I'm buying an iPhone from a guy on craigslist. He's legit and is going to meet me at the AT&T store. He originally bought an iPhone on an installment plan and lost it without insurance. He had to buy a refurbished phone from AT&T and had to PAY IN FULL for it. From my understanding if I get the phone it can't get a bad IMEI for not paying because he technically owns the phone outright and owes nothing for the phone itself? (I'm aware it can be reported as lost/stolen and get a bad IMEI though). I'm going to try to have him request to have the phone unlocked from AT&T when we are there as well. My main concern here - is there any way his phone is attached to his AT&T NEXT plan? Correct me if I'm wrong but after I factory reset the phone it will no longer be attached to his NEXT plan… I believe the IMEI will stay under his name but if defaults payment on his NEXT plan (not installment) would the phone get a bad IMEI? I feel like it could only get a bad IMEI if he owed money on the phone and not due to not paying for the service. Let me know your thoughts! I plan to use the phone on Cricket by the way.
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