MYTH or FACT: A home phone line improves your credit rating?

overlandrover

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but is it true that having a home phone line significantly improves your credit rating?

My wife and I almost exclusively use our contract mobile phones to make and receive all of our calls. Most of the calls received on our landline are junk, and I resent paying line rental for this dubious privilege.

At our current home, we have two landlines:
- The first one is the landline we've had for years, and that I've advocated we can now give up.
- The second was installed and paid-for by my wife's company, as she works from home.

We are about to move house soon, and the new house currently has a single disconnected BT line.
But as it's our choice to move, my wife's company will not pay BT's £122.50 fee for connecting an additional line, so I argue that we use the existing line for her work, and forgo our own personal line.

Do we really need to go to the extravagance of our own personal phone number, just for the sake of a good credit rating? This seems a very 'last-century' attitude from banks and credit companies!

PlutoinCapricorn

A very interesting question. Before cancelling my BT Landline, I did some research as I was looking for reasons for keeping it. I don't remember credit rating coming up although it might have done, you are quite right they are way behind the times in that more and more people are ditching their landlines and this does not necessarily mean that they are irresponsible, homeless or not credit worthy.

Is your credit rating very important? I have never cared much as I prefer to save for what I want, especially as I heard that being careful and not using credit cards much gives you a bad rating!

CLAPTON

It's used by some companies to check your address

katehesk

I'm not sure if it affects your credit rating, but someone once told me it's a must to give a landline number on credit applications. I don't know the reason though.

missterryshopper

BT will connect a line for free if you take an 18 month contract and make 10 chargeable/inclusive calls a month.

iolanthe07

What do you use for internet connection, though? I thought you had to have a land line of some sort. I hate mobiles - I can phone a land line free (included in my package), but phoning a mobile costs 30p a minute. That's PAYG because I refuse to enter into a contract (read too many horror stories on here). I'm too thick to work out how to use it properly and I wish the bloody things had never been invented

BigDave81

I have lived in 3 different addresses, one rented and 2 owned and never had a land line, my wife and I both have contract mobiles which are very cheap to maintain and we have more than enough free minutes and free texts.

Due to this I never saw the point of getting a land line at more expense for no reason. I have gone through 4 mortgages with 3 different companies and we have 7 credit cards between us, have had 3 or 4 loans plus finance etc.

No problems ever arose at all and no one has ever queried not having a land line, most companies don't even ask for a land line now just 'a number we are most likely to get you on' - this would be my mobile or work number anyway.

I can't see why it would make any difference to your credit rating but this is just my opinion

Enfieldian

iolanthe07 wrote: »

What do you use for internet connection, though? I thought you had to have a land line of some sort. I hate mobiles - I can phone a land line free (included in my package), but phoning a mobile costs 30p a minute. That's PAYG because I refuse to enter into a contract (read too many horror stories on here). I'm too thick to work out how to use it properly and I wish the bloody things had never been invented

Virgin do a broadband only, no phone line required, option in some areas.

overlandrover

Good moring, guys

And thanks for the responses. Some valid points raised too:

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

Is your credit rating very important?

I'd like to think I'm a fine upstanding citizen with no points on my licence and a friend of the banks. However, once we move, I can't really foresee a need to take out more loans or special deals on credit cards, so no, it's probably not that vital.

katehesk wrote: »

...someone once told me it's a must to give a landline number on credit applications.

In that case I'll give them my work number, or perhaps even my wife's.

missterryshopper wrote: »

BT will connect a line for free if you take an 18 month contract...

Hmm, I didn't know that. Not sure if it applies for second lines, and besides I still don't want to pay the line rental.

iolanthe07 wrote: »

What do you use for internet connection, though?

One of the perks of my wife's job ;-) They pay for the single phone line for her work, but we make up the difference on the tax etc.
Besides, I think Orange have a strong 3G signal where we're moving to.

Enfieldian wrote: »

Virgin do a broadband only, no phone line required...

That's surely the way forward. However no Virgin network where we're moving to :-(

CLAPTON

am I missing something here?

as I've laready said lenders use the home telephone as a check on your address so using a work number is useless

as your wifes number is registered at your address whats the problem? they don't ask you pays for it.

PlutoinCapricorn

Iolanthe, I cancelled my BT Landline because I have a cheap PAYG moble phone and a prepaid mobile broadband dongle - I too will not consider contracts.

Many people DO need their landlines for broadband, but if you don't and don't use the landline much then in my opinion the reasons for cancelling it are better than the reasons for keeping it. Perhaps some agencies do like to phone you at home to ensure that you are who you say your are and live where you say you do, but is the cost worth it just for this? If people want to be able to contact you at any time, then a mobile phone is better You can show utility bills as proof of residence.