I am planning to get an iPhone this Friday, assuming I don’t have to wait in line for too long. I am going to take the opportunity to get my own cell phone service, instead of mooching off my parents’ plan.
However, it just occurred to me that cell phone companies run a credit check. I looked up my credit score a little while ago, and it was quite low - a ‘D’. I have had a credit card for about 4 years, and never missed a payment or kept a balance - but apparently the fact that I only have one credit card, and have not had it for that long, counts against me.
So, will this cause problems for me when I try to sign up for cell phone service? Or are they only looking for missed payments, and things of that nature?
Not sure what they’re looking for, but my credit is pretty poor. Some phone companies have simply turned us down, others gave us service, but not the best deals.
Hmm… - I just checked my score with the two other credit companies, and it is reasonably high on both of them. So only TransUnion thinks badly of me. I assume this will not be a problem.
Mostly they’re looking for the same thing everyone else is when you have a credit check run.
They don’t look at your bank balance, but they can see the balance on any credit cards.
Broadly speaking they’re looking for:
How much do you currently owe ?
Do you make any scheduled payments on time ?
How much debt could you get yourself in quickly? (i.e. what are the limits on your credit/store cards)
There are a couple of other things but every company has it’s own scoring method they use to assign number values to these items. And of course every company has a threshhold that moves over how many points you need to have to be considered a ‘pass’ on a credit check.
They are definitely checking to see if you have any unpaid cell phone accounts.
Those little numbers are coming up on half the reports I pull, as people jump from company to company to company, leaving a trail of unpaid bills behind.
It might mean the difference between having to put down a deposit or just waiting to get your first bill. I doubt they would flat out refuse you service, even if your credit is bad.