T-Mobile issues ultimatum: change payment method or give up monthly discount
T-Mobile is fast going out of favor with customers. The carrier has made a string of unpopular changes in recent times and has been the victim of eight known data breaches since 2018. Despite that, the company seems to think that customers will be comfortable switching to new payment methods to keep the AutoPay discount and has now started sending out an SMS that action must be taken before 25 July, according to 9to5Google.
T-Mobile provides a service called AutoPay that lets you pay for bills automatically. Currently, those who have set up AutoPay save $5 on each line they have and can save up to $40 on eight lines, regardless of the payment method they use.
Rumors had said that T-Mobile would require customers to use their debit card or bank account in order to continue receiving the discount and the carrier is now notifying customers that they need to update their payment method by 25 July.
This means that you will no longer be able to use your credit card, Google Pay, and Apple Pay to pay your bills if you want that $5 discount. If you don't care about the discount, you can continue using whichever method you want.
Existing customers that use AutoPay have less than a month to update their payment method. A quick check of the T-Mobile website shows that new customers who use credit cards or digital wallets are not eligible for the discount.
One workaround has been suggested online for those who want to be shielded from this change. You can set your debit card or bank account as the desired payment method but pay the bill ahead of time using your preferred payment method. Whether the trick will work remains to be seen.
When this rumor first emerged, customers were understandably vexed, with some vowing to never give T-Mobile access to their banking information, and others saying they would leave the carrier if the changes were applied.
After all, T-Mobile isn't very good at safeguarding consumer data, so it's easy to see why the rumor infuriated many people. T-Mobile has defended the decision by saying that it will save on high processing fees by limiting AutoPay discounts to debit cards and bank payments.
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