Verizon offering $20 credit for those affected by the service outage - how you might be able to get $20 per LINE

Outside of Verizon store — Verizon Store. Photo: Depositphotos

Verizon experienced a very large service outage for seven hours on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. Thousands of customers had no cell service for much of the day.

Verizon is offering a $20 credit per account on the bills of customers who were affected by the outage, but the catch is that you have to redeem the credit. Perhaps the motivation is that many people will not take the steps to claim the $20 credit.

Verizon is sending texts to customers who are eligible for the $20 credit. Be very wary of texts with links, because there may also be phishing schemes going on. The text I received was legitimate, but there may be others that are not.

You might be able to get more

When you accept the offer (see below), Verizon gives you a credit of $20 per account, not line. However you might be able to get $20 per line. You need to call Verizon on the phone to get the per line credit. I did! In fact, I had already accepted the $20 per account credit and THEN when I called they offered an additional $20 per line. Meaning that I actually got $20 per line + the original $20.

When I called them at 1-833-VERIZON, I asked about the credit and the representative said it was $20 per account. Then I said “Other people called and got $20 per line. As a loyal customer why can’t I?” And then they made the offer of $20 per line, and that was in addition to the original $20 credit per account that I had already received.

I’ve verified on my bill that $100 credit (the original $20 credit for the account, plus $20 each for 4 lines) is showing up.

I can’t guarantee that you’ll receive the same offer.

Accepting the Offer

Instead, you can simply log onto your Verizon account (from the website or the app) and check for the offer.

You should see a button that says “Take Action.” Click on that. Then you should see an item for redeeming the credit. Click on that to redeem your $20 credit.

What if you don’t see the “Take Action” Button?

If you don’t see the “Take Action” button, here is a workaround: Click on “Contact us” and then “Chat With Us.” When I did that, there was a link to go to a version of the Verizon homepage that does have the “Take Action” button.

Here’s the chat screen:

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