Cricket Debuts Phone Financing

On Wednesday, Cricket Wireless announced that it has partnered with a credit financing company to offer its customers the option of financing their expensive phones through a third party. There are three different options for financing, two of which involve a credit check. The financing must be done at a brick and mortar Cricket Wireless store and is not available online. While personally I think that leasing and especially renting phones is a bad idea, I’ll still go ahead and list out the options:
  • 0% Interest – This Tier I option requires a credit check and an initial loan payment of $20. After that, you finance the phone and will have no interest accrue for the first 24 months. This option is only going to be available for those with good credit.
  • Six month deferred interest – This Tier II option is an 18 month financing, at nearly 30% interest. The way this works is that if you pay off the full term within the first six months, then you won’t pay any interest. If you take longer than that, then you’ll pay interest for the full amount of time. This option requires a credit check and an initial loan payment of $20 as well. I doubt that perfect credit is required, but decent credit is likely a must.
  • Rent to own – This Tier III option is a rent-to-own agreement and requires a $50 down payment. It does have a 90 days same as cash (really the only way I’d even recommend this option) but beyond that, customers should expect to pay rent to own rates on their cell phones, which means paying at least twice the amount. There is no credit check, but you must fill out a form with financial information.
It is worth noting that only phones priced at more than $199 are eligible for these payment plans, and that the payment plans are NOT through Cricket Wireless, but actually through a third-party.The Tier I and II payment options are through Fortiva and the Tier III is through YBUY Financial. For more information, visit your local Cricket Wireless store or click here. Financing your phone does not effect your Cricket Wireless plan in any way. I can’t really say that I’m a fan of this kind of financing, as I feel like it almost defeats the purpose of going with a prepaid brand. But maybe that’s me. What do you think? Would you finance a phone on a prepaid plan?]]>

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