If you ‘purchased’ your current phone via the Apple iPhone Upgrade Program, you probably received an email yesterday noting that you could attempt to initiate the process for purchasing one of the new iPhone models and prequalify your new loan before the Friday beginning of the actual sale. I went through the process and have a few notes:
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Doing this does not commit you to purchase a new phone, but it does let you make a preliminary choice of the phone and go through the process of agreeing to all the documentation regarding the upgrade program.
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If you got your current phone after September 2017, you will be charged for extra payments in addition to the first payment for a new phone. For example, I ordered my iPhone X on the first day last year that one could order and received it on the first day it shipped (late October, I think). Anyway, since 12 payments are required for a direct upgrade, I will owe one more payment if I purchase now rather than a month from now.
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You do need to select the phone and carrier you want, but I beieve you will be able to change that once actual ordering actually starts.
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If you have protected your credit report with any warning or notification requests, you will need to accept a call from the folks providing the loan before your purchase can go through. On Caller ID, the phone number called from is complete and starts 1-700. Last year I rejected it the first time because it looked spammy.
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Because of these considerations, prequalification closes at 4pm (EDT?); so do it soon or don’t do it at all.