Security Deposit Waiver

So I've posted prior and haven't really gotten any answers. It's awful because I do love AT&T as a company and I think they have great service but unfortunately because of their credit check nonsense I can't get approved for service without paying about $3,000 in installment plans and security deposits. It's a joke. I get it, credit worthiness tells a company if your a risk about paying your bills or not. That's fine. Unfortunately for me someone stole my identity a few years ago and wreaked havoc on my credit. As a result every time I try to apply for stuff I get the same treatment. It's unreal. So as a result now my engagement ended and I had to move my three lines to Sprint. Every company approved me for service, with reasonable security deposits. Even Verizon. I worked with customer relations they were useless they were pretty much just like make sure you pay the installment fees off. I was like cool the billing responsibility is under my ex and I ported to another company so good luck with that. So now because my identity was stolen and my ex fiancée who has no credit which I guess is considered good credit they'd rather get churned on 3 lines of service and not know if the installment plans will get paid off versus working with me to let me keep my account. I don't mind paying something due to the credit issue but they weren't willing to work with me at all-about nothing. That's a seriously poor business decision not just because now I lose my AT&T service but because the way they evaluate risks. I'm told if you have a certain Student Visa Type you can come here to this country and AT&T won't charge you a security deposit. Unreal. Sorry to rant people I'm just that upset about the situation. Furthermore I used to work in wireless(Not for AT&T) but I know that the companies I did work for they waive your security deposits and or don't run credit checks as an employee. I know multiple people who are employees of AT&T who use other carriers because AT&T wanted security deposits from their own employees. Come on now, that's a little ridiculous I don't know why your credit check is so intensive.

AT&T will do business with those that have poor credit. That is what the gophone plan is for.

Are you going after banks that won't loan you money because you don't have good credit? The same thing applies. If you have poor credit, or low income, how are you going to pay $100 - $200 per month for a phone plan? AT&T charges the deposit to protect themselves from losses from accounts of questionable credit.

So to address 2 things:

1) I switched to AT&T. I coughed up the money all $750 worth and traded in my Sprint iPhone 6 and was it worth it? Yes. The service with AT&T is spot on. Bottom line-as unfair as it may seem and trust me I was the first one on here complaining about their steep deposit requirements it's what the company does business on and they are close to being the number 1 largest carrier. Take it from me-they have simultaneous voice and data, excellent LTE coverage, and excellent rate plans. Not to mention they just gave me a free promo rate plan for the same cost with extra GB and unlimited texting and calling to Mexico and Canada. With rollover data I end up having like 25 GB a month for the price of 10. Nothing beats it.

They asked for $750-I didn't really have it but I coughed it up traded in my phone and I got what I paid for. Excellent service. In a year I will get my money back. That's all there is to it really. They also let me do the Next Plan so I can upgrade in 12 months. If you want a great carrier- cough up the money or they have alternate options like GoPhone.


2) Now I will say-some things that were very noticeable to me were with the exception of the corporate AT&T store I bought my phone from all the others I shopped at basically had no interest in talking to me when it showed up I had that deposit requirement. That was disappointing. Secondly- I wrote on here a few times showing dismay about the deposits. Customer service was polite-but these people that respond and defend AT&T like "well AT&T is doing you a favor by letting you pay a deposit and they charge high deposits for this reason and that reason I would say stop being self righteous. My credit sucks bc I got divorced and my ex wife took me to the cleaners. Could happen to anyone. If AT&T's business model is to charge hefty deposits to everyone that presents with certain credit criteria while we're in an economic recession T-Mobile will move into 2nd place in no time. Verizon is the largest carrier and their highest deposit is $400. I know because I went there before AT&T. The only reason I didn't go with them was because they're VoLTE isn't everywhere here and I wanted simultaneous voice and data. All I'm saying is as the number one carrier Verizon afforded to reduce their security deposits and their still the largest number carrier in the world so apparently that didn't do too much to impact their business. AT&T is not Verizon and they have different policies and I get that and I paid out the rear end for a security deposit but they are delivering on the service front-my only advice would be to lighten up a little. I love my service I love the company. The only thing that comes to mind is the company comes off a little greedy and as the second largest carrier trying to move Verizon into second place I would think they would understand that a lot of people are broke and they don't necessarily want GoPhone or have $750 to pay for security deposits. As the economy gets worse but hopefully better the ratio of people with excellent credit to crappy will level out and they will have to make decisions on whether or not they want to keep increasing their customer base or not. But I'm not apart of that decision neither are you.

At this point I paid a $750 deposit and my bill is paid every month. At any time i could leave and my phone would be paid for since I put 30% down plus a security deposit so realistically they are keeping my business right now. I plan to pay my bill on time every month and eventually add my mother my plan and hopefully their not going to slap me with a ridiculous security deposit again when that time comes.

I have terrible (TERRIBLE) credit, and a year ago (when these posts were originally posted) I got a very reasonable $125 security deposit and hit a top of the line phone on credit by only oozing the taxes. Then 8 months later, I was eligible for an upgrade and got the next newest phone on credit again. I'm still unsure why they accepted me for all that, but they made a good bet on me bc I pay my $90- $125 bill every month. I hate that other people have had a bad experience with trying to acquire service from at&t, because my experience has been incredible!

I randomly got asked to put down a deposit on a new tablet line yesterday. Been with at&t for over 7 years, and I have 7 voice lines, 3 tablet lines, and a smart watch line. Never been asked to pay a deposit on any line of service, and i spend nearly $700 a month with them. They do basically treat me like royalty anytime I call or go in the store, but they couldn't give me a reason for having to pay a deposit and tried several different things but couldn't waive it. I refuse to pay a deposit - it was a promotional deal for a $200 tablet when I traded my note 7 in for an s7 edge, and a $150 deposit plus the activation fee would be hard to consider a "deal". I just passed on it. Their loss!

I don't know if there was a resolution to this issue but I did want to clarify the statement about being able to move the next installments via a tobr. That is definitely true but if the receiver doesn't have credit sufficient enough to support installment's then they will still be accelerated and be due to be paid in full.