Maybe I shouldn’t be as pissed as I am but, for me, I like using my Apple card for autopay because I get 3% back with T-Mobile charges. What I like to do is use my CCs to max my rewards / cash back and then pay off my card each month.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but I’m not happy about this. Of course I don’t want to pay an additional $40 a month on my phone bill so yes, I’m switching autopay to a Privacy card, but F—, man.
Okay, I’m done lol
Edit 6/6/1023: So I made a new virtual card but when I add it to my T-Mobile account the site adds it and says it’s not supported for the discount. They’re going to force me to enter a physical debit card or bank account or pay an additional $40/month.
T-Mobile really has been sucking with their service strength in NY. But they’re doing very well at driving me crazy.
Im not happy having to give my debit card. T Mobile keeps having data breaches and I’m not going to give up the safety of using a credit card. May be looking for a new carrier soon.
This is exactly why I am pissed about this. T-Mobile has been hacked over and over again, they can not be trusted with my bank info. In the time I’ve been a customer my data has been stolen at least 3 times. Giving them your actual bank info instead of a credit card is a terrible idea, they are not competent enough to keep it secure.
Eww yeah their whole data infrastructure is sketchy af. I used them in the past (just in time to make sure all my data was in their hands when it was breached) and doing simple billing changes were way more confusing than it should have been because their whole system is like a decade behind.
A big reason I use credit cards for payments is the protection I get when things go wrong. Charge up my card and I can dispute, charge up my bank account and I’m out that money until the bank resolves the issue.
I’m not defending T-Mobile, but you just outlined why they are making this change. People are abusing the system by disputing charges valid or otherwise. Banks require a higher burden of proof to return funds, where most credit cards will immediately revoke the money from the merchant if you file a dispute and it might cost the merchant more to fight it than to just let it go.
Again not defending T-Mobile, they do have a bad track record with data privacy and could have handled this in a different way. For example, being able to use a credit card for auto pay could be a loyalty bonus for long term customers or after completing a certain number of on time payments. Another option that could be good for T-Mobile and customers would be to partner with a Credit Card provider to offer a card with cash back perks. T-Mobile could work with the provider to tweak the dispute terms more in their favor and the customer could get a cash rewards card and wireless service with a single credit check.
How do you know they are doing this because people are abusing charge backs? It doesn’t really make sense to me in the context of auto payment on a phone bill where there’s a contract and pattern of regular payments.
I’ve had my identity stolen multiple times over the years, and have had to deal with fraudulent IRS tax returns and at least 5 attempts to take credit cards out in my name. One of the data breaches that impacted me was the federal government (search for the office of personnel management or OPM data breach for details) and that got me over 10 years, and potentially lifetime protection from a really good credit & identity monitoring company.
I will NEVER willingly hand out my banking or debit card info to third parties. If fraud occurs it’s much easier to deal with a credit car company, so I’d much rather pay that way than save a little time and/or money.
Same. I hate giving raw credit card numbers out. That’s why I use Privacy - it links to your bank account and you can generate a credit card number on the fly, with limits.