AT&T announced a new plan this week that is specifically geared towards those who might have credit issues, yet still want the chance to own the best devices through financing, on non-prepaid plans. It’s certainly an interesting idea, so here’s what you need to know about AT&T Unlimited Level Up.
This new plan, which really is called AT&T Unlimited Level Up, is essentially a new prepaid plan that costs $50.99 per month (with autopay), includes 30GB of high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, talk/text/data in and between US/Mexico/Canada, and texting to over 230 other countries. It’s a mostly standard unlimited prepaid plan that still has limits, because the word “unlimited” means nothing anymore.
Prepaid plans like this one can usually be accessed by those with poor credit scores because they don’t require credit checks, have no contracts tied to them, and can be cancelled from one month to the next. They are often times your only option if you have had previous financial issues.
But here’s the deal – prepaid plans are almost always a BYOD (bring your own device) type of plan, so you need your own device in order to sign-up. If you try to buy your device through your carrier as a prepaid customer, you almost never get good financing options or deals and typically pay full price for phones. That’s not an option for everyone, as the top phones are now easily hitting that $1,000 mark. However, if you have financial issues or a low credit score, you may not be able to get financing on a typical postpaid plan from your carrier. What do you do then?
That’s where this AT&T Unlimited Level Up comes in. With this prepaid plan, AT&T is asking you to pay on-time for six months in a row and then they’ll let you move to one of their postpaid plans. With that move, they’ll let you get into a phone with $0 down and interest-free financing, but they say that no credit is needed because you proved to them with that 6-month payment streak that you can handle a payment plan. At least, that’s the idea.
Once you’ve passed your 6-month test, you need to head into an AT&T store or call their customer service to take the next steps of transitioning over to a postpaid plan. At that time, you’ll get to get into a new phone on financing with $0 down and all that fun.
Is this is a good idea? I’m no financial expert and am not about to give you advice in the area. I’m just sharing the news of this plan that could be an option for those with low credit scores who want better phones on payment plans.
You can read more at AT&T’s site, which has a full FAQ and everything on how this plan works.