Why cant i get a contract??!!

jainsy

Hi all,

Basically I'm in need of some advice.

Today I tried get a contract via the Carphone Warehouse for an iPhone (£44.05) a month contract.
They ran there checks against my name, address and bank. I was then told the checks had failed and I would be unable to get a contract via the Carphone Warehouse for 3 months.
Not sure how relevant this is.. I am 21 year old student. The week before this I had changed my address to the house I am currently occupying at Uni which I have only been in for 2 months thus I had to supply my previous home address.
I do have a credit card account but have never used it (i never received the card then told it had been cancelled, last week I found it it still existed). So I assume I have no credit history. For the contract I was using a solo card account at Natwest which does allow direct debits.
How am I ever supposed to get a contract mobile phone or somthing to give me a credit rating when I am denied such a service that uses one in the first place?

Hopefully somebody works in the industry and can tell me how this side of business is run..

Regards.

piggeh

You need to check your credit report to ensure that it's accurate. Check out the Debt Free Wannabe section for how to check it. It will cost you £2 for your Equifax report and you can get experian one for free through their trial thingy, just make sure you cancel before you end up with monthly charges on it.

There could be inaccuracies on your reports, or maybe because you do not have much of a past history of credit they decided to turn you down.

If it's the 2nd option there are various ways to improve your credit record but you should check your reports first to ensure there's no entries on there that shouldn't be on there.

Jon_01

If you gave an address where you've been for 2 months that would create one problem as you'd have no info there.

LeeSouthEast

You're unlikely to be on the electoral roll at the current address.
You won't get credit anywhere for anything without that.

WychWeird

If you're in a house that's been used for students previously then previous tenants may have had problems maintaining credit agreements which would affect the address.

jainsy

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

You're unlikely to be on the electoral roll at the current address.
You won't get credit anywhere for anything without that.

Is it worth changing my address back to my previous address and trying again as I am registered on an electoral roll their and it it is my parents house?
The only reason I changed my address was so i could order online and would get cashback.

LeeSouthEast

Worth a go, yes. Then change address after!

Littlemiss27

Did they definately say the credit check had failed?

I think that it was more than likely that it was your ID that failed. Solo cards are not accepted as ID, neither are visa electron.

I would go back and speak to the store and if it is just your ID that failed (this is normally checked before the credit check) then you may want to ask your bank to change your card to a maestro and see how you get on then.

jainsy

Littlemiss27 wrote: »

Did they definately say the credit check had failed?

I think that it was more than likely that it was your ID that failed. Solo cards are not accepted as ID, neither are visa electron.

I would go back and speak to the store and if it is just your ID that failed (this is normally checked before the credit check) then you may want to ask your bank to change your card to a maestro and see how you get on then.

I think it may have actually been ID check.
I have a credit card at home that i've never used. I'm going to get my parents to send it up and attempt to use that. Hopefully this will help me out.

Littlemiss27

The credit card should work fine but remember it does need to be registered at the address that you currently live at and you do need to know the pin.

jainsy

Littlemiss27 wrote: »

The credit card should work fine but remember it does need to be registered at the address that you currently live at and you do need to know the pin.

I will give it a go.
Unfortunately I will have to go directly to o2 now though.