Can you get a contract phone with very poor credit history?

hampshireguy

Can you get a contract phone with very poor credit history?

I'm looking to get an HTC Desire but don't want to pay / can't afford £400 to buy one and then around £20-25 a month to run it. Especially when Vodafone do it free for £25 a month contract.

Suggestions gratefully received!

pcombo

I doubt you will get accepted for a HTC Desire, You might get accepted for a Sim Only package with vodafone.

hampshireguy

Can you get a contract phone with very poor credit history?

I'm looking to get an HTC Desire but don't want to pay / can't afford £400 to buy one and then around £20-25 a month to run it. Especially when Vodafone do it free for £25 a month contract.

Suggestions gratefully received!

I_luv_cats

They will do a credit check on you, either a reseller (I.E. CPW) or the network themselves.

It may be a flat decline or asked to pay a security deposit. I think 3 mobile are easier to get a contract with if credit history not 100%.

Are you with a current mobile contract provider ?? If so stick with them as I get upgrades with o2 each time without the checks.

hampshireguy

Thanks I luv cats and no am on PAYG at the moment. The security deposit might be worth investigating.

saintscouple

Have you tried tmobile?
I too have very poor credit rating, yet tmobile accepted me for a HTC Desire for £30 a month, which gives me 600 anytime minutes, 500 texts, unlimited internet (fair useage policy), plus a flexiable booster which i chose unlimited landline calls.

If you try tmobile remember to go through a cashback site

Parva

Failing all other avenues, go get yourself an Orange San Francisco from an Orange shop, Argos or play.com (and probably others now). It's £99 and you have to buy £10 airtime on Orange but there are offers and ways to get it for less than this. Indeed play.com were doing it for £99 with the £10 airtime credit included before Xmas, not sure if that's still the case but there are other methods of getting it for less too. You can get an unlock key easily for £1.50 on Ebay.

Son bought one, unlocked it, put a GiffGaff simcard in it which for £10pm (PAYG, no contract!) gives him truly unlimited internet (no FUP whatsoever), 150 minutes of calls to landlines / mobiles (currently boosted to 250 minutes due to some seasonal good cheer or something) and unlimited text messages.

I have the Desire on a £25pm contract. The difference between my phone and his? Apart from mine having that slightly better feel with the few buttons they have (and I'm really picking faults when I say that), virtually nothing! His phone has all of the GPS functions and whatnot that mine does! His phone will run virtually anything that mine does and there's almost no difference in screen size too (3.5" his, 3.7" my Desire) and the displays look equally good. The SF even comes with a 2Gb memory card too! The only minor lacking thing is his 3MP camera against my Desire's 5MP camera and mine has an LED flash (not brilliant anyway) but he doesn't use the camera really and it's perfectly good for daylight shots anyway.

My contract gives me a whopping (lol) 500Mb per month usage, unlimited texts and 200 minutes anytime talk.His GiffGaff sim (it's 02 network) gives him truly unlimited internet, unlimited texts and 150 mins anytime talk (currently boosted to 250 minutes).

So I'm paying £25pm x 24 months (+things like 1p per sms delivery report!), he's paid £110 (can drop this to £90 - £100 if you do it right) and £10pm and his phone can do virtually everything mine can and he gets goodies like truly unlimited internet!

Do the maths.

markh999

There's a bit of a 'work around' to this, depending on quite how poor your credit history is. Sign up for a 'SIM only' plan on one of the 'cheaper' networks with less prestige e.g. T-Mob, and use it with a cheap phone for 3-6 months. At this point, call the call centre and say that you're looking for a new phone as yours is on its last legs and you were wondering what is available.

Make sure you pay off the 'SIM only' on time and in full every single month without fail and you'll get a higher internal value score. You'll also have shown yourself to be a reliable payer and you could be eligible for upgrade without credit check.

hampshireguy

Thanks for all your replies and looks like will try a Sim Only deal for a few months as have survived this long so a few more months won't hurt.

Will see what Android phone I can get and text / talk / mobile deal on it.

I'd like to stay on Vodafone as relatives have the family pack and make quite a lot of calls so worth having.

kier333

Hi,

I can tell you the best way to get a contract if you have bad credit is visit CPW, they will take you details and check you against all the main networks, phones for u also do this. I understand alot of the time you will only have to pass a cpw/p4u internal credit check rather than the full blown network check. worth a try and you will know if any network will accept you. If not then i guess you will need to look at purchasing the handset you want and maybe getting a giffgaff payg sim

Also visiting the stores with id is much better than internet sales, as you id will prove where u live where online you will need to be on electrol role etc.

chuckley

id say so yes. i find it hard to believe people with bad credit are refused. i think its more an electoral role/address fraud issue for those declined. i was amazed i got a contract this year when ive got bad credit.