iPhone Upgrade Program questions?

[willwar14]

1.) Does it report to the CRAs as an installment loan?

2.) They mostly run EQ?

3.) Is it hard to qualify?

thanks!

[ddemari]

I cant anwser question 1 for you. but when I applied I was denied with a 700 EQ, the people in the apple store told me no one is barely getting approved. this was on launch day and Im sure some people did get approved but my denial letter came with reasons; inquiries. And they pulled EQ from what Ive read on most forums. 

[Anonymous]

I was approved on launch day with scores in the 630's.  If you hang out on the MacRumors forums, you'll hear lots of stories of people with 700+ scores being denied while many people with scores in the low 600's qualified without a problem.  Seems very strange, but it worked for me.

[Anonymous]

Did you ever get an answer on the CRA reporting?

I was approved today with no problem, my scores are all >700-750 and I have no balances on any of my credit cards.

The only reason I used the upgrade program was because I want the loan reported on my CRA's, if it's not reported I'm just gonna pay it off in full.

Couple of things I didn't like about it, first off, and this is my mistake I suppose, I thought Applecare was included for free, but it's not. Second, they auto charge your CC every month, not a huge deal, but I didn't know they were going to do it that way, I have concerns it's not going to be reported to the CRA's because they autocharge.

[willwar14]

No I did not, but please report back if it reports, and how it reports. Thanks

[Anonymous]

So pretty much as I expected, it has NOT been reported, as of this post it's been ~35 days since the initial charge.

They charged the tax and first payment 3/30/16, and the second payment was charged 4/27/16, it's now May 5th and nothing has been reported.

They only pulled EQ for the credit check, my FICO wasn't affected by the pull. My EQ FICO at the time they pulled it was 710.

I was pretty sure this wouldn't be reported as soon as I heard they auto charge your CC.

I'll report back if it ever shows up.

[Appleman]

I have the NEXT program from AT&T and as a long time customer they did not run my credit (unless it was a SP).

I was able to finance 4 iPhones at 0% with no additional tradline reported.

I know you are talking about the Apple programs, just wanted to provide info on an additional program.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I'm sure people are interested in NEXT as well.

I'd assume that's not being reported to the CRA's either?

I'm actually going to call Citizens One and ask if they are going to report at some point, I don't really think it's right that they aren't reporting this considering they call it a "loan" and do a hard pull, I'll report back with what they tell me.

[Anonymous]

I applied for and was approved into this program. Saw the inquiry hit my report but the loan hasn't shown up yet. I'm hoping it WILL report as it seems like the ideal way to get installment loan history for people like me who otherwise have no loans.

It's basically a $1000 loan with zero interest and you are free to make extra payments at any time. As I understand it, once an installment loan is paid down to around 60% utilization it starts benefiting your score. The ability to accelerate this gives some flexibility there.

Oh, and it's nice that my wife will get a brand new iPhone every year.