Buried in yesterday’s press event for the Sprint exclusive Harman/Kardon edition HTC One (M8), Sprint quietly confirmed that shortly after the launch of the phone next month, customers who wanted to sign up for a Framily plan but did not want to run a credit check will be able to do so without any changes to the plan’s key features.
Following the release of the Harman/Kardon edition HTC One this Sunday, Sprint will roll out a no-credit-check option when signing up for a Sprint Framily Plan and purchase either a Sprint certified pre-owned device, activate an existing Sprint phone, or choose to pay full price for their new phone with no contracts and no early termination fees starting on May 19th. Sprint certified pre-owned devices will also be available in Sprint retail stores starting May 9, ahead of the no-credit check option as an additional purchase option for those new customers signing up for the Framily plan that don’t necessarily want to pay full price for a device.
This makes Sprint the second major carrier to adopt a no credit check option for its tentpole service plan following in the footsteps of T-Mobile with their no credit check variants of their Simple Choice plans, though unlike Sprint, T-Mobile does modify Simple Choice plan features for customers that don’t run a credit check, such as removing international data roaming and carrier billing to accounts for apps and additional features.
In related news, Sprint also announced additional markets for its Spark high-speed LTE service in Newark, N.J.; Oakland, CA.; Orlando, FL.; Tacoma, WA.; Waukegan, IL., and West Palm Beach, FL while announcing that the HTC One Max will be the next phone to receive Wi-Fi calling capability in the next few weeks.