Regardless of how expensive the contract is your credit score will prevent you from getting a contract as this is how companies determine if you can make your payments on time, even the richest person in the world can be denied credit.
Your address has very little to do with whether or not you will pass a credit check, it’s one of the many myths floating around about debt and credit – I’d personally say that this idea comes from collections agents trying to scare you into making payments, but remember that people have credit scores, not houses. That is not to say that your home has nothing to do with it, whether you rent or not can have some influence on credit, but it is by no means a deciding factor in whether-or-not to give you a mobile phone contract even if there are unpaid bills under your address.
Mobile phone companies’ base their credit check on two things; previous dealing with the company and credit check from a credit reference agency. Specifically both T-mobile and O2 base their credit check on the agency Equifax, also it may be worth noting that T-mobile are very strict when it comes to credit – credit score also does not just affect your ability to get a contract, this also sets a limit on how high you can get your mobile bills and can cut your service if they get too high, until you make a part-payment on the account to get back under that limit again. It may be worth trying with a different mobile phone company which is not so strict and perhaps one which uses a different credit reference agency, or for the time being just sticking with pay-as-you-go.
Previous dealing with the company.
I am guessing that you have not had a contract with either of these companies; however there are a few things to consider that may have left you with contracts you did not agree to. Firstly if you went via Car Phone Warehouse it may be that you went in to check out mobile contracts, they started up a registration process to see what deal you would get, and accidently started up an account in your name. This company are notorious for doing this, not just because they are useless but also because they have in-house registration systems meaning that they register your details and start up the account rather than contact the specific mobile phone company to do this, problems are common. Obviously my advice is never to go to Car Phone Warehouse for a start. Secondly there is identity fraud, someone may have used your details to open up an account for themselves in your name – dealers cannot tell you if this is the reason for refusing you a contract, only the mobile companies credit department can.
Credit rating from Equifax.
The data for this come from three sources, the electoral roll which contains details of addresses and who you live with, court records which would show debt problems such as CCJ’S, financial data such as details of bank transactions, late payments, and other problems. Chances are that because you are foreign it means the information held on you is limited, if you have had any problems with late payments this will show up as ‘black data’ where as if you’ve been a good then you will have ‘white data’ that will show prompt payments providing you’re consent. The problem is that due to the length of time you have been here there may not be enough of that ‘white data’ or if you have even had just the one late bill it may stand out more, so basically you would need to improve your credit rating by keeping up with bill payments.
Another issue is that bad credit follows you. When I worked for T-mobile in collections I always had rude customers saying they didn’t care about bad debt as they were immigrating so thought that the bad debt wouldn’t follow them – it does, such customers call back months or years later from their new home abroad shouting and screaming that they cant get a loan because of T-mobile, when actually it is because they ignored us thinking they could not pay their bills and get away with it.
I’d recommend two things;
1. Contact T-mobile and O2, both with have specific departments that you would need to contact, a dealer at a store should be able to give you that information. The credit departments are the only departments that would be able to tell you why you were refused a phone contract, whether it was just down to bad debt, a mistake during registration, or a more specific reason such as someone opening an account in your name without your knowledge. I used to work for T-mobile in registrations, in registrations during a credit check if there is an old account in your name, or with similar details such as address, a screen would pop up saying ‘collections’ if your name was in there then the account would be checked to see if it was you. If it was not you then the whole process carries on, if you are in there then you are refused straight away and the dealer is unable to tell you that this is the reason – only the credit department could tell you if this was the reason you were refused a contract. This happens more often than you might think.
2. Check your credit, most companies charge for this and although it is not much I’d recommend that instead you go to someone like Expedian http://www.experian.co.uk where they offer you free credit checks. This will show you what your credit score is, why it is as low as it is and give you tips on how to improve your credit score – this is handy because it may be that there are debts you didn’t know you had, perhaps someone has opened an account of some sort in your name, you can use a credit check to see this and contact the company the account is with to get the issue resolved. Remember too that bad debts or late payments stay on your credit score for up to six years. I’d recommend that no matter what you check out your credit file, it’s a good thing to do every few years whether you have a specific reason to check or not, sometimes you may find that there are debts on there that are not yours or that conflicts with companies have not been fully resolved – even if you take my recommendation to contact the mobile companies also do this too just to check everything is okay.
I hope that was clear, good luck in finding out what the problem is and getting a new mobile contract if you still want one – you might want to try Orange, their credit checks aren’t as strict as T-mobile or O2 and they have good offers as well as good customer service – if they refuse you too then there is something very wrong and even if you get any problems sorted out a pay-as-you-go may be better for you anyway.