Good morning. まさきん here.
The other day, I was looking through my budgeting app and noticed something. My phone bill was higher than I’d expected.
When I looked into why, my contract itself hadn’t really changed. But there were still a few installment payments left on my device.
That’s what’s known as the “remaining balance.” Today I want to sort out how this remaining balance works and how it affects your monthly costs.
What is the “remaining balance”?
The remaining balance is the portion of your smartphone’s installment payments that you haven’t finished paying off yet. Most people buy their device on a 24- or 48-month installment plan.
Your monthly phone bill actually bundles your rate plan fee and your device payment together. I suspect fewer people than you’d think actually look at the two separately.
I myself had assumed my “phone bill” was just the plan fee. But when I actually looked closely at the statement, the installment payment was right there too.
So if your monthly bill feels high, I’d suggest checking this first. Even if you switch to a cheaper plan, the remaining balance stays exactly where it is.
Where can I check my own remaining balance?
You can check your remaining balance on each carrier’s online account page. docomo, au, SoftBank, and Rakuten Mobile all list a remaining balance line item on their contract details page.
I think these three items are enough to check:
- The total remaining balance — how many yen are left to pay
- The number of payments left — how many more installments until it’s paid off
- Whether any discount or rebate is tied to the installment plan
In my case, I had no idea what my remaining balance even was until I opened my account page. It only takes a few minutes to check, so I think it’s worth taking a look at least once.
The benefits and caveats of paying it off in one lump sum
Once you know your remaining balance, the next thing to consider is paying it off in one lump sum — settling what’s left all at once so the device payment disappears from your future monthly bills.
The benefit is easy to see. Starting the next month, your bill is just the plan fee. Your phone bill suddenly looks a lot lower.
That said, there’s a caveat worth checking first. Some installment plans come with a discount like an “effectively free” deal, or a point rebate that gets forfeited if you cancel partway through.
These kinds of perks often require you to keep paying until you reach a set number of installments. If you pay off the balance in one go, you can end up losing the perk itself.
So before paying off the balance in one lump sum, it’s worth checking whether any conditions are attached to that installment plan. If there’s no issue, I’d say the benefit of paying it off outweighs the downside.
That said, if you’re planning to switch to another carrier anyway, the calculation changes. The remaining balance usually gets settled at the time of switching regardless, so there’s no harm in paying it off early. If you want to know what the process actually looks like from application to activation, this article walking through the switching steps should help too.
Reviewing your remaining balance is also a good moment to look back at how much data you use each month. It’s worth checking how many GB you’re actually using while you’re at it.
In my case, I was staying within about 7GB a month. That happened to line up pretty well with my current plan’s data allowance, so I held off on downsizing it for now. Unlike settling the remaining balance, adjusting your plan’s data allowance isn’t something you need to rush.
Let’s run the numbers with an example
Numbers make this easier to picture, so let me put together a simple example. This is a hypothetical setup purely for illustration.
Say you have 10 payments left out of a 48-month installment plan, with a remaining balance of 30,000 yen. Your monthly breakdown works out to a 4,000 yen plan fee plus a 3,000 yen device installment.
In this case, your monthly bill totals 7,000 yen. If you pay off the 30,000 yen balance in one lump sum, the 3,000 yen device installment disappears starting the next month.
As a result, your monthly bill drops to roughly the 4,000 yen plan fee. You’re out 30,000 yen upfront, but your household finances get noticeably lighter afterward.
Of course, the actual figures will vary depending on your contract. But the basic idea here — pay a lump sum up front to bring down your monthly bill — should apply in a lot of cases.
Looked at as a total, paying it off in one lump sum barely changes the overall amount you pay. It’s really just the difference between paying 3,000 yen ten times or 30,000 yen once. Still, it makes a big difference in how your budget looks, and how much pressure you feel on your account balance each month.
Personally, I’ve found it easier to keep track of my household finances since paying off my own remaining balance. Even though the total is identical on paper, it feels noticeably lighter in practice.
Once you understand how the remaining balance works, you gain one more lever for lowering your monthly phone bill. While I’m at it, I think I’ll take another look at my own contract too.
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Thinking of it as part of a bigger fixed-cost review
Checking your remaining balance feels like a waste if you treat it as a one-off task. Personally, I think it’s better to treat it as a trigger for reviewing your fixed costs as a whole.
Device installment payments are a cost that keeps accruing automatically for as long as your contract lasts. It’s easy to keep paying for years without ever noticing it’s there.
When it comes to getting your household finances in better shape, isn’t it important to bring down your recurring monthly costs one at a time? I think the remaining balance is one of those costs.
Once you start reviewing your fixed costs this way, a simple contract with no installment device starts to look appealing. With a contract that’s just the plan fee, you don’t have to think about the concept of a remaining balance at all.
These days, my household has settled on a single Rakuten Mobile line with no device installment attached. Our monthly bill is simpler now, and it’s easier to see where our household finances stand.
Wrap-up
If your monthly phone bill feels high, check not just your plan fee but also the remaining balance on your device. You can find the amount in just a few minutes from your account page.
Paying it off in one lump sum makes your bill noticeably lighter starting the next month. Just make sure to check ahead of time whether any discount or rebate conditions are tied to it.
Once you understand this one concept — the remaining balance — the way you see your phone bill might change. If it sounds useful, take this chance to do a checkup on your own contract too.
Clicking this opens the Rakuten login page. Once you log in, you’ll see the campaign details.
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