iPhone 7 Upgrade Program - credit check

[jeffm4688]

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@Credit_hawk wrote:

This is what makes me grateful I signed a loyalty contract plan with Verizon's retention department a few years ago so I get a new iPhone every 2 years for only $200. All the other carriers have done away with traditional contract plans for new customers including Verizon I believe. However, besides the apple care plan which itself is debatable in its usefulness since in my experience a good persuasive argument will get your phone fixed for free if you're a loyal apple customer (I got both my 5 & 6 replaced out of warranty for free), I believe Verizon also offers 0% APR monthly installments for new phones. However,  I don't know the specifics of it since I don't have that type of plan.

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I've got to comment here, in most cases signing a contract isn't worth it, aren't you paying a higher monthly cost to add the phone to the plan on a contract? I'm surprised to see someone wanting a contract based plan these days. 

[Anonymous]

I switched from ATT to T Mobile and I'm pretty sure they did an HP..

[Anonymous]

Adding my own observation confirming what nixoloco wrote: no HP on renewal through the Apple Upgrade Program.

My wife just upgraded her phone after one year in the program. It's on my account and my credit. I saw the HP last year when I first got the Citizen loan but nothing this time. She upgraded her phone only a few days ago and so far neither Credit Karma nor Credit Check Total show any new hard pull..

I did the upgrade in the Apple store and definitely clicked agree on a question authorizing a credit check as well as agreeing to new loan terms and conditions and all that so I was EXPECTING to see a hard pull, but nothing yet.

Possible that they'll report the HP just late but usually I see those show up instantly and so far nothing. I'll keep watching for it just in case but it looks like it's only a soft pull in the renewal.

[HeavenOhio]

In order to look at the other side of this, has anyone gotten their full credit report to be able to confirm the presence of a soft pull for renewal?

[Anonymous]

Looks like a soft pull only. A week later I still don't see any new inquiry on Credit Karma.

BIG CAVEAT: I absolutely did consent to one when I was in the store, there was a thing clearly saying they would pull my credit and I agreed to it. So they COULD HAVE, and maybe for other people they WILL. So no guarantee.

But it looks like in my case even though they COULD HAVE, they didn't.

[Anonymous]

When I went to replace my old iPhone 4S several months ago, I chose to buy an unlocked phone up front from the Apple Store for several reasons; (1) I wasn't sure if my scores at that time would allow me to get on an installment plan with Apple or anyone else; (2) all those plans were really, really confusing to try to figure out; and probably most relevantly, (3) I'm satisfied with my current no-contract provider (Straight Talk) and their monthly fee ($45) is a lot cheaper than the quotes I was getting for the installment plan plus service. Oh yeah, and (4) phone contract plans generally don't report to the credit bureaus, so for purposes of building up your scores they're useless in most cases.

[kdhith]

I just wanted to add some data.

I first applied for the iPhone upgrade program in September 2015. The program makes sense for me because I have an old, grandfathered unlimited plan with Verizon, and I didn't want to upgrade through them and then be on a contract (with limited data).  I've been buying my phones out of pocket for years.

Then, when the 7 came out, I upgraded in September 2016. Same reason (though I realize that VZW now has unlimited data plans, I still don't want a contract).

EQ report shows a HP (Citizens Bank) on 9/25/2015 and a HP (Citizens Bank) on 9/20/2016. There is no Citizens Bank account listed, though, to affect age of accounts.

So, I did get another HP when I upgraded, which I am not really happy about. Love the phone, though!