18 month lease and then the purchase price of that phone at the end of the lease term. The monthly payments and purchase price always add up to the full retail price of the phone, so you don't pay any extra to have that flexibility.
This quickly turned into a long answer so I bolded the questions to try and make it easier. I really hope this clarifies everything.
You have to have JUMP instead of an EIP. An EIP is to buy where JUMP is much more similar to a short term lease.
syaoran wrote:
The remaining balance must be paid off in full before a device is eligible to be traded in.
isnt there a jump program or something like that where they can upgrade earlier than usual?
@ the OP. you might also check out Apples deals..they might have some promo going as well that links with TMO.
The remaining balance must be paid off in full before a device is eligible to be traded in.
