T-Mobile Will Pay Off Your Expensive Smartphone Contract If You Switch

In its latest drastic bid to rake in new subscribers, T-Mobile has announced that it will pay off your existing smartphone, assuming you owe no more than $1,000 under your current contract. The promotion, of course, is contingent on switching from your existing carrier to T-Mobile, which launched the new offer on Friday. How does the promo work? T-Mobile says it'll dish out the payoff funds on a prepaid MasterCard.

The promotion went live on Friday, October 22, with relatively simple requirements: bring your smartphone to a T-Mobile retail store along with an image of your last phone bill. Assuming you have an eligible smartphone, the Uncarrier says it will pay off the device up to $1,000 per smartphone (limit of five devices).

T-Mobile heavily emphasizes its 5G network, though you don't need a 5G smartphone to take advantage of this promotion. The carrier details the steps consumers must take to redeem this promo, including ordering a SIM card, signing up for a plan, and getting your phone number ported to your new account.

From there, you'll need to submit a rebate for the payoff funds. To submit the rebate, you'll need to provide T-Mobile with your SIM card number and the image of your smartphone's device payment plan with your former carrier. T-Mobile says the money to pay off the device's balance will be sent within 15 days in the form of a virtual prepaid MasterCard.

T-Mobile offers multiple different monthly wireless plan options, the cheapest being Essentials at $60/month. Users who need faster mobile hotspot data and select other features can also get the $70/month Magenta plan or the $85/month Magenta MAX plan. Whether this is a good deal depends entirely on the user, their needs, and their existing plan.

The best benefit with this promotion is getting your device paid off entirely, which may add up to a substantial amount if you're relatively early in your device payment contract and have a pricey smartphone.