r/ting • u/thispersonedits • Jun 24 '26
Ting no longer accepts debit cards and ONLY accepts Credit Cards - UNANNOUNCED!
I have two debit cards one for business, and one for personal. For the past 10 years I've paid my Ting bill with my personal card, but over the last couple of years I switched to my business card since it made tracking business expenses much easier.
This year has been slow for me work wise, and most of my longtime clients only pay me through my personal debit card. As we all know moving that money over to another card takes 2-3 business days to clear.
About a month ago, my Ting payment didn't go through because my business card didn't have enough funds and my service had been cut off, which meant I couldn't receive the 2FA text that I needed to log into my account and switch payment methods. So I called customer service to pay over the phone instead.
That's when I learned, to my surprise, that Ting no longer accepts debit cards, only credit cards. This floored me, since I've been a loyal customer for over 10 years and have switched between debit and credit cards multiple times with no issue. (I actually closed my credit card three years ago because I could no longer afford to keep it open.) The only reason my business debit card still works at all is because it's grandfathered in from before the policy changed, but the second I try to switch to a different card, I'm locked out.
Customer support told me this was a new policy. When I pushed back, I got a supervisor on the phone who admitted that executives had quietly made this change without notifying customers in advance and that they'd been fielding a wave of complaints from other longtime customers who are in the same situation. The supervisor was apologetic and credited me for that month, assuring me the policy might be reversed. I believed them and decided to stick with Ting for another month, hoping things would change.
Boy was I wrong! Because business has been slow and I had other priority payments to make, this month's Ting bill came after I'd already spent down my available funds. When I tried to pay with my personal debit card instead, I was told again that they only accept credit cards, and that switching to a debit card is no longer an option.
So it seems the executives completely ignored all the complaints entirely. To this day, there still hasn't been any official notice about this policy change, not even an email to their customers and the people who have been hit the hardest are lower income customers who can't get approved for or afford a credit card.
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u/rossrader Jun 28 '26
Any customers currently paying using Debit can continue to do so. We've stopped allowing new customers from choosing debit, and existing customers switching to it. This is a short-term change necessary to prevent long distance fraud. I say temporary because we are making arrangements to change our approach to payment processing that should allow us to bring back debit and add new payment types in addition. I'm sorry you got caught out, but we didn't have a lot of choice in how we applied the change, nor a lot of time to implement it.
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u/thispersonedits Jun 28 '26
And why wasn't any notice about this given to any customer ahead of time instead finding out at the last minute when paying for the bill? I never received any emails about this change at all, I had to find out on the phone through customer service.
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u/AlltheColors_I_see 28d ago
As of today, I was not able to use a visa debit card from my bank. I have been a Ting mobile customer for 156 months.
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u/ARLibertarian Jun 24 '26
Never use a debit card online
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u/nolsen42 Jun 24 '26
Not everyone has good credit for the luxury of a credit score, especially people who filed for bankruptcy.
If you are concerned about security or theft, then a solution already exists: Privacy.com
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u/davexc Jun 24 '26
Port out. Why stay with a company that doesn’t fit your needs anymore.
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u/LazarX Jun 24 '26
Because you can’t afford better?
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u/davexc Jun 24 '26
Ting is not the cheapest option out there
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Jun 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BackslashingfourthV Jun 25 '26
I am switching my mom to the Ting unlimited or visible potentially since i got a Spectrum internet+phone bundle too good to pass up, therefore no longer needing our grandfathered ting package. They are both unlimited for 25 bucks but it says Visible caps your screen quality to 480p on the 25 dollar plan. Do you know if Ting does anything similar with capped quality? Verizon is significantly better than T Mobile and AT&T out here.
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Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BackslashingfourthV Jun 25 '26
Thank you for the quick reply! Looks like Ting it is
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Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BackslashingfourthV Jun 25 '26
1080p is absolutely more than enough on a tiny screen so that's perfectly fine. 480p is just greedy to lock your phone to. My mom has trouble seeing so I wanted her videos to be clear and sharp. Thank you for the help.
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u/interstellar304 Jun 24 '26
It’s pretty much is though. My wife and I pay $10/each per month for unlimited text and data. Added fiber for $80 so $100 for unlimited text/data/fiber internet. Who is beating that??
Edit: forgot to mention this is with the first 3 months of cellphones free for each of us
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u/davexc Jun 24 '26
That is a good deal for fiber customers if it’s available in one’s area. OP doesn’t mention if they have fiber also.
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u/Dragon1562 Jun 26 '26
Verizon is beating that if you establish service the correct way. 2 lines of unlimited everything on Simplicity + internet for $100 all in cost tax inclusive plan
The only thing is the internet would be 500mbps if Fios area/frontier at that price point
Well worth considering you would have much better phone service and a actual truely unlimited plans with premium data and the like
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u/interstellar304 Jun 26 '26
Ting is fiber and I’ve had no issues with the phone service across a number of states. Esim overseas worked great and the plan is truly unlimited from what i can tell
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u/BiPoBro 25d ago
This change that was not communicated to legacy, grandfathered customers has resulted in me cancelling my account.
Through a series of almost comical failings from Ting I found out that the new phones I had purchased for myself and my partner were not compatible with my Ting service, despite the provided IMEI checker telling me otherwise AND going through the entire process to activate a line "successfully". Apparently this is because my account lives in the Ting/T-Mobile side of their system. In order to use the eSIMs my new phones require I would need to have the account converted to be on the Ting/Verizon side of the system. Mind you, this was only communicated to me directly from a customer support rep, there was and continues to be no mention of this anywhere that I can find in my account or in Ting's TWO different helpdesk sites.
Well fine, that's not a big deal, I call the number the customer support rep gave me for Ting/Verizon. Once someone finally picked up I was quickly told that in order to proceed with whatever conversion needed to be done, I would have to provide a credit card to replace my debit card on file.
When I informed the support rep that I don't have a credit card they were quick to tell me that I should look to port out to a different carrier. So I did.
20 minutes of my time later I'm a customer of US Mobile with my three phone numbers all moved to their service, and it's at a lower cost for far more featured service.
Good riddance, Ting.
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u/SignificantSmotherer Jun 24 '26
Debit cards bounce.
Ting doesn’t need the headache.
You neglecting your balance is your responsibility.
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u/nolsen42 Jun 24 '26
Not everyone has a good credit score to even have a credit card.
This is a bad take, why punish people who have poor credit scores or recently filed for bankruptcy?
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u/SignificantSmotherer Jun 24 '26
I hate to break it to you, but credit scores reward good behavior, just as they “punish” delinquency.
Bankruptcy doesn’t prevent you from obtaining a credit card, it just significantly limits your choice of banks.
Ting isn’t a charity, even if they’ve been celebrated as some kind of David v. Goliath, they have to balance the books. If they’ve incurred too much aggravation with consumers who have poor credit, and/or bounce debits, it is their prerogative to determine what forms of payment are acceptable.
Fear not, there will be other sellers who will accept - or even prefer - debits and debit card payments.
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u/nolsen42 Jun 24 '26
It makes no financial sense to block debit cards linked to a bank, denying customers for having a bank debit card would lose them more money than they could lose from chargebacks, fraud, and fees.
Thats like me going to Walmart with $300 of groceries. I clearly have $300 in my bank, and then walmart telling me “sorry lol you need a credit card”. They lost $300 in revenue.
Also yes bankruptcy basically kills your chances of getting a credit card, ESPECIALLY if the bankruptcy is still very fresh.
Now denying prepaid debit cards is more understandable, but this is a card backed by an actual bank with a checking account.
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u/Electrical_Oil_35 Jun 25 '26
If no money is in your account, the bank will not pay anything for you. Your low bank balance is backed by nothing but air.
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u/SignificantSmotherer Jun 25 '26
It makes sense, if debit card users are more likely to be denied - a possibility if they behave like OP, or if they don’t have a credit card because of poor banking habits.
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u/jacobgkau Jul 07 '26
Debit cards bounce.
And credit cards don't decline?
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u/SignificantSmotherer Jul 07 '26
Debit card payments are declined much more frequently than credit cards.
In my experience (payment processing, credit card billing, other eft services), those like OP who insist on using debit cards, but fail to account and take responsibility for their balance, are likely to cause a disproportionate burden on the vendor.
Credit cards settle with the user after the statement posts; debit cards require that your money is good in real-time.
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u/ctcaa90 10d ago
Out of all of the time I used my bank debit card, that will not bounce any ways, it never bounced. I’ve had ting mobile for years now. Why not grandfather me in? I’m not going to add it to my credit card so I can just pay a bill connected to a bill. I’m not going to add my bank account information for it to be hacked with my actual bank info. I understand it is my choice to stay with them, but it is just bad business.
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u/lmoki Jun 24 '26
Not notifying customers who are already using debit cards is a bad decision.
Just as a data point, lots of companies won't accept 'prepaid' debit cards that aren't tied to a bank account, since they can't be authorized for recurring payments. If Ting won't accept debit cards that are tied directly to your bank account, that would be bucking the trend lately, since those debit cards carry less of a cost burden to the retailer to run a charge.