T-Mobile launches Smartphone Equality, expanding base of customers qualified for financing & special deals

T-Mobile often rolls out “Un-carrier” initiatives that intend to challenge its competitors (which sometimes get copied), and John Legere’s latest announcement for the company is no different. The T-Mobile CEO shared today that the carrier soon start offering the same financing options to customers with weak credit as it provides for well qualified customers. The program is called Smartphone Equality, and here’s how it works…The gist of it is this: customers who otherwise may not qualify for financing plans like $0 down options due to poor credit can now avoid hefty deposits just by being a loyal T-Mobile customer for a full year. The program even extends to T-Mobile customers on pre-paid plans, which is especially useful, and only requires that you pay your bill on time for 12 months.

Even if you don’t have any credit history, T-Mobile will qualify anyone with a monthly voice plan paid on time for a year for its best device and plan prices without requiring a credit check. Furthermore, the carrier says customers which already meet the new requirements to avoid a credit check will immediately qualify for the new financing options when the Smartphone Equality program begins.

You can see Legere introduce the new initiative in his own words below:

http://youtu.be/n6X3q5qEx1Y

As for T-Mobile’s reasoning, Legere says payment history is more indicative of making future payments on time than a credit rating. The program kicks off for all T-Mobile customers on January 25th.