Question about cell phone plans

[Vanda]

I would like to change cell phone companies and I was wondering if they refuse you as a new customer after a bankruptcy - I imagine some companies do?

[DustinLH00]

I used to sell cell phones for Cingular (now AT&T), Verizon and Sprint. All 3 required a deposit for customers with poor credit. The deposit amounts varied from $200 to $750 depending on how bad the credit was. In most cases the deposit would be refunded/credited to account after 12 months of good payment history. They will tell you right up front if this will be the case.

[jb300]

There are some options though now for cell phones. I think Sprint has a phone that there is no contract and no credit check. $50.00 a month for unlimited everything I think.

[DustinLH00]

I have never been a fan of the prepaid services, but I am not sure what jb300 is talking about. There may be something out there, but I doubt that plan exists since Sprint charges $99 for its Simply Everything plan (unlimited everything) to customers who sign up for 2 years with good credit, so I doubt someone with a month to month, no credit check, no contract option is going to get that for half price...

[jb300]

This is what I am talking about.

http://www.boostmobile.com/?cid=bit_ppc_go_home_br_boost

Now my understanding is that there is no service available for the phones, so if your phone goes bad you would have to purchase a new one. The other part of this is that they can raise rates. But for some people until they get some credit built back up I could see this as a viable option. Phones run around a $100.00 dollars.

[DustinLH00]

Wow, that is crazy! Not too shabby of a deal there...thanks for the link jb. I think this would def be a viable option for someone.

[Amy26]

Hehe... yea until Sprint finds a way to ditch Nextel. (Boost is a Nextel brand). Sprint is blaming Nextel for its poor performance after the two companies merged and it wants to offload Nextel. Just a bunch of bull crap ... I worked at Nextel for 6 years and the company tanked because of Sprint not Nextel... lol.

Was funny too because I had employee phones for me and my family... took them like 4 years to figure it out (after I got laid off) and turn off the phones.

[Flamingo]

I would like to change cell phone companies and I was wondering if they refuse you as a new customer after a bankruptcy - I imagine some companies do?

We cancelled our cells prior to filing due to the cost. We went without cell phones for about 3 years into our 5 year Chapter 13 Plan under fear of not being able to get approved. We utilized prepaid service for a while but found out we would be paying more for prepaid than if we obtained a Plan so I checked with our attorney to see if it was OK to apply for a cell plan since we were already paying for prepaid out of our budget. We applied to Verizon since they held our home service and it was also my employer's phone provider. Not only were we approved, I received a (at that time) 13% discount since my employer is with them as an employment perk. Now it is 17%. Now, it may be because we had our home phone with them with no late payments or it could be the employer factor but we were approved during our BK. You won't know until you try; if you are declined, stay with your current carrier for a few years then try again and never be late with any payments whatsoever on anything during that time.

[AMISLANDER]

Metro PCS takes anyone.