So all you two had to do was pay taxes, and that's it? Was there a reason you two had no down, or is no down standard for a jump user?
I believe that is based on credit worthiness, unless you have not been with T-Mobile for a certain amount of time. I got my S4 in August and they told me it would be $150 down, unless I have held an account with T-Mobile for some amount of time (A year? I forget), in which case it would be $0 down.
I just Jumped to my N3 a few weeks ago and it was $0 down...which makes little sense, but, whatever.
I have great (not perfect, but up there) credit...and I've got the feeling that their bar isn't terribly high.
Then again, depending on the associate you deal with you never know how things will go down. My sister just told me how her last bill was for over $1000 because after Jumping the associate didn't credit back the original EIP balance on top of charging the entirety of her new phone balance directly to her account. I suggested going to the police as that seems like some intentionally shady business.
On the other hand my last 2 bills have not included an EIP payment at all and my device is showing $0 balance and I'm wondering if the associate perhaps screwed up completely and did the opposite of what happened to my sister. (The transaction took almost 3 hours somehow...I'm not sure he was entirely literate, even though he was a really nice guy).
I'm sure people with so-so credit walk in with no previous T-Mobile account and walk out with a $0 down N3 all the time...give it a shot. Hell, try different stores and see what you come up with.