These days, carriers have a variety of ways to offer discounts on service. One of the more popular ones is an autopay discount. Customers receive a small discount, typically on a per-line basis, and the carrier gets a more reliable monthly payment from customers. Win-win.
Back in June of 2023, T-Mobile made a lot of people angry when they decided to no longer offer an autopay discount for customers paying via credit cards. Customers were forced to switch to a debit card or direct ACH from their bank to maintain the discount.
Just one month later, in July of 2023, AT&T also made a change to autopay, but took a different approach. Instead of eliminating the credit card autopay discount entirely, they cut it in half. Customers paying via debit or bank still received $10 per line, but credit cards earned just $5.
Now, it seems AT&T is not only planning to match T-Mobile, but also limit all card transactions entirely.
According to anonymous trusted sources, as well as a few posts online like this one, AT&T will soon make big changes to their autopay discount.
First, customers paying via credit card will no longer receive $5 off per line. Instead, it’s dropping to $0, just like T-Mobile.
Unlike T-Mobile though, AT&T is also dropping the discount for those paying via debit card too, from $10 to $5. Those that have autopay set up with a bank draft will remain at $10.
Companies like AT&T have fees they must pay to card companies, called processing fees, for every transaction. These fees are typically higher for credit cards, but often still have some fees for debit as well. Bank drafts, on the other hand, typically have no fees.
The change is likely to anger many customers, but there is a potential workaround. One user on Reddit noted that they have autopay enabled via bank draft, but they simply pay their bill manually with a credit card before the autopay hits. This gives them both the discount and the ability to pay via credit card.
Indeed, a similar trick was recommended for T-Mobile customers when they removed the benefit for credit card payments. It’s unclear if the trick still works, or if it will continue to work with AT&T.
There’s no official word from AT&T on when the changes take place, but sources say the changes are beginning to show up on customer bills, and on Reddit it’s suggested the change will go into effect on April 24th.
If you have AT&T and aren’t using a bank draft for your autopay, you may want to consider doing so sooner rather than later.
