So T-Mobile will soon be discontinuing AutoPay discounts for credit card payments. I currently pay my monthly T-Mobile bill using my Wells Fargo credit card. According to T-Mobile, I currently save $20 per month by using AutoPay. Because I currently use my Wells Fargo credit card to pay my T-Mobile bill, I currently have cell phone protection. In the near future, would it be worth paying a higher T-Mobile bill every month with a Wells Fargo credit card just so I can keep having cell phone protection?
No. $20 per mo is too much to pay for that insurance. Read through that link you posted about cell phone protection.
Pay attention to the part farther down about not insuring things that you can afford to replace.
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A cash reserve is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
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No offense, fuzzbutt, but I’m on a fixed income. I receive SSDI benefits.
What is the value of your phone?
Just asking because I avoid the really expensive phones – I’d be too nervous about breaking/losing it. I just get Motorolas, around $200. Nice phone, not the best camera, but fine for me.
I’m just too frugal to get a $600-$700 phone, and I don’t want to pay higher each month to have one for “free” (which it isn’t!).
I’d also look carefully at the cell phone protection policy – in what cases will it repay/replace your phone? (sorry – I’m just leery of Wells Fargo)
I hope you find a solution to your issue.
I’m only posting Clark’s advice from the link that you posted.
Here’s some more of t:
“Don’t buy insurance on things. If you can’t afford to replace a television or a cell phone, then you likely can’t afford to buy it in the first place.”
From me: You can by a cell phone from Target for $40 and service for $15 or $20.per month, which is what I have.
The reason why this auto pay discount is happening is du to Goldman bringing a T-Mobile CC in the third to fourth quarter similar to an Apple Card. It has been hard to locate an exact time frame but because the two companies announced in October and the economics in the US are terrible TMobile is most likely doing what Verizon did. They eliminate competitors cards ability for a discount on Auto Pay and then come back a few months later and offer it so long as you are on a T Mobile branded card like Verizon did with Synchrony. Having left Verizon recently for T Mobile I am basically watching the same game play out several years later at T Mobile. Info is scarce but this is just how Verizon operated a few years back.
Questions for fuzzbutt: What cell phone did you buy from Target? Who is your cell-phone service provider?
Target has a tech department. It’s very easy to go and talk to the team members there. They will answer your questions. Plus things change at Target – consumer cellular, then ATT, etc. Talk to them to see what their current offerings are.
We don’t have T-mobile but I was able to preserve autopay discount by signing up for autopay without my credit card then login each month and pay via one time credit card payment thus still getting my cash back points.
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@fuzzbutt is correct. You are paying $240 per year for insuring an item that you can buy for $300 all day long. If you are buying the latest $1,000 iPhone then that is a different problem.
No offense, people, but how many particularly good smartphones cost less than $100 new?
I guess that depends on your definition of good. What do you need vs what do you want in a cell phone.
Even at $300, of which there are plenty, it would not be worth the cost of your insurance.
T-Mobile may indeed come out with a credit card in the near future.
I just bought a new Motorola Moto G Stylus for $180
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I like Motorola too, but the lower end Samsung phones are pretty powerful.
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