Consumers shopping around for a new smartphone may want to take a look at Cricket Wireless' new Phone Payment Plans. The company boasted that it's the first prepaid wireless service to offer the latest premium smartphones at an affordable price without a two-year contract. The company is also offering a free month of service if customers are switching from T-Mobile, Sprint, Boost or a number of other carriers.
For starters, the Phone Payment Plans are broken down into three "Tiers." For Tier I, qualified customers can finance a smartphone for $19.99 down with 0 percent interest for two years. Don't want the two-year commitment? Customers can option for Tier II, which requires a $19.99 initial payment and an 18-month obligation with a 29.99 percent APR and six-month deferred interest. Thus, if the phone isn't paid off within six months, the accrued interest will be added to the account.
As for Tier III, Cricket Wireless is offering a rent-to-own option that must be paid off within 90 days. As an example, a qualified customer could make an initial payment of $49.99 and then make monthly payments over the next 90 days without having to deal with costly interest fees. Unlike the other two tiers, this method doesn't require a credit check.
This should be good news for customers not wanting the typical two-year ball-and-chain contract. Then again, qualified customers must still be tied to a monthly payment scheme no matter which tier is chosen. If you can't afford a month's worth of pre-paid calling, you still have to make that monthly payment for the device.
