# What are cell phone companies looking for when they do a credit check? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469 "2007-06-26T14:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/1 "2007-06-26T14:13:15Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/2 "2007-06-26T14:24:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/3 "2007-06-26T14:24:58Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/4 "2007-06-26T14:46:01Z")
If you’ve never missed a payment, you should be fine; they’re mostly looking to be sure you’ll pay your monthly bill on time. ---
**Author:** ![essell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@essell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/essell)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/5 "2007-06-26T15:10:28Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/6 "2007-06-26T15:16:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-cell-phone-companies-looking-for-when-they-do-a-credit-check/409469/7 "2007-06-26T15:17:37Z")
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.