Ch 7 and Verizon

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am ready to file Ch 7 Pro Se. I have a verizon cellular service under a business account. Two of the lines are under device payment. Those devices were issued in Jan. Since I am not IIB Verizon, will I lose the ability to upgarde down the line once I am discharged? I am asking because the service is on a business account, not a consumer account.

[Anonymous]

I used to work for a retailer for Verizon. As long as you don't burn Verizon in bankruptcy or owe them any money, business will continue as usual. Verizon doesn't report your bills to credit bureaus unless you default on them, and the only time they even check your credit is when you're opening up service or trying to get approved for more lines. From the sound of it, you'll be fine as long as you continue your payments to them.

[Anonymous]

Do you know what is their recent practice?

How will they be treating the device balance since I have filed BK Ch7?

Does it get written off due to the BK?

[FireMedic1]

No free phones......................

[Anonymous]

My guess is that things will remain status quo and that you'll keep your phone/existing service plan and continue to make any payments still due on it.

I'm with AT&T and I notified them over a month ago about my bankruptcy filing and I've seen nothing different on my bills. I still owe about $300 on my phone and I was current on my AT&T account at time of filing, so it looks like things just continue as normal. I'd love a free phone via a write-off for them but I don't think that's going to happen!

[Anonymous]

I wish the phone was free

Joke aside, I was concerned that if the balance is written off, it means Verizon will shoot me down for any future device upgrades. I am more interested in my ability to have an upgrade in few months.

Since I am not planing to IIB them, I have inform them today. They said I will continue to have my service post BK, however, my ability to add new line will be determined at the time I will be seeking new line. 

[Anonymous]

Some of this stuff I still find confusing. Like even though I was 100% current on my phone payments/service my attorney told me I had to include that arrangement in Schedule G/Executory Contracts/Leases. You know, along with my house and vehicle leases. So I did so. So you could say I 'included them in my bankruptcy'. So you're saying you don't have to do that?

My personal feeling is that if you're an existing customer Verizon/AT&T likely won't pull your credit again if you go to add a line to your current account. I think they base a lot of their decision regarding that additional line activation on your previous payment history. If somebody has a different experience on this of course say so. It's just like my car insurance. I don't plan to tell State Farm I've filed for bankruptcy. Why would I? My payments are current as always. I highly doubt they will randomly pull my credit in the next year or two (before I'm able to get my credit score respectable again) and suddenly say your rates are going up because your credit history now makes you higher risk. Maybe I'll be wrong though... who knows. Now obviously if you switch to a new phone carrier or insurance provider they likely would do a hard credit check.....

Lastly, a person on this forum posted a few years ago about the Verizon scenario. I will cut/paste their full reply on that below:

PlasticOrPlastic

 

Established Contributor

‎06-23-2014 11:33 AM

Re: Anyone burn Verizon in BK and then open another account after discharge?

Seems to me Verizon has pretty easy UW requirements.  I opened a new account with Verizon the day after my BK7 discharged, had a collection to VZW for around $800 IIB, no problems, no deposits.

[Anonymous]

Seems to me Verizon has pretty easy UW requirements.  I opened a new account with Verizon the day after my BK7 discharged, had a collection to VZW for around $800 IIB, no problems, no deposits.

[Phoenixupward]

Filed for BK in 2018 and have a Verizon account. My account was current and at the time had a device upgrade. My relationship with Verizon did not change.  I believed they gave a credit in which they waived one month of payment when I filed.  Post bankruptcy I was able to upgrade for products without a problem. I hope this helps. 

[Anonymous]

I filed for ch 7 less than 5 weeks ago. I have a Verizon account with 5 lines. Each one of these phones are on a payment plan and in various stages of being paid off . One had only $30 left while 2 others had $700 remaining. I did not include Verizon in chapter 7. It didn't even cross my mind because I just planned to pay my contract as agreed.

With that being said, I just received my bill yesterday and it is $200 cheaper. It seems that the devices were charged off but the service remains intact. There is an upgrade eligibility date next to each line. I don't know if I would be able to finance another phone with them but it will save me a lot of money not to. 

[Anonymous]

Just providing an update on this situation. So, to make a long story short, I bought my girlfriend a Verizon phone a year and a half ago and added her as a 2nd line to my Verizon account that I had at the time. Each month, I've just paid her the extra $30/month that was due for the financing of her phone each month. Last Fall, I ended up getting a new phone for myself and I switched to AT&T because we regularly seem to end up in an area of my state where AT&T works but Verizon doesn't. So, I effectively removed my line from my Verizon account and left her with just the secondary line on that Verizon account. But, it was all still in my name as far as where the ultimate responsibility for the Verizon account remained.

All that to say.... when my girlfriend went to pay her Verizon bill today, she noticed it was $30/month cheaper. And I was like I wonder if..... and I checked the bill and yep.... there was the bankruptcy credit. Verizon paid the last $200 of the phone off and there's no more monthly financing fee due on the phone.

So, as others have reported already.... it's true. Verizon does do this. I expect her service to remain the same. She is actually looking to switch to AT&T and AT&T keeps telling me I'm (still) eligible to add extra lines. I'm going to wait until after discharge though to try my luck on that. Still no word from AT&T yet as to my phone financing through them. I owe them about $300 and my bill has remained the same amount since Ch7 filing on 4/29.