Recently, I went to a dealer for a well known cell phone service. In “expressing myself”, I applied for service. The sales girl took down my information and then carefully related it to someone on the telephone. She took notes and then hung up the phone. The young lady politely informed me that there would be a $600 deposit. I said that I would not make this deposit and asked if everyone who asks for service is required to make this deposit. Of course, she said no. Many people get the service I was requesting with no deposit.
Here’s the rub. I asked why a deposit was being required. She said because the person on the phone said so. “Why did she say so?” “They won’t tell us.” “They have to tell me. Ask them to tell me.” “They said Experian said so.” “No, Experian is a reporting service. They don’t make decisions. They just report information. The cell phone company makes decisions.” And so on and on and on.
The bottom line is that I was denied credit and the credit grantor is refusing to say why. If I applied for a credit card, a mortgage, a car loan, or some other financing, the grantor has to provide a written reason why I was denied or treated differently than other customers.
The GQ: Does that standard apply to cell phone companies? Do they have to tell me why they are denying service or charging a deposit?
The funny thing is, my credit record is clean. I just bought a house a few weeks ago and the bank made sure that I paid off ALL bad debts, no matter how old. Everything should be cleared up.
Thanks for the help. I think I may need to “express myself” to someone in management.
I know that credit cards send you something in writing when you’re denied credit but I don’t know if cell phone company’s have to. If you want a copy of your credit report I would call Equifax. It’s an automated service so you just have to have been denied credit within the last 30 days (might be 60 days?.?), enter your Social Security number and the digits of your street address and they’ll send you a copy of your credit report. If there’s anything on there that shouldn’t be you can write letters to the creditor and the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian, and get the inaccurate information changed or removed. The phone numbers and addresses can be found on the Internet. I have the 800 number for Equifax. E-mail me if you want and I’ll send it to you so you don’t have to search the net for it.
The same thing happened to me when I was 18 and thought I would get a cell phone. I was turned down for having no credit history and told to make a deposit, or get the phone in one of my parents’ name.
The $600 is most likely a refundable deposit. In cases like a cell phone company they are looking to establish that you have a record of making payments on something (car, house, loans, credit card, etc). The deposit is to make sure that in case you don’t pay the bill, they aren’t left holding the bag.
They are not required to provide you with their service, which is on their terms in any case. I am sure that whatever forms you filled out had some sort of small print on it that explained that to you, or there was something posted on a sign in a dimly lit corner or some such.
FYI all credit inqueries that occur within (i think it’s 48 hours, but may be longer) are treated as one inquiry.
The cellular company informed you that you were denied credit based on information from a credit reporting agency and named the agency. That is the only information the cellular provider, or any credit grantor, is required to give. They must, upon request, provide that information to you in writing along with information about how to contact the credit reporting agency. Since you have been denied credit based on information supplied by Experion, you are entitled to a free copy of your Experion credit report. There are very strict regulations concerning credit reporting firms and if the cellular company (or other credit grantor) makes a habit out of dicussing your credit report with a customer they become subject to those regulations. Not to mention their exposure if they discussed your credit report with someone they thought was you, but was an imposter.
Paying off ‘bad’ debts does not instantly clean your credit record. The late pay/no pay information stays on your credit report for seven years. You didn’t reset the seven year clock by paying (it starts when the information is reported), but neither did you speed it up.
The same thing happened to me when I went to get a Cell Phone- I had very little credit history, so AT&T said I would have to make some exhorbitant deposit. I said, “No Thanks” walked over to the Verizon store and they gave a phone, no hassle, no deposit- you might want to try the same (Verizon phones are at Radio Shack, too).
I should also clarify that they didn’t deny you credit, but based on your credit history they were not willing to provide their service to you.
Recently taking out a home loan probably means that you shopped around for it, and a lot of people were probably running reports on you. It could just be that you had too many outstanding inquiries for the tastes of the authorizing agent. Too many inquiries in too short an amount of time affects the score they use, but does not neccisarily denote bad credit.
Thanks skripek. I thought that, in addition to reporting the agency used, they had to say what on that report they didn’t like – i.e. slow pays, charge offs, etc. I understand that paying off debt doesn’t erase history, but I also know that my scores are climbing into the 700’s. I was very careful to limit credit inquiries while my mortgage was being considered. The only consumer-initiated inquires are the four posted by the lender (spaced over the period of twelve months).
Thanks for your help. Like I said, I really thought they had to report in writing what was objectionable, not just who reported it. They did not refuse me service, but they did refuse service on the same terms that they offer service to others. What are my guarantees that that they don’t refuse service based on race, religion, neighborhood in which I live, occupation, etc., etc.?
I was trying to look for some more information on this, but my providers’ web site just says subject to credit approval with no other details. I don’t really think that this is some sort of slippery slope kind of situation, they just want to make sure that they are going to get paid for their service.
My guess would be to go back and act nicely to try and find out what is going on in their tiny heads, but a better
option would be to take your business elsewhere.