Might not be able to afford monthly bill. How long till they shut it off?

[Member121545]

I am between jobs right now and might not be able to pay my monthly bill. How long before they would end up shutting the phone off? I've heard that they won't do it unless you next the next billing cycle as well.

 

[jamor]

Usually 60 days (2 missed cycles) and then it will cost you $15 to reactivate.

 

[Reaver]

Why not call them and explain the situation. Maybe they can put your acct on hold until you get back on your feet. You wouldn't have service and they may extend your contract end date but at least it won't go against your credit report for missed payments.

 

[ctc]

+1

 

[jrmckins]

sell the phone and use the money to pay the bill

 

[Vaseline Smith]

sell the phone and use the money to pay the bill

 

[Bing]

It's not worth damaging your credit score to get two free months of cell phone service. It will make buying a car, a house, getting a loan, credit cards, etc. much much harder in the future. Just call Verizon and suspend the account -- then your credit score won't suffer. (And don't count on a spouse's credit score; big purchases count on BOTH of your scores! Many people don't realize this.)

 

[OldMuttonHead]

Verizon reports missed payments to the credit reporting agencies?!?

 

[wedgemoose]

I don't know people. I think things have changed. My corporate phones at work had a little problem recently. My company paid the bill $50 short by mistake. I started getting phone calls only two weeks after. then 2 weeks from that the phone was off. We have been a good customer ($2000 per month) for the past 15 years. And they only gave me 3 to 4 weeks before it was off.(the phone could receive calls but not make any once they shut off).

 

[dan h]

I don't know people. I think things have changed. My corporate phones at work had a little problem recently. My company paid the bill $50 short by mistake. I started getting phone calls only two weeks after. then 2 weeks from that the phone was off. We have been a good customer ($2000 per month) for the past 15 years. And they only gave me 3 to 4 weeks before it was off.(the phone could receive calls but not make any once they shut off).

This was true for me as well. Made a mistake on my bill payment and Verizon was calling me to pay the past due amount after 10 days of the end of the billing cycle. I asked them if I could just pay the amount with my next bill since they already charged me for a late fee and they told me my phone service will be shut down if I didn't pay within 5 days.

 

[najaboy]

Verizon reports missed payments to the credit reporting agencies?!?

Not missed payments, per se. However, if a customer defaults on the account, it will definitely make its way onto a credit report.

 

[jamor]

Why not call them and explain the situation. Maybe they can put your acct on hold until you get back on your feet. You wouldn't have service and they may extend your contract end date but at least it won't go against your credit report for missed payments.

This isn't true they aren't going to report you if you miss a couple payments.

If you completely default they will.

 

[OldMuttonHead]

This isn't true they aren't going to report you if you miss a couple payments.

If you completely default they will.

That makes much more sense.

If they reported all late payments, I'd be in a heap of trouble.

 

[sic0048]

Many companies will report late payments that are 30 days past due. I'm not sure specifically about Verizon, but that is pretty much standard OP for credit reporting.

 

[cableguynoe]

Many companies will report late payments that are 30 days past due. I'm not sure specifically about Verizon, but that is pretty much standard OP for credit reporting.

That's almost right. It IS the standard. Anything under 30 days will not affect your credit report. You can make every payment 29 days late every time, and as far as your credit report is concerned, they're all on time. That is because on the 30th day, your account becomes "delinquent", then it can hit the report.

However, after 1 day late, your credit card companies, phone companies, etc. can start dinging you with late fees.
So it's gonna hurt your pocket even if it doesn't hurt your credit score

 

[cableguynoe]

I am between jobs right now and might not be able to pay my monthly bill. How long before they would end up shutting the phone off? I've heard that they won't do it unless you next the next billing cycle as well.

Unfortunately, I can elaborate based on personal experince

You should be able to go just past the 30 day mark. So for example, if your payment is due on the 10th of Oct, on the 10th of November, your phone should still be on.
This happened to me before, and of course by the time i made the payment i owed 2 months.
But if what you need is time to come up with the money, that gives you a little time.
If you know you're not going to have it regardless, i would start getting rid off ALL features... text messaging, insurance, everything and drop the phone to the lowest plan possible and stop using it (so you dont go over minutes)
That way it doesn't keep growing and getting out of reach.

 

[Golden Falcon]

Usually around 2 months. You can call them (or log in) and "freeze" your service until you can re-use it again. No sure if that will stop the billing though, you'll have to call them for that.