When does autopay kick in?

[droidlover]

 My payment due date was supposed to be July 25th. It is now July 26th. My credit card was not charged yet but I see "Your account has been suspended" and "Plan Expired" in red bold lettering in my Public Mobile account. My calling and texting still works though. Presumably my data too. Just haven't tried it yet today. I sent a picture message (MMS) on the 25th and no issues there. Does Public Mobile kick the autopay in the day after your payment due date? Like 9AM-5PM the next day (which would be later today)? I'm hoping that my service won't be cut off later today and that the autopay works. Thanks.

[stonechucker]

This is absolutely normal process - it's just confusing to first or second time autopay renewal experiences, as it doesn't work as you expect it too.

The 25th is the date you are expectd to pay (without AutoPay) *if* you want your plan to renew without issue.  AutoPay kicks in after midnight on the 26th, to use any available balance, rewards and remaining required funds from your credit card.

Mid morning on the 26th (Eastern time) your account will be flipped to active.  

Please remember, if your services are working, you're okay.  Only be concerned if you are missing service (ie no voice, no txt, no data).

[droidlover]

My account status is normal now. It's after 6AM EST now. So it looks like they do it early in the morning. The balance was applied to the plan. And now it shows October 23rd as the next due date. They had charged my credit card just before 5AM EST.

[computergeek541 · Accepted solution]

I think that I read somewhere that Public doesn't actually charge your credit card until 2am eastern time, but I know that they don't remove the funds from your Public Mobile balance until well into the morning.  Ignore the supsended message as long as your phone service still works.  It is not suspended.  This is an error message that Pubic Mobile's site incorrectly shows to everyone at every renewal.  For the most part, the erroneous mesasge doesn't affect your service.  I read recently that it prevents you from purchasing an add-on, but other than that, the message doesn't do anything other than alarm people.  It's pretty shocking that Public Mobile still hasn't fixed this.

[droidlover]

Update:

The Auto-top kicked in just before 5AM. And my credit card got charged. The funds are sitting in my balance. The account is still showing as suspended though so the system hasn't applied the funds yet to the plan. I guess Public Mobile does things on a one day delay. And the whole "your account is suspended" thing is actually not true.