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Other IUP ready for pre-approval!
- Thread starter edlex
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According to my conversation with Apple, and everyone on here, the additional payment will be added to the other amounts that are due up front. It’s my first time doing this. Crossing my fingers…
Genuine question here. I'm not trying to be rude or be a troll.
Why would you do the IUP program when Apple gives a greater trade-in value for last year's model? Is it just to avoid paying the full price upfront as opposed to monthly (a personal finance decision)?
128GB 13 Pro:
IUP - $49.91/mo = $598.92, strip away AppleCare+ price (which you can't do for IUP but to compare) and it's roughly $500 a year
Upfront Purchase = $999 for iPhone 13 Pro - $640 trade in for iPhone 12 Pro = $359
So if you trade in your phone every year you'd get a better deal for the new phone than you would by doing IUP. Maybe the argument is that you need to have a 12 Pro to get this trade in value. But even if you have an 11 Pro by the third year of doing this you'd be making out better than IUP.
Why would you do the IUP program when Apple gives a greater trade-in value for last year's model? Is it just to avoid paying the full price upfront as opposed to monthly (a personal finance decision)?
128GB 13 Pro:
IUP - $49.91/mo = $598.92, strip away AppleCare+ price (which you can't do for IUP but to compare) and it's roughly $500 a year
Upfront Purchase = $999 for iPhone 13 Pro - $640 trade in for iPhone 12 Pro = $359
So if you trade in your phone every year you'd get a better deal for the new phone than you would by doing IUP. Maybe the argument is that you need to have a 12 Pro to get this trade in value. But even if you have an 11 Pro by the third year of doing this you'd be making out better than IUP.
I wouldn't worry. This isn't the first time a previous launch caused this scenario. Hasn't ever been an issue for me as someone who has been with IUP as long as it existed.According to my conversation with Apple, and everyone on here, the additional payment will be added to the other amounts that are due up front. It’s my first time doing this. Crossing my fingers…
Hm… it’s nice to have the option of not getting AppleCare+, but I would end up getting it anyway. Not sure of the actual effective price difference, but I also appreciate just the convenience of everything being worked out for me.
That’s very reassuring. Thank you!
You are definitely onto something. I am forced to pay off/trade in my IUP device, due to Apple screw up, and I'll indeed "come out ahead" per your example. However there are three factors that may make this scenario challenging for some:
1) Not everyone can pay off, or pay full price up front for a device.
2) I live close to an Apple store, and will do an in-person trade-in to avoid Phobio (or whoever) mysteriously rejecting my trade-in, or offering a much lower value than stated.
3) IUP is really convenient from a user-experience standpoint, so there's some value to that. You can do it all without leaving your home, and with just basic payments every month. When it works, it works very well.
You have a choice to leave the program or suck it up.According to my conversation with Apple, and everyone on here, the additional payment will be added to the other amounts that are due up front. It’s my first time doing this. Crossing my fingers…
For some, they don’t mind paying the remaining 1/2 months payments, the convenience of it all is the pulling factor.
You need to look at the pros and cons and decide.
What about the remaining year of payments for the 12 pro that you are trading in though? You would still have to pay that off first. I think the value of iUP is that you can always swap out after 12 payments. You never know what Apple or carriers trade in values will be the next year it’s just happened to be great this year and last. I haven’t decided if I am going to stay in iUP though
On the program, you can swap out after 6 months, 3 months, etc… you just need to pay off the minimum period.
Imagine Apple releasing the iPhone 14 in March 2022 (extreme example). There will be a lot of annoyed owners on the program but the convenience is there to swap it out… just pay off the minimum period.
List the pros and cons and see which suits you.
In the case where your current IUP device (i.e. like many of us with 12 Pro Max models) came out late, yes you're kinda getting screwed via IUP as opposed to trading in directly to Apple.
Simple math for a 12 Pro Max that someone bought in Nov '20. Total financed = $1300 USD ($1099 + $199 required AC+. You have been paying $54.17/month for 11 months, and now Apple will tack on that 12th payment of $54.17 in order for you to get the iPhone 13 via IUP, and you don't get that AC+ back.
In the example above, your payoff balance via Citizens One is $704 ($1300 less the 11 payments at $54.17 you've already made. Apple is offering $790 trade-in on this phone. So you can pay off the $704, trade in for $790, and call to get 13 months of AC+ credited back to your bank account ($108).
So you're essentially making an extra $251 ($194 + saving the 12th payment of $57 you don't have to make in order to get a new phone). This also means that you're paying $704 out of pocket, and OK with having $790 in your Apple account as a balance for future hardware or services (can't be applied to a new IUP payment plan). The $108 AC+ refund goes to your bank account via ACH, so that's real money there.
This is only a money-maker for the customer, because Apple's trade-in prices are so high. If they offered $600 trade-in, or less, then the smart money would be to stick with IUP.
It seems to depend, but on what I am not sure. Last year, a lot of folks who were in the upgrade program since it started in 2015 with the 6S got a hard pull on their credit when pre-ordering the 12 series, and many of them said they had not previously gotten one since the first year. I’ve been on IUP since 2016 with the iPhone 7. I still haven’t gotten a hard pull since the very first one, even with the pre-approval this week. And for others, some folks have gotten them more frequently such as every other year.
All I do know is that if you trade in and upgrade before your two years are up, there is a chance they won’t do a hard pull on the new loan; if you’ve kept your phone and paid out your 24 months and go to start a new IUP, they treat you as a new customer and will definitely do a hard pull, from what I have seen.
they didn't do a credit (hard/soft) pull for me this year. I've frozen all my credits from all 4 different bureau, temporarily lifted the freeze for this week on EQ to prepare for the pre-order but when I checked my account last night, it didn't show any new inquiry from Citizens Bank.
I tihnk they so an internal look at your record, if you have one with them, like the carriers do for the Next programs. The phone is considered colllateral, so it's a lot easier to get approved for these situations.
My Citizens One loan approved and Apple Card payment method went through no problems at all.
My wife's Citizens One loan is pending. They need to call me to verify. The Apple Card payment would not work on her order. Had to use my AMEX. Original date for both was 9/24, but I have a feeling that date will slip for her phone because they haven't called me yet.
My wife's Citizens One loan is pending. They need to call me to verify. The Apple Card payment would not work on her order. Had to use my AMEX. Original date for both was 9/24, but I have a feeling that date will slip for her phone because they haven't called me yet.
App Store didn’t open until 8:02 eastern time for me but once it did everything was fine until it made me enter payment information again. Thankfully I always memorize one credit card so I entered it super fast and it went through. Confirm email came at 8:03 and citizens loan email at 9:50. Congrats to everyone!!! Now the long wait for the flights to leave…