We offer a variety of easy ways to pay your bill each month. Most CREDO customers pay their bills online through Member Services. Once you register, you'll be able to sign in to view your balance and pay using a checking/savings account or a credit/debit card. It's quick, secure and easy. And if you use your checking or savings account, it's good for the earth too because we plant a tree every time you pay your bill online with your checking or savings account.

Don't want to worry about paying on time each month? You can sign up for our automatic payment program through Member Services as well.

Once you save a payment method in Member Services, you can also pay via our automated bill payment system over the phone or through credomobile.com/members on your smartphone. To make a payment over the phone, call 800-411-0848 and have your phone number and billing ZIP code handy.

Of course, you can always mail us a check. Look for the prepaid envelope included with your bill. Or send a check directly to:

CREDO Mobile
PO Box 7015
San Francisco, CA 94120-7015

You can increase your support for the nonprofit groups we're donating to this year by rounding up your bill payment to the nearest $1, $5, $10 or amount of your choice. You can choose to round up any individual bill, or sign up for our Automatic Round-Up program. Round-up money goes directly into the pool of funds that's distributed to the nonprofit groups at the end of the year. Your round-up donations are tax-deductible. We'll automatically send you a donation acknowledgment letter for tax purposes at the beginning of the year if your round-up donations for the previous year total more than $50.

To sign up for the Automatic Round-Up program, sign in to Member Services at right, click the bill tab then click automatic bill round-ups at the bottom of the page. Select an amount and click submit. You can cancel automatic round-ups at any time.

Yes. Just sign in to Member Services at right and click on the bill tab. Then click on Preferences & payment options on the left side of the page to enroll in paperless billing. We'll send you an email each month when your online bill is ready to view and pay.

Many states and local jurisdictions apply unique taxes and surcharges to wireless services. These taxes and surcharges are based on a variety of factors such as tax rates and your service address. You'll also see the Federal USF charge, designed to fund communication service to rural and low income areas, and other surcharges associated with providing wireless service.

We offer several methods for checking your minutes.

• Member Services: Sign in or register at right to see how much voice, text and data you've used so far for the month.
• On your basic or messaging phone: Use our new text-based Usage tool. Simply text USAGE to 27336, and we'll text you back with your current voice, text, and data usage. Sending and receiving these texts won't cost you anything.
  
  Many of our phones have a self-service feature that lets you check your usage directly from the phone. View the demo.
• On your Android™ or BlackBerry® (OS 5 or higher) smartphone: Visit the mobile version of Member Services at credomobile.com/members and click the link to log in to Member Services. Tap account usage then View.
• Over the phone: Call 800-411-0848 and select the option for detailed usage from the menu.

Calls made and received during Nights and Weekends hours, in-network calls to and from other CREDO Mobile members, and calls to CREDO customer service aren't deducted from your monthly minutes. You can also make up to 30 minutes a month in Free Speech calls to your state and federal lawmakers, the White House and the attorneys general. Minutes are deducted for every other call you make or receive, including long distance and voicemail calls.

If you exceed the minutes included in your monthly plan, overage minutes are charged at a specific per-minute rate, which varies by plan. Check your plan details for more information.

Calls to CREDO customer service are free and aren't deducted from your minutes. All other calls placed to toll-free numbers (typically beginning with 800, 866, 877 and 888) from your CREDO mobile phone are billed as airtime.

You're using data whenever you browse the web, email, send and receive multimedia messages (including picture messages), IM and use web-based apps, like Twitter and Facebook. On smartphones, you're also using data when you stream music and videos, shop for and download apps from your phone, or use maps.

Unless you have an unlimited data plan, you'll be billed for data use when you do any of the above activities. Keep in mind, you're charged each time you load a new page or open an email. You won't incur data charges when you're simply reading or scrolling through a page.

All smartphones require an unlimited data plan. For non-smartphones, domestic data use is billed on a per-megabyte (MB) basis. If you don't have a data plan, you're billed at a rate of $1.99 per MB.

We also offer limited and unlimited data plans for non-smartphones. To add a data plan to your account, sign in to Member Services, scroll down to the Phone & plan section and click Change services next to the appropriate phone.

Without a text plan, each text message you send while in the U.S. to a domestic number costs $0.20. This is also the rate for each text you receive in the U.S.—regardless of its origin. A text plan can significantly reduce these costs.

Any texts you send or receive while abroad and any texts you send to international numbers cost $0.25 each and aren't included in our text plans.

If you'd like to lower your domestic texting costs, we offer several text plans that can save you an average of 70% versus texting without a plan. To sign up, sign in to Member Services (at right), scroll down to the Phone & plan section and click Change services next to the appropriate phone.

There's no extra charge for call waiting, but you'll be billed airtime for the total time of your call.

There's no extra charge for three-way calling. You'll be billed airtime charges for both calls involved in your conversation.

More and more people are finding themselves unknowingly signed up for third-party text messaging subscriptions—a practice known as SMS cramming. Even if you aren't receiving unusual or unexpected text messages, a third-party company could still be billing you for a monthly text messaging subscription on your CREDO bill.

The best way to know if you're getting crammed is to check your bill. If you get a paper bill, you'll find third-party charges in the Downloads & Premium Services section. If you get an online bill, you'll find these charges in the Data & Downloads section of your Usage Overview tab.

Here are some common ways you could find yourself with unwanted subscriptions:

• Downloading a so-called "free" ringtone, wallpaper or screensaver
• Signing up to get texted jokes, horoscopes, IQ tests, news updates or other similar services
• Entering a sweepstakes from an unfamiliar company
• Ignoring a text from an unknown number that says "Text back STOP if you don't want to subscribe." If you don't reply, the company charges you a monthly fee.

Please note: The charges for these subscriptions will appear on your CREDO Mobile bill because we're obligated to bill for any services you're enrolled in. Unfortunately, there's no way for us to know if you or a family member intentionally signed up for such services.

To avoid getting crammed:

• Read the fine print for any text messaging services or "free" downloads before providing your phone number or texting a short code
• Avoid entering sweepstakes from unfamiliar companies
• Text "STOP" back if you're receiving unwanted text messages from a company
• Monitor your CREDO bill

Yes. You can get a mobile hotspot plan with any of the smartphones we currently offer and most smartphones we've offered over the past few years. The plan allows you to share your phone's internet connection with Wi-Fi devices like your laptop or tablet.

You'll enjoy 2GB of shared 3G and 4G data (depending on the capabilities of your phone) for $20.00 a month. Mobile hotspot usage over 2GB is billed at $10/GB.

You can sign up for Mobile Hotspot when you buy a new hotspot-capable CREDO phone. If you'd like to get a hotspot plan for your existing hotspot-capable CREDO phone, you can do so by clicking change services next to your phone on the homepage of Member Services. If hotspot is available for your phone, you'll see the option for mobile hotspot on the page.

Please be aware that when the hotspot feature on your phone is turned on, all data use on your phone and connected devices will be charged as mobile hotspot usage and subject to overage charges, so to avoid unexpected charges, always turn off the mobile hotspot feature when you're not using it. For more info and instructions on turning hotspot on and off, please visit our support pages, select your phone and click the hotspot link.

Yes. International calling is enabled for all CREDO Mobile phones unless you request to have it blocked.

We also offer an international long distance discount plan for deeply discounted rates when you call international numbers from the U.S.

If you're an existing customer, you can add our international long distance discount plan or block international calling in Member Services by clicking change services next to your phone on the homepage. You can also email your request to customer service using our Contact Us form or call customer service at 800-411-0848.

If you're signing up for CREDO Mobile, you'll select an international calling option when you place your order.

We don't charge any long distance fees for calls from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico—they're treated like domestic calls when you're in the U.S. Minutes will be deducted and overage charges may apply.

Rates to other international numbers vary based on the country you're calling and whether you have our international long distance discount plan. The discount plan offers significant savings over our standard rates. Please view our list of rates and dialing codes by country for details.

If you're an existing customer, you can sign up for the international long distance discount plan in Member Services by clicking change services next to your phone on the homepage. You can also email your request to customer service using our Contact Us form or call customer service at 800-411-0848.

If you're signing up for CREDO Mobile, you can select the international long distance discount plan when you place your order.

Prefer to block international calling? You can select that option by using the instructions above for signing up for the international long distance discount plan.

Please note: All calls made from the U.S. to international numbers are billed at the rate for the country where the phone number was issued—regardless of where the recipient is at the time of the call. Minutes will be deducted and overage charges may apply for all calls made from the U.S. Calls to Canada and the majority of the Caribbean islands can't be blocked because they're part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) and are dialed just like domestic numbers—without the international prefix (011). Calls to Canada are included in your plan, but there are long distance charges for calls to the Caribbean. These are the countries that can't be blocked: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, Sint Maarten, St. Vincent/Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos.

No. Calls you receive from international numbers are treated just like calls from domestic numbers if you're in the U.S. You won't be charged an additional rate.

Any text messages you send to an international number—regardless of where you are—are $0.25 each and are not included in our text messaging plans. All text messages you receive in the U.S. will be charged the standard domestic text messaging rate of $0.20, or deducted from your text messaging plan if applicable.

You can make and receive calls while traveling abroad in select countries (generally those in South America and Asia) with any CREDO Mobile phone. Our BlackBerry® Bold™ and BlackBerry® Tour™ smartphones are designed as global phones and support international roaming on both GSM and CDMA networks in over 228 countries around the world, meaning you can use your phone nearly anywhere you travel. See our Traveling Abroad page to find out which countries your phone will work in, specific rates and other helpful information

Please note: Before you travel with the BlackBerry Bold or BlackBerry Tour, please call customer service at 800-411-0848 to activate your phone for international use.

You'll be charged $0.25 per text message (sent or received) when using your phone outside of the U.S.

You'll be charged $0.02 per kilobyte when using your phone outside of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Data rates in Canada and Mexico are $1.99 per megabyte.

Data use can quickly add up while abroad due to email syncing, push notifications and other background activities, so we recommend turning off data whenever you're not using it.

Please note: Data services aren't available in all locations. Please see our Traveling Abroad page for more information on data availability in specific countries.