Verizon Wireless Makes Changes To Its Early Termination Policy

If you are an existing customer of Verizon Wireless and is due for an upgrade on your two-year agreement, you might want to know: any two-year agreement that is signed beginning today will come with an updated early termination clause.

The base early termination fee (ETF) amounting to $350 will be unchanged. However, that is not the worse part. The bad news is that unless you are already 8 months into your contract, the ETF will not start decreasing. 

Before this update in Verizon's early termination policy, you could slash $10 off your ETF each month. If you get to 23 months of your contract, that ETF would only be $120. On the 24th month, your contract would expire, which would get rid of your ETF. But if you terminated your service, say, 7 months into your contract, you would have to pay $280 in order to get out of Verizon's hold because of the $10 per monthly reduction.

Now, with the latest changes in the early termination policy, you will have to pay $350 if you terminate your service before you get to 8 months of your contract. Once you reach the 8th month, the reductions will start. Your ETF will then decrease by $10 per month for a period of 11 months.  When you are in the 19th month (5 months before your contract expires), it will then decrease by $20 a month. That means that just one month before your contract ends, your ETF will amount to $140. That is a full $20 more than it was before the change in the early termination policy. 

And there is more. If you decide to terminate your service just 5 months before your two-year contract ends, Verizon will require you to pay $240. 

Yikes.

The changes to the early termination policy officially takes effect November 14th. Those who signed their agreements before this date will not be affected by the changes. However, those who do on November 14th and thereafter will have to take the full brunt of Verizon's new early termination terms and conditions.

As posted by Droid Life, here is the full text of Verizon Wireless's new ETF policy:

“If you cancel a line of Service, or if we cancel it for good cause, during its contract term, you will have to pay an early termination fee. If your contract term results from your purchase of an advanced device on or after November 14, 2014, your early termination fee will be $350, which will decline by: $10 per month in months 8–18, $20 per month in months 19–23, and $60 in the final month of your contract term. For other contract terms entered into on or after November 14, 2014, your early termination fee will be $175, which will decline by: $5 per month in months 8–18, $10 per month in months 19–23, and $30 in the final month of your contract term. If your contract results from your purchase of an advanced device prior to November 14, 2014, your early termination fee will be $350 minus $10 for each full month of your contract term that you complete. For other contract terms entered into prior to November 14, 2014, your early termination fee will be $175 minus $5 for each full month of your contract term that you complete.”