@Anonymous wrote:i share a cell phone plan with verizon that i am the primary account holder. My 20 year old son just made 3500.00 in long distance overseas calls and i cant afford to pay this bill. I have been rebuilding my credit and have finally got my scores up to the 670"s so that i can buy my first house. My problem is that this is going to ruin all of my hard work if it goes into collections. I dont have a credit card that i can put this much on and since he is a full time student, he doesnt have a job and cant help me with the bill, even if he got a job 2morrow he couldnt give me the money by the 21st when the bill is due. Can anyone think of how i can keep this from going into collections? Is verizon easy to make payment arrangements with? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have literrally been sick since i got the bill and saw all of my hard work practically vanish right before my eyes. I am needless to say extremely depressed about this and it has really affected my relationship with my son. Please give any suggestions that you can , i really need all the help i can get. THANKS IN ADVANCE.
That’s horrible! You should add international calling block on his line. In the meantime, call customer care and see if they are able to offer you an international calling plan and back date it to reflect/relieve some of those overages. Be very polite and nice. Explain your situation and let them know you are willing to pay, but it’s not possible for you to pay it all at once.
In my previous experiences with cell phone companies; T-Mobile, Sprint, Alltel, and now AT&T. When I went over my allotted minutes, my plans were upgraded and I didn’t have to pay for any overages because the new plan came with more minutes and it deducted minutes from the overages. I was always very nice and courteous when explaining my situation.
You should definitely speak with them before the due that to sort things out. Your account won’t go into collections, unless you don’t pay ANYTHING or the balance is past due for a while. Good luck! 
Starting Score: 665
i completely agree with keith021. i remember when i first started text messaging and went over, i called verizon right away and they were able to backdate the plan. The rep i spoke to said that its easier to backdate if its before your next statement. good luck!
I have Verizon and from my experience with them, they are EXTREMELY accomodating but that is a whole lot of money. My son once went over by more than a thousand text messages and over $100 worth and they allowed me to backdate his text messaging plan to a much higher texting package and I made him pay for the "extra" messages he was receiving. I'm sure they will be willing to put the account on hold until the balance is paid in full. Good Luck!
Definitely call the company and see what they can do. They may or may not have a value plan for international rates and in most cases, they are willing to work with you. I believe they also have a financial services department where you can set up a payment arrangement to avoid the phones being turned off for non-payment. Most companies are willing to work with their companies, but definitely be polite to the representative. You attract more bees with honey
Spent more than 4 hours on phone 2day with various reps from 3 different depts at verizon. they were willing to backdate a international calling plan back 2 the beginning of this billing cycle but since no calls were made during this cycle it wont help. All calls were made on my last bill which closed feb 26th.
The only payment options they cann offer are 578.00 a month in addition to my regular phone bill for the next 6 months. I CANT AFFORD THIS AMOUNT AND THEY SAID THAT IF IT ISNT PAID OFF IN THE 6 MONTHS THEN IT WOULD GO TO COLLECTIONS. 
@Anonymous wrote:Spent more than 4 hours on phone 2day with various reps from 3 different depts at verizon. they were willing to backdate a international calling plan back 2 the beginning of this billing cycle but since no calls were made during this cycle it wont help. All calls were made on my last bill which closed feb 26th.
Push your son really really really hard to man up and find a part-time job to pay this. If he can find something that pays ten bucks an hour and works 15 hours a week he can cover the amount. I worked various jobs including food service while I was a student, and with good time management had no problem keeping up with my studies. What I sacrificed was partying; that's life.
