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Transferring line from family plan?

I’ve been on a family plan since I was a teenager and now that I’m very far removed from high school, I don’t wanna be in it anymore.

My mom is the account owner so she’d have to authorize it but our bill is $1000+ this month when it’s usually 30% of that. This is due to an unprotected/uninsured phone being stolen shortly after purchasing (exhibit A on why I want my own plan…). Verizon charged us for the stolen phone because my mother didn’t have any kind of mobile protection add-on or apple care...

Am I still able to transfer my line even though the bill is due soon or will I have to pay that $1k+ first in order to get my phone off the family plan?

Comments

Ann154

Why did Verizon charge for a stolen phone? Did that phone line have an existing device payment agreement associated with it? Or did they have to purchase a new phone at the full retail price? Is the high device payment on your line of service? Do you want to keep your phone number whenever you are able to start your own account?

mekkavelli

They charged for it because she took it home completely uninsured so, contractually, my mother still has to pay for the remaining price of the device; the phone was so new that we hadn't even made a single payment on it yet (didn’t even last 2 weeks).

What do you mean by it being on my line of service? Not sure how to answer that part. If the bill isn’t paid, all of our phones will be disconnected. It’s charged under account fees as a buyout charge (for 36 payments altogether), not one specific line.

I do wanna keep my number but I don’t really care. If I’m able to transfer, does that matter??

Ann154

You don't need to initiate a transfer if you aren't keeping your number.

Based on your answers, it might be a good idea to better understand your parents' account and the terminology before opening your own account. A line of service is the phone number. Each device on the account will have a line of service (phone number) associated with it no matter if it is a phone or a tablet or a smart watch or dedicated hotspot. The $1000+ bill still doesn't make sense to if the new (broken) was recently purchased with device payment agreement. There are only certain things that can happen for the full device payment to charged. None of which you have mentioned so I think there is part of the story you either haven't said or you don't know yourself. Was new phone returned broken? Was there a trade-in associated with the purchase? Did your parents cancel the line of service associated with that phone? Or was it the buyout of payment agreement for the previous phone on that line?

For example, I recently purchased a new phone myself and I purposely didn't add insurance. If I broke the new phone I would still be responsible for the device payment agreement installments over the next 36 months. The reason I choose to not add insurance is, one, I think it is a waste of money and, two, I can still use my previous phone for the foreseeable future. I completely owned the previous phone so I didn't have a prior payment associated with it nor did I trade it in.

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