SIM-ONLY PAY MONTHLY-only have a pre-paid c/card & no credit history-ideas on deals?

TRAVELMAN_2

Hi...can anyone advise? I'm on the electoral roll (been on since April), been in present address for 8 months....no bank a/c at the moment but simply use a pre-paid (cash-plus) mastercard for all my shopping/bills etc...no adverse credit history (in fact no credit history at all!) & no checkable previous address (been abroad, staying at friends, etc -no credit/debit cards or credit of any kind at these addresses)....Tesco mobile don't take pre-payment credit cards (called them-but no application made)....any ideas on the best sim-only pay monthly deals with my history???

Bowling_4_Gold

Couldn't you open a basic current account with someone like HSBC? Free, and allow you to set up a Direct Debit - which most phone companies give you a small discount for. Then you may be able to do a standing order from Pre-Pay Mastercard (if poss) or just put a tenner (or whatever) in a month in your local branch.

TRAVELMAN_2

Thanks bowling....will be looking into that. In the mean-time does anyone know of a sim pay monthly that would accept my circumstances NOW??

Oscar_The_Grouch

To be honest, you are better off getting yourself a credit history first. If you pick whichever network you think you would like to eventually be with and get a PAYG sim from them. Three do some good deals for "free stuff" with your top-up if you have a 3G phone. Otherwise, you could look at the O2 PAYG Simplicity Tariff.

Once you've got a credit history with a bank, you should then be able to upgrade from PAYG to Sim Only or a contract.

thatsean

You'll need a bank account - all except Virgin require you to set up a DD at the point of purchase. The risk is pretty low from the network, so long as they can find you on the electoral role, I can't imagine the bar is set that high.

TRAVELMAN_2

Thanks 'thatsean'! In the past I did not have a good credit history...(ahem!)...all settled now. I actually went into Yorkshire bank today & I hope they'll open a basic a/c for me (no passport at the mo-expired & lost driving licence!)...I have benefit letters/bills tied to this address so fingers crossed.

Did not realise a bank a/c was compulsory for monthly payment-thanks for that!

Will try & open bank a/c tomorrow/Monday & then call to try & sort out phone. Tesco looks good to me as 500 minutes for £15!!!!!!! Are any of them 'easier' than others? And do they 'report' your running of the account to a credit reference agency (the other reason I'm doing this-to build a good credit rating!)?

If I'm declined (I won't apply for loads as I know it's bad for the credit file!) I'll go for the gif-gaf deal on PAYG & try again in 6 months. I've also signed up to the cashplus (pre-paid credit card) 'creditbuilder' which improves your rating...but this takes up to a year to show on any credit file.

TRAVELMAN_2

Hello all...received a copy of my credit file today (done lots of reading up on credit files & until you ask for one if no credit applied for before the file does not exist??!!).

All clear & shows I'm on the 'rolling' electoral roll.

Will apply on Monday for the basic Yorkshire Bank a/c.

In the meantime-does anyone have anything further to add??

Does anyone know if my conduct monthly on a sim only pay monthly deal is reported to the credit file? Are there particular operators that do this & some that don't??!

Thanks again for all the help.

Oscar_The_Grouch

As far as I know, O2 report to your credit file. If you want to build up a credit history, you need credit and have to use it. Perhaps try getting a small overdraft facility on your bank account would be a good starting point. Give it a couple of months before asking the bank for it and thed dip into it once every 3 or 4 months. If you can time it right so that you go £10 overdrawn the day before a payment goes in, that's best.

davidhenson1

You will be accepted for a T-Mobile sim only if that is any good to you. When they do the check ask for around £15 per month and you will be accepted. If you do get accepted, just ask them if you would be eligible for a handset tariff and play dumb. They don't do any further checks and the system will say straight away.

I have severe bad credit and was still accepted for a sim only! oh best to call them to do it!

I would not waste your time with a basic account, you can get a standard bank account with no credit facilities even though you have no credit history. Try for a normal bank account with Barclays or Natwest they will accept you as long as you are on the electoral roll.

Good Luck

Hope this helps.

TRAVELMAN_2

Thanks Davidhenson1!

Have my THIRD appointment with yorkshire bank...passport expired, no idea where paper driving licence is....have council tax bill with full 1st name but benefit better only had initials...so had to call benefit agency to send a letter with 1st name on it!!!

Will let you all know if success with YB for bank a/c...show on electoral roll but no previous address to give....(!)..Have changed PAYG to GIFFGAFF (300 mins for £15-twice as cheap as my old o2 payg) in the meantime but will look deffo at T mobile...will update if accepted!

bubblesmoney

TRAVELMAN wrote: »

Thanks 'thatsean'! In the past I did not have a good credit history...(ahem!)...all settled now. I actually went into Yorkshire bank today & I hope they'll open a basic a/c for me (no passport at the mo-expired & lost driving licence!)...I have benefit letters/bills tied to this address so fingers crossed.

Did not realise a bank a/c was compulsory for monthly payment-thanks for that!

Will try & open bank a/c tomorrow/Monday & then call to try & sort out phone. Tesco looks good to me as 500 minutes for £15!!!!!!! Are any of them 'easier' than others? And do they 'report' your running of the account to a credit reference agency (the other reason I'm doing this-to build a good credit rating!)?

If I'm declined (I won't apply for loads as I know it's bad for the credit file!) I'll go for the gif-gaf deal on PAYG & try again in 6 months. I've also signed up to the cashplus (pre-paid credit card) 'creditbuilder' which improves your rating...but this takes up to a year to show on any credit file.

the tesco deal you quoted is actually available in store and over the phone for 10£, online it is 15£. see other recent threads over the past couple of days on this mse forum about that.

but get a bank account, get on the electoral roll, try getting a credit card and using that card and regularly paying it off on time. that way you will slowly build a decent history.

i faced problems getting credit cards or even a bank account or phone contracts when i was first in the uk many years ago. banks were refusing to give me credit cards or maestro debit cards even though had a job with good pay and was living in employer provided accomodation etc, decent bank balance many times of what credit limit i was asking for, but for some stupid reason or the other i wasnt geting a credit or maestro debit card as i didnt have a credit history and wasnt on the electoral roll. i didnt have any loans and didnt need one but the way the system works here is that it penalises people who never take loans or credit or dont use credit cards etc, so one never gets a credit history so one never is eligible for such cards. i just wanted the card to be able to buy train tickets etc online as buying in advance was cheaper rather than turning up at the station and paying by cash.

atleast i got a basic account as a start, but all i got was a crappy solo card which couldnt be used anywhere or atleast most places including national express etc didnt take them for buying tickets online or over the phone and was stuck to begging others to buy them for me and i would pay them cash. i used to be working all week days and as lived in a small town and bank was closed on the weekend so when loads of times needed cash more than my crap card would allow me from ATM, i would be stuck to borrowing from friends etc even though i had many times more in the bank but couldnt get to it.

atleast my situation was better than my friend who had loads of trouble even opening a basic account and even though had a job and residence but employer only paid by cheque (he was getting more than 6000£ a month almost a decade ago) but he didnt have an account to credit it into for a couple of months and was reduced to borrowing money for daily expenses from friends as he ran out of cash and was stuck holding onto cheques for two months salary as he was being refused an account to credit his salary cheque into. stupid system that penalises people that dont want loans or credit and just want an account to credit their salary etc. even i ultimately got credit cards etc after exhausting all options in the town i lived then and also in glasgow and then had to travel a couple of hours by train to another town while visiting a friend and only then got an account and credit card debit card etc. but that day for some bizzare reason there was no power in the bank and they were working by candle light at closing time and for reasons beyond me the lady there waived checks and did manual application and gave me an account, credit and debit card as i had a reference from another account holder who was with them and had my payslips for a few months etc. some addresses dont show up on the bank systems and you get automatically refused credit, my address (employer provided accomodation which was in existance for probably 50 years or more) just didnt show up on the banking address verification system so was being refused accounts everywhere. even though the bank employees knew the place existed as the place was a small town and the bank was probably a mile or two from my residence then.

try asking for why your account was refused. usually they dont give a specific reason, but one person did tell me that my address wasnt showing up on their system but i couldnt do much about it as that was where i lived and it was employer provided accomodation.

there is some procedure for which all the banks have signed up for and have to give you a basic account at least but they dont tell you about that option when they reject your application for a different account. so if you get rejected, ask them to give any account that you are eligible for, and ask them specifically about the account designed for people with no credit or bad credit history. i didnt know about the existance of such accounts when i was having problems. if they dont give you that basic account then say you will complain to the regulatory authorities for them violating the rules which they have signed up for.

but getting credit will be another story even if you have a bank account because of your bad credit history. i guess SIM only deals might be easier to get in that situation or monthly rolling contracts etc. dont even bother trying online with dialaphone etc. i was being refused a contract because i didnt have a 3y credit history in the uk and got a contract phone from a highstreet phone shop instead. guess shops have some discretion, dont know about the websites, but i do know some others who got contracts from dialaphone as well but they just refused to give me one for reasons beyond me. anyway their loss as i never applied for a contract through them later.

check out the option of the 'sim zero' monthly rolling contract from three mentioned on this thread. that might be an option for you to build a credit history with minimum outlay on a monthly rolling contract. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2688995