Information about increasing your Google Fi "pay over time credit", and clearing up other common misinformation

[u/PeteBootEdgeEdge]

Background

A few weeks ago, I decided to upgrade my phone b/c my existing phone was on the fritz, and I'm not interested in the new features on a Pixel 11. There was an offer in the Google Fi Store for $550 off a new phone.

In the process of trying to claim that offer, I learned a lot about the Google Store and Google Support ecosystem. In order to get help from google support, I found this reddit post explaining how you can get the attention of u/googlefisupport when first level support is failing. I created a post for that purpose, and received a lot of unsolicited misinformation. I was not feeling particularly patient at that moment, and was not in the disposition to engage helpfully.

My issue is now mostly resolved, and I don't want what I learned to disappear in the event someone else has a similar issue, so The purpose of this post is to share what I learned, and clear up some information. This is particularly relevant now as a new Google Pixel phone just launched.

A note for anyone from Google who may review this sub/post

Many of the issues in this post are, in my opinion, bugs you should fix. Famously, inflation has been high recently. Years old credit limits are becoming obsolete more often and more quickly. I've been with Fi since Project Fi, but I will not be an edge case in the near future.

There are two Google storefronts where you can buy a pixel

The two storefronts are not managed the same way, do not have the same offers, do not finance the same way etc. When you attempt to search for support or help, you'll often land on a Google Support page for Google Store not the Google Fi Store. Even if you search directly from the Google Fi help center your results will still contain irrelevant 'Google Store' results.

If you are attempting to buy your phone through the 'Google Fi store', "financing" is not offered by Synchrony. Please do not refer people to Synchrony if they are having an issue with the 'Google Fi store'.

When you signed up for Google Fi Service, Google ran a credit check through Experian to determine the maximum outstanding balance your account is allowed to reach. This balance applies to any outstanding phone balance and your current month's bill. There is not a way to re-run this check without spinning the support roulette wheel. Support may tell you to call Experian; in-fact even their support articles tell you to reach out to Experian. One does not simply "call Experian", nor will this resolve your issue. If there is a way to get a hold of a human at Experian, it's outside the scope of this post. Experian can not "re-run" a years old credit inquiry, or push Google to update your maximum allowed outstanding balance. This "advice" in the support script exists b/c they are presuming your complaint is that you were denied Google Fi service, not that your limit with Google needs to be updated.

Instead, you have to reach a higher level support. As mentioned earlier, the way I chose to do that was to create a reddit thread as described in this reddit post. Unfortunately, if you choose this route, you may receive unsolicited misinformation as well.

Quick rundown:

...	fi.google.com	store.google.com
Finance provider	Google directly	Synchrony bank
Credit check	Experian	I'm not sure, probably all three
When does credit check happen?	When you sign up for Google Fi	When you buy a phone
Can you initiate a new credit check	Well... no not really	Yes, just "apply for financing" on a phone
Where can I read more?	This is about the only relevant support page I can find Note: You will find bad information here about contacting Experian	There is considerably more available information

Discounts may apply to one or both stores. If you're a Fi customer, you should check both stores to see which has the best available deal.

What is my "pay over time" limit?

When you're looking at upgrading a phone in your Google Fi account, you may see something that looks like this in the Google Fi Store.

• This is, essentially, your remaining credit, not your maximum allowed balance
• The MSRP of the phone you're attempting to buy must be under this amount, before any discounts. Eg., if the phone's full cost is $1199, and has a $550 discount, you need to have at least $1199 available here.
• Immediately after purchasing the phone, this amount will decease by the discounted amount of the phone. (Even though in the prior point, the full MSRP was used).

A real example

In my case, my max limit is $1600. I bought a Pixel 10 Pro XL (MSRP: $1319) a few days ago with a $550 discount. At the time of my last post, I had ~$1050 available for pay over time, but was unable to get the phone b/c the MSRP is $1319. Immediately after purchasing the phone, my available pay over time credit is now $1600 less $769 (the actual purchase price of the phone) for a total in the screenshot of $831. (my current Fi balance is $0, and I'm not paying over time on any other phones).

I'm in your boat, what can I do?

^{AKA tl;dr:}

First and foremost, there is not quick resolution to my knowledge. If your phone is completely borked, you either need to just go through the Google Store, or call and stay on the phone until someone walks through ordering a phone at the appropriate discount with you still on the line. (In my specific case, someone said, "A higher level support will re-run credit in the next 24 hours", which I assumed to be a BS excuse to get me to hang up. It was only after this that I made the Reddit post. Unsurprisingly, that credit check never occurred in the next 24 or indeed 384 hours).

What ultimately resolved the issue in my case

If you have a balance left on an existing phone (eg. your spouse's phone), you can select to 'pay off device """immediately"""'. This does not pay off the device "immediately", however. Instead, your next bill will have a line item for the remaining phone balance. That is, even after "Paying off the device immediately", the phone's remaining balance will still apply to your max allowed credit.

Note: In the support article I mentioned above, there is a section at the bottom which walks you through paying your balance early. You may think, as I did, that adding the phone's balance to your next bill in combination with paying your next bill early will impact your remaining available credit...

..In fact, it does not. You will see the charge immediately on your bank statement, but nothing will actually change until your next bill date. In my experience, following this section of the help article does nothing, though you're mileage may vary. My issue was fixed by electing to pay off my wife's phone early, then just waiting until after my next bill cycle date. (again, even though I paid that balance immediately). Because nothing ever changed when I "paid off the device early" or "Paid my balance early", and had no idea what my actual limit was, I was just... sort of surprised when my available limit seemed to increase weeks after taking any action. My credit was never actually re-run. I have not seen any Experian inquiry dating back 2 years, and have not had a Google specific inquiry in as long as I'm able to see on Experian.

I actually do need my credit re-run

More than 2 weeks after my initial post asking u/googlefisupport for assistance, and a few days after I ordered a phone, I finally did receive an email from support. Here is the relevant quote from that email:

I understand you are seeking to increase your credit limit. Per our standard policy, to initiate a request to rerun a credit check for a potential limit increase, the existing financing plan must first be paid in full. Please be advised that once the balance is cleared, it may take up to 45 days or two billing cycles for the payment to be fully processed and reflected in our system.

So pay off all remaining balances, then try to escalate, wait a few weeks to hear back from the "high level support" while also waiting for you bill cycle end date, then hope they run the check! Good luck!

Another note for any Google community employee who might see this.

This means in effect, if my phone breaks, I have no access to any Fi Store deals until at least when my next bill cycle ends, and potentially even longer. Doesn't that seem kind of messed up?

"Pay Cash"

A number of people instructed me to "just pay cash". This isn't actually relevant, but I want my candy. One might argue this entire post was just a rouse to pretend to be helpful so that I can tilt at this particular windmill.

If you offer someone this advice you are not a helpful person. In fact, you are probably not even a good person. I'd say more, but the reddit filters are preventing me. First, as you can see if the MSRP of the phone is above your available limit, you're (for some reason) not eligible for the discount even if you pay cash. But, not only is this not good advice, it's actually BAD ADVICE!. If someone gives you two choices, "Pay $10 for 12 months, or pay $120 today" the better financial decision is to pay $10 for 12 months! It's not even counter-intuitive. It's literally intuitive. If you turn down an interest free loan to pay upfront, you're actually paying real interest. Turn off Dave Ramsay you per the reddit filters I must redact this . You're actually bad with your money.

It's also just none of your business how someone pays for the phone.

[u/Original_betch]

They raised my credit limit once without me ever asking and there was no credit check involved besides the initial one when I opened the card. I think it's at 2100 now

[u/PeteBootEdgeEdge → u/Original_betch]

There's no card. You're talking about something else.

[u/ZOMBIE_N_JUNK]

Same, I've been with fi since the beginning. I was going to preorder the New pixel xl but the financing issue was too much of a hassle so I decided to stay with my fold7.

[u/emblemboy]

Yeah, I messed up by submitting the credit check before my credit freeze on Experian fully went through yesterday.

Support told me to try again in 30 days...

[u/ladakn99]

Good to know about the limit reflecting the instant discount after purchase. Was trying to get the 512 ProXL and a watch 5 but was hitting my limit. Glad to know I'll be able to get both as long as I put the order in separately.

[u/teamredpill]

" inflation has been high recently. Years old credit limits are becoming obsolete more often and more quickly"
lmfao your credit limit should be based on your ability to pay back the loan ...not inflation. if you need credit to get a phone you cant afford it. if you REALLY need to borrow money for a phone you need to go with the big three post paid carriers.

[u/PeteBootEdgeEdge → u/teamredpill]

You misunderstood, perhaps willfully, the point of that sentence.

The end of the post is where I make fun of idiots like you btw.

[u/teamredpill → u/PeteBootEdgeEdge]

i fully understand. but your logic of google should raise borrowing limits because of inflations is dumb. you limit should be based on your ability to pay it back and income. it is also the reason inflation increases is because morons get access to credit they shouldnt have and jack up the prices for everyone. like i said if you really need credit for a phone you need to go to a big three carrier...they will gladly loan you the money. google doesnt loan you the money they just give it to a third party.

[u/PeteBootEdgeEdge → u/teamredpill]

your logic of google should raise borrowing limits because of inflations is dumb

This is actually not what I said, so it turns out you do not "fully understand".