topic Re: Google Fi in SmorgasBoard

Google Fi

chiefone4u — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 23:57:49 GMT

So because of the various place's my job takes me I've been carrying two cellphones for years (AT&T and a local company Inland Cellular); in most instances if one doesn't have coverage the other does.

A few days ago I stumbled on "Google Fi" where it claims to seamlessly switch between US Cellular, T-Mobile & Sprint. According to each companies coverage maps, between the three I'd have coverage in 95% of the area's I travel (would no longer need two phones).

So before jumping the gun a porting a number to them I instead ordered a third phone with it's own number (no service contract).

They offered low monthly payments "for well qualified buyers" so I bit; Soft Pull to learn I could finance up to $1,900 in devices at 0% apr for 24 months. Just wanted my address and last 4 of my social, instant pre-approval.

When ordering it warns that before they will finance they have to do a credit review and asks for your full Social security number. The dial spun, and spun, and spun some more before telling me I qualified to finance this $249 Motorola G at 0% for 24 months. Expect the phone around August 25, 2020... hopefully it does what they claim and I can go back to a single phone... if not $250 for an unlocked phone I can use on any network shouldn't be to hard to sell (24 month sales contract states device becomes due and payable in full upon termination of service).

DP:

HP - Experian

According to Experian my FICO8 is currently 650

Google North America, Google Fi

I will update if a new account appears on my credit reports for either phone financing or actual service.

Re: Google Fi

TSlop — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 02:59:44 GMT

You are talking about Google (Synchrony) financing? Mine shows as an account and counts against 5/24. I've used it to finance 2 phones so far and purchased a phone case. I currently have a zero balance that is awaiting Pixel 5 information....

I hope the service works out for you. I currently have no issues with it. When I first switched over, I occasionally wouldn't receive texts from people. It was so inconsistent that I would never know one didn't come through unless someone asked why I didn't respond. I've not had any comments about it for many months now, so as far as I am aware, I've not been missing any recently. It seemed to be a common issue, since I Googled it when I discovered I was missing texts, but I haven't searched recently to see if people are still having the issue.

Re: Google Fi

chiefone4u — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 03:05:48 GMT

@TSlop wrote:
You are talking about Google (Synchrony) financing? Mine shows as an account and counts against 5/24. I've used it to finance 2 phones so far and purchased a phone case. I currently have a zero balance that is awaiting Pixel 5 information....

I did not purchase through the Google store, I purchased from Google Fi. That said I did not see anything that said who the lender was when buying as I did.

Normally Synchrony is listed as the financial institution requesting a credit report, the inquiry today was from Google North America Inc.

It did however have a snippet (I should have saved) about Google Pay having 1649 in available credit remaining.

If it is/was Synchrony I'll be surprised as they just closed all of my accounts with them awhile back because I was considered high risk.

Re: Google Fi

TSlop — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 03:08:33 GMT

@chiefone4u wrote:
@TSlop wrote:
You are talking about Google (Synchrony) financing? Mine shows as an account and counts against 5/24. I've used it to finance 2 phones so far and purchased a phone case. I currently have a zero balance that is awaiting Pixel 5 information....
I did not purchase through the Google store, I purchased from Google Fi. That said I did not see anything that said who the lender was when buying as I did.

Normally Synchrony is listed as the financial institution requesting a credit report, the inquiry today was from Google North America Inc.

It did however have a snippet (I should have saved) about Google Pay having 1649 in available credit remaining.

If it is/was Synchrony I'll be surprised as they just closed all of my accounts with them awhile back because I was considered high risk.

Ah, gotcha. I went straight through Google since I got my first Pixel phone before I started using Fi.

Re: Google Fi

chiefone4u — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 03:30:37 GMT

@TSlop wrote:
@chiefone4u wrote:
@TSlop wrote:
You are talking about Google (Synchrony) financing? Mine shows as an account and counts against 5/24. I've used it to finance 2 phones so far and purchased a phone case. I currently have a zero balance that is awaiting Pixel 5 information....
I did not purchase through the Google store, I purchased from Google Fi. That said I did not see anything that said who the lender was when buying as I did.

Normally Synchrony is listed as the financial institution requesting a credit report, the inquiry today was from Google North America Inc.

It did however have a snippet (I should have saved) about Google Pay having 1649 in available credit remaining.

If it is/was Synchrony I'll be surprised as they just closed all of my accounts with them awhile back because I was considered high risk.
Ah, gotcha. I went straight through Google since I got my first Pixel phone before I started using Fi.

I looked at that as an option, but decided I would try and use a somewhat hidden trade line (though not sure that's the case here) like AT&T has for financing phones.

Google does have a Q&A section related to the credit pull and what happens if you cancel your service https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6181978?hl=en .

Apparently I remembered incorrectly how much it said I could finance, because when I was trying to find this information I acted like I was going to buy another phone in hopes it would show me what I was missing and said I have $1,351 in available credit to purchase a new phone.

At no point during any of the credit request/approval screens did it ever ask for proof of income. They may have decided not to ask because they do require a major credit/debit card to complete the order (autopay seems to be required for service billing). They put a $0.10 hold and a $0.00 hold on the credit card I used; I assume that when the phone ships the $14.36 in taxes (for the new phone) will hit the credit card.

This thread was mostly started for information incase anyone was wondering about Google Fi and phone financing options.

Re: Google Fi

SecretAzure — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:54:08 GMT

OP, I have heard good things about Google Fi. I follow tech news (TWIT is an entertaining tech-based network I watch frequently). You're getting the best of 2 worlds with it and should have decent coverage in most places. I am fairly confident that with it and your AT&T plan you will have decent coverage pretty much everywhere.

Also, congrats on the financing. I hadn't heard about this system of Google Pay basically acting like an Apple Credit Card in a more basic sense.