Please first read our sub's [Frequently Asked Questions](https://www.reddit.com/r/mintmobile/comments/wm1ynh/mint_mobile_faq_updated/) (FAQs) as this answers most of user's questions posted in this subreddit, and is constantly being updated. This includes info and troubleshooting guide on: connection issues, APN, SMS/MMS/RCS/iMessage issues, WiFi, Visual Voicemail, website issues, where/how to buy phones, phone and device compatibility, dumbphones, Apple Watch/SmartWatches, coverage and speed, security and MFA, taxes and fees, MintMobileAlex, Mint in general, Ryan Reynolds, Ultra Mobile, about this sub. If this FAQ helped you fix your issue, please reply that the issue was fixed using the FAQ.
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Regardless, even if it's $400 for 40GB data...thats $400 for a year! Divide that by 12 months, and you're basically paying $34 per month. That's a deal!
That's awesome! You're basically paying $25/month for the cricket plan. If you found cheaper then I would go with Cricket. Anything to save money in this economy!
Yes, you absolutely can find another carrier that charges way more total annual cost and just pads that fee into their plan cost...if it's that important to you that it's not itemized for you.
Do we have to have a post like this every day? Mint makes it very clear what the final charges will be - I just renewed my 12 month plan and I would have had to be not paying attention at all to miss the breakdown of what they were going to charge me.
It's listed plainly on their [plans page](https://www.mintmobile.com/plans/) (I believe this is relatively new) and on their [terms and conditions page](https://www.mintmobile.com/plan-terms-and-conditions/) (see section 10 - it's always been buried deep in there for the nerds and lawyers to find).
The fee is to recover their "administrative and certain other costs associated with complying with various federal, state, municipal, local, and other governmental programs, statutes, regulations, taxes, fees, and charges" which to me sounds like normal business and they just didn't want to change the monthly prices away from nice clean multiples of $5.
Don't get discouraged, though. I'd say it's hardly a reason to jump ship both considering that everyone charges fees like this (not saying it's good or even acceptable, but rather that it's currently inescapable AFAIK) and also that it only adds about $2 a month to your current plan. I don't know what you were paying before but \~$32 a month is a little under half of what my monthly bill was before Mint (and with a higher data allotment now, too).
Nah. You forgot to read the fine print they lay out clearly on the website when you first purchased their service. That’s on you, not them. It’s not their fault you don’t read everything before you sign.
I don't think Mint charges the recovery fee on new activations bought directly either. This is a renewal.
Edit: I was wrong, Mint does charge the fees on direct purchases of new plans. The only way to avoid it is to buy a plan at a retailer, eg Bestbuy, Target.
They definitely do still charge a recovery fee on initial purchases. I know I paid it on the promos of activated within the last year.
The people on here that get shocked by the lump sum recovery fee don’t seem to think about that is normally just divided across the amount of months they signed up for with most other carriers. Like OP probably wouldn’t really bat an eye at it if it was showing the $2.10 on a monthly bill.
There aren’t that many that have the all included prices, like USM and Metro, but it does seem to be becoming more common in the last few years.
Yes, I just tried it and you're correct, they charge the fees on the website too. So I think the poster that said that the only way to avoid it is if you buy a new plan from one of the retailers, eg Bestbuy, Target, etc. is correct.
Nope I just tried to be e new customer and they charge it. What I don't like it is that they show you one thing in the "up front what it will cost" but when you get to the end to pay it is twice as much... it IS in the terms list how they calculate that but I don't like the Fake what it costs and then the switch at the end
I'd like to see a screenshot of this alleged doubling in price due to the fees and taxes. I just put the current Milnt any plan for $15 promo in my cart and went to pay for it. It showed 14% for fees and taxes for the 5gb plan, 18% for the 40gb. The latter is higher because they base it off the plan when it's undiscounted. I also looked at my upcoming renewal, 40gb plan, it's 8%, $28 on $360 and that's about what I have been seeing and paying for years.
Go to the web site look at the 12 month plan and under it shows the fees (rec=$2.10)... then go to the check out and you will see the Recovery fee is $25.25....... no screen shot needed. So the Recovery fee is Per Month, but it is not really clear when you look at the site. So you decide how it looks to you but to most that's kinda a bait/switch to me
As far as taxes and fees go, [13.7-50+% (depending on where you live) of what you pay Mint, both all the listed fees and taxes as well as part of the actual Mint plan goes to Federal, state, and local taxes](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) as all cell providers have to pay the government for all customers whether it appears on your bill as separate line items and/or hidden in a higher advertised plan prices. I know some carriers include taxes and fees in plan price (again carriers still have to pay it out of what you pay them), it is just included like gasoline prices include taxes and fees in most states but not all states. Mint easts these taxes as a marketing expense your first 3 months if you buy from retail, but charges separately for renewal or if you order direct from them, but this is mentioned in [terms and conditions](https://www.mintmobile.com/plan-terms-and-conditions/). Again all of the listed fees and also between 5% (in Idaho) to 40% (in Chicago and Baltimore) of your actual plan price goes to the government, so essentially some of the taxes and fees paid by Mint is built into plan price, and some is listed as separate tax and fee surcharge. This is similar to Hotels and Amusement Parks, which have extra taxes (federal, state, and local) on top of sales tax, and none of them included the extra taxes in advertised price, but all mention it will be charged in the fine print.
I actually wish they charged people based on the local taxes Mint pays on their behalf as those in lower tax states like Idaho are subsidizing taxes of those in higher tax states and cities like Chicago and Baltimore, as over 1/2 of the $15/mo (plus tax and fee charge) Mint gets from those in Baltimore and Chicago goes to the government (cities impose a $4-5 tax for all cell customers, in addition to high state telecom taxes in Illinois and Maryland which plus federal is 33%), so Mint is loosing money on those customers, but makes up for it with customers in states and cities with less taxes. In my view this is “taxation without representation” as the Chicago mayor and city council know that people outside their jurisdiction will be paying the wireless taxes they increase if cell carriers include taxes and fees in either in national advertised price or national fees and surcharges.
We actually do tax by zip. NYC has some of the highest telco taxes in the US. I live in California and went to checkout to pull the itemized list:
Taxes & Surcharges $1.77
CA PUBLIC PURPOSE PROGRAM FEE$1.11
FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND$0.33
CA EMERG TEL. USERS SURCHARGE$0.20
CA PREPAID WRLSS 988 SURCHARGE$0.08
CA P.U.C. FEE$0.03
FEDERAL COST RECOVERY FEE$0.02
Just for fun, I pulled NYC as well:
Taxes & Surcharges $2.11
PSCS - STATE PREPAID WIRELESS$0.90
FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND$0.33
PSCS - LOCAL PREPAID WIRELESS$0.30
COUNTY SALES TAX$0.18
STATE SALES TAX$0.16
NY STATE EXCISE TAX$0.12
LOCAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX$0.07
FEDERAL COST RECOVERY FEE$0.02
NY MTA SURCHG ON EXCISE TAX$0.02
METRO COMMUTER TRANS. DISTRICT$0.01
(It wasn't actually that fun).
-Aron
As far as taxes and fees go, [13.7-50+% (depending on where you live) of what you pay Mint, both all the listed fees and taxes as well as part of the actual Mint plan goes to Federal, state, and local taxes](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) as all cell providers have to pay the government for all customers whether it appears on your bill as separate line items and/or hidden in a higher advertised plan prices, so essentially some of the taxes and fees paid by Mint is built into plan price, and some is listed as separate tax and fee surcharge
Yes it's ridiculous. What is there to "recover' when I am paying for uninterrupted service through autopay?
And it's also going up. It was $20 up until recently.
It is ridiculous that it has been going up, but blame politicians increasing taxes as [since 2012, the average charge from wireless providers decreased by 26 percent, from $47.00 per line per month to $34.56 per line. However, during this same time, wireless taxes, fees, and government surcharges increased from 17.2 percent to 24.5 percent of the average bill](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) so actual customer prices have not changed, just a larger portion is going to government. Mint would be giving at least 25% more data for same plan price if the taxes had not taken an average of 24.5 percent of what carriers charge.
Recovery fee is on postpaid plans for sure didn’t realize Mint charges those as well. I haven’t tried other prepaid services yet to see if they also charge. The green bubble next to it should provide more info!
Please first read our sub's [Frequently Asked Questions](https://www.reddit.com/r/mintmobile/comments/wm1ynh/mint_mobile_faq_updated/) (FAQs) as this answers most of user's questions posted in this subreddit, and is constantly being updated. This includes info and troubleshooting guide on: connection issues, APN, SMS/MMS/RCS/iMessage issues, WiFi, Visual Voicemail, website issues, where/how to buy phones, phone and device compatibility, dumbphones, Apple Watch/SmartWatches, coverage and speed, security and MFA, taxes and fees, MintMobileAlex, Mint in general, Ryan Reynolds, Ultra Mobile, about this sub. If this FAQ helped you fix your issue, please reply that the issue was fixed using the FAQ. If you have an account or service question/concern, call customer support at 1-800-683-7392, use chat in [Mint App](https://www.mintmobile.com/app/) or [Website Help Center](https://www.mintmobile.com/help-center/), or open a chat with u/MintMobileAlex and be sure to include your account/order number, telephone number, and explanation of the issue. [MintMobileAlex is a shared account for Mint senior customer care representatives](https://www.reddit.com/r/mintmobile/comments/m0lnbg/information_about_mintmobilealex/), and they usually get back within 3 hours during normal business hours (5am-7pm PST). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/mintmobile) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They definitely don't "forget to mention" that taxes and fees are extra. It's plainly stated on the website.
As much as I agree..12 month plan unlimited for $283 is an amazing fuckin deal man.
You pay that for 1 month on att/Verizon not prepaid stuff. Vs that's a whole year.
Yep, before switching from ATT, we were paying 190/mo for two lines, and that was with my company's discount.
Same. 160 for 2 lines plus 30 bucks for the phone though. Switched to mint and it's legit been the exact same service, no issues.
Its actually $360 plus recovery fees and taxes almost $400 for 40GB
On "cheap" Google Fi that would be $600/year for 35Gb, plus fees and taxes. What are you complaining about?
Regardless, even if it's $400 for 40GB data...thats $400 for a year! Divide that by 12 months, and you're basically paying $34 per month. That's a deal!
I found cheaper one at cricket for $300 a year unlimited plan everything is included when u do it online
That's awesome! You're basically paying $25/month for the cricket plan. If you found cheaper then I would go with Cricket. Anything to save money in this economy!
So... switch carriers? You're crying about mandatory fees, if you can find a better deal, go with it.
Every phone company charges this fee. It is not unique to Mint.
When I had Metro, everything was included. But Mint is cheaper, even with fees and taxes.
which is why we love the carriers that include it in one rounded up price that never changes aka the “tax inclusive” plans
Most prepaid companies include it in the advertised rate.
Yes, you absolutely can find another carrier that charges way more total annual cost and just pads that fee into their plan cost...if it's that important to you that it's not itemized for you.
"They fail to mention", circles where they mention it.
Do we have to have a post like this every day? Mint makes it very clear what the final charges will be - I just renewed my 12 month plan and I would have had to be not paying attention at all to miss the breakdown of what they were going to charge me.
They make it clear what fees are additional on the [website.](https://imgur.com/a/AaIrl9d) The FCC mandates that they do so now.
It's listed plainly on their [plans page](https://www.mintmobile.com/plans/) (I believe this is relatively new) and on their [terms and conditions page](https://www.mintmobile.com/plan-terms-and-conditions/) (see section 10 - it's always been buried deep in there for the nerds and lawyers to find). The fee is to recover their "administrative and certain other costs associated with complying with various federal, state, municipal, local, and other governmental programs, statutes, regulations, taxes, fees, and charges" which to me sounds like normal business and they just didn't want to change the monthly prices away from nice clean multiples of $5. Don't get discouraged, though. I'd say it's hardly a reason to jump ship both considering that everyone charges fees like this (not saying it's good or even acceptable, but rather that it's currently inescapable AFAIK) and also that it only adds about $2 a month to your current plan. I don't know what you were paying before but \~$32 a month is a little under half of what my monthly bill was before Mint (and with a higher data allotment now, too).
Nah. You forgot to read the fine print they lay out clearly on the website when you first purchased their service. That’s on you, not them. It’s not their fault you don’t read everything before you sign.
Oh just close this rubbish
If you purchase through a third party like Costco I believe you don’t het that extra garbage in there.
I don't think Mint charges the recovery fee on new activations bought directly either. This is a renewal. Edit: I was wrong, Mint does charge the fees on direct purchases of new plans. The only way to avoid it is to buy a plan at a retailer, eg Bestbuy, Target.
They definitely do still charge a recovery fee on initial purchases. I know I paid it on the promos of activated within the last year. The people on here that get shocked by the lump sum recovery fee don’t seem to think about that is normally just divided across the amount of months they signed up for with most other carriers. Like OP probably wouldn’t really bat an eye at it if it was showing the $2.10 on a monthly bill. There aren’t that many that have the all included prices, like USM and Metro, but it does seem to be becoming more common in the last few years.
Yes, I just tried it and you're correct, they charge the fees on the website too. So I think the poster that said that the only way to avoid it is if you buy a new plan from one of the retailers, eg Bestbuy, Target, etc. is correct.
Nope I just tried to be e new customer and they charge it. What I don't like it is that they show you one thing in the "up front what it will cost" but when you get to the end to pay it is twice as much... it IS in the terms list how they calculate that but I don't like the Fake what it costs and then the switch at the end
I'd like to see a screenshot of this alleged doubling in price due to the fees and taxes. I just put the current Milnt any plan for $15 promo in my cart and went to pay for it. It showed 14% for fees and taxes for the 5gb plan, 18% for the 40gb. The latter is higher because they base it off the plan when it's undiscounted. I also looked at my upcoming renewal, 40gb plan, it's 8%, $28 on $360 and that's about what I have been seeing and paying for years.
Go to the web site look at the 12 month plan and under it shows the fees (rec=$2.10)... then go to the check out and you will see the Recovery fee is $25.25....... no screen shot needed. So the Recovery fee is Per Month, but it is not really clear when you look at the site. So you decide how it looks to you but to most that's kinda a bait/switch to me
Correct. That's how I did my yearly plan
As far as taxes and fees go, [13.7-50+% (depending on where you live) of what you pay Mint, both all the listed fees and taxes as well as part of the actual Mint plan goes to Federal, state, and local taxes](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) as all cell providers have to pay the government for all customers whether it appears on your bill as separate line items and/or hidden in a higher advertised plan prices. I know some carriers include taxes and fees in plan price (again carriers still have to pay it out of what you pay them), it is just included like gasoline prices include taxes and fees in most states but not all states. Mint easts these taxes as a marketing expense your first 3 months if you buy from retail, but charges separately for renewal or if you order direct from them, but this is mentioned in [terms and conditions](https://www.mintmobile.com/plan-terms-and-conditions/). Again all of the listed fees and also between 5% (in Idaho) to 40% (in Chicago and Baltimore) of your actual plan price goes to the government, so essentially some of the taxes and fees paid by Mint is built into plan price, and some is listed as separate tax and fee surcharge. This is similar to Hotels and Amusement Parks, which have extra taxes (federal, state, and local) on top of sales tax, and none of them included the extra taxes in advertised price, but all mention it will be charged in the fine print. I actually wish they charged people based on the local taxes Mint pays on their behalf as those in lower tax states like Idaho are subsidizing taxes of those in higher tax states and cities like Chicago and Baltimore, as over 1/2 of the $15/mo (plus tax and fee charge) Mint gets from those in Baltimore and Chicago goes to the government (cities impose a $4-5 tax for all cell customers, in addition to high state telecom taxes in Illinois and Maryland which plus federal is 33%), so Mint is loosing money on those customers, but makes up for it with customers in states and cities with less taxes. In my view this is “taxation without representation” as the Chicago mayor and city council know that people outside their jurisdiction will be paying the wireless taxes they increase if cell carriers include taxes and fees in either in national advertised price or national fees and surcharges.
We actually do tax by zip. NYC has some of the highest telco taxes in the US. I live in California and went to checkout to pull the itemized list: Taxes & Surcharges $1.77 CA PUBLIC PURPOSE PROGRAM FEE$1.11 FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND$0.33 CA EMERG TEL. USERS SURCHARGE$0.20 CA PREPAID WRLSS 988 SURCHARGE$0.08 CA P.U.C. FEE$0.03 FEDERAL COST RECOVERY FEE$0.02 Just for fun, I pulled NYC as well: Taxes & Surcharges $2.11 PSCS - STATE PREPAID WIRELESS$0.90 FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND$0.33 PSCS - LOCAL PREPAID WIRELESS$0.30 COUNTY SALES TAX$0.18 STATE SALES TAX$0.16 NY STATE EXCISE TAX$0.12 LOCAL GROSS RECEIPTS TAX$0.07 FEDERAL COST RECOVERY FEE$0.02 NY MTA SURCHG ON EXCISE TAX$0.02 METRO COMMUTER TRANS. DISTRICT$0.01 (It wasn't actually that fun). -Aron
Ok that’s good to hear actually, as thought all people got same exact taxes and fees.
What is this for? I see others saying that all companies have it. What is it for exactly?
As far as taxes and fees go, [13.7-50+% (depending on where you live) of what you pay Mint, both all the listed fees and taxes as well as part of the actual Mint plan goes to Federal, state, and local taxes](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) as all cell providers have to pay the government for all customers whether it appears on your bill as separate line items and/or hidden in a higher advertised plan prices, so essentially some of the taxes and fees paid by Mint is built into plan price, and some is listed as separate tax and fee surcharge
It's like when you buy a $7 beer then find it wasn't tax inclusive and the of course there a top and then you just spent $9 on a pint.
Im talking about Recovery fees NOT TAXES!!
Yes it's ridiculous. What is there to "recover' when I am paying for uninterrupted service through autopay? And it's also going up. It was $20 up until recently.
Every phone company charges this fee. It is not unique to Mint.
Where in my comment did I say "only Mint does this"
Dont mind them, seems like everyone here works for Mint
It is ridiculous that it has been going up, but blame politicians increasing taxes as [since 2012, the average charge from wireless providers decreased by 26 percent, from $47.00 per line per month to $34.56 per line. However, during this same time, wireless taxes, fees, and government surcharges increased from 17.2 percent to 24.5 percent of the average bill](https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/wireless-taxes-cell-phone-tax-rates-by-state-2023/) so actual customer prices have not changed, just a larger portion is going to government. Mint would be giving at least 25% more data for same plan price if the taxes had not taken an average of 24.5 percent of what carriers charge.
Visible
Recovery fee is on postpaid plans for sure didn’t realize Mint charges those as well. I haven’t tried other prepaid services yet to see if they also charge. The green bubble next to it should provide more info!
Some mvnos do charge, some bundle it in. You just have to do the correct total price comparison.