So I bought a new iPhone via Apple financing, something I've done before but not since 2013. And I had a journey discovering what's new and problematic about the company that Apple uses for financing...
I bought my iPhone on 10/6 and I realized I hadn't gotten any paperwork in the mail when my next payment is due, my account number for setting up Bill Pay through my banking website, etc. So I called. And I realized how wildly the Apple financing rules had changed since 2013
Step 1: I could not set up any Bill Pay to CITIZENS ONE (the bank Apple sent my financing) through my bank's website. I had to go only through Citizen One's website for payments. But there's a trick to that...
Realization 2: Citizen One would not allow me to set automatic withdrawals HIGHER than the minimum. If I met every payment for 24 months I'd have paid zero interest, but what if I could pay it off faster than using minimum amount?
Realization 2: Citizen One would NOT allow me to make ADDITIONAL payments to my loan online (ie more than the minimum) through their website or any website (such as my bank's.) To pay off my loan faster than the automatic withdrawals (which couldn't be adjusted, I have to call.
I'm basically in a somewhat weird-for-the-21st Century banking situation where the only way to pay off my Apple-assisted loan from Citizen One to buy a new iPhone faster than the 24 months of minimum is to make a call once a month to give them more money to pay it off.
When I was younger the only way to pay off a "bill" was to mail in a check, so I suppose requiring an off-line interaction to pay off a loan was, at one point, normal, but it's a tad weird now for Citizen One to not let borrowers adjust payments to more than the minimum amount.
None of this is earth-shattering, ("woe is me, I have to make a phone call to a bank to pay them money I want to give them once a month") but it is a tactic designed to make people screw up their financing by stretching it out and taking it out of easy control to harder control
I probably borrowed between $600-700 in 2013 to buy my last IPhone. I probably paid it off in 12 months. I made all the payments through my bank's Bill Pay, online, and I adjusted the amount every month to whatever I wanted above the minimum. I can do the same with more hoops.
Lastly over the phone Citizen One told me something strange too, I couldn't make additional payments to my loan in a certain window, like 2 days before the automatic withdrawal is due. Also I couldn't pay "ahead" of automatic withdrawal. It's very weird, persnickety hoop-jumping.
