Internetb whilst owing BT money??

Matt2404

Hello everyone. I have a question which I would like some advice on please.

I had an account with BT for broadband and phone about 18 Months ago. Basically due to personal issues (Relationship breakdown and job loss) I cancelled my direct debit which resulted in my account being passed to a debt recovery agency. Silly I know, but at the time I had no income and did what I thought was right. Anyway, I am paying this bebt of £350 off Monthly and have recently got a full time job.

What I want to do is to get broadband again but with talktalk, plusnet etc. Which I understand comes down a BT line. Am I able to do this whilst still owing BT the £350 or will this debt have to be fully paid before hand? I realise I will need to pay another provider for the line rental etc, but Im not sure if BT will stop me using their lines whilst I owe them money. Unfortunately virgin cable is not an option as I am not in a cable area and ive being using a dongle to connect for the past 18 Months which is costing me a fortune!!

Any solutions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks....

macman

If you take your line rental from TT or PN (or anyone else) then you have no contract with BT, so they won't credit check you. BT are simply selling the wholesale line to the provider. But if you have missed payments on your credit file then of course any provider may decline to accept you.
So it's a general issue, not specific to BT.

bod1467

I would argue that if you are engaging into a credit-based contract (which is what pretty much any minimum-term pay-monthly contract is), then the supplying company is likely to do a credit check.

macman

I'm not quite sure what you are sayng there? BT are the wholesale supplying provider, but they still get paid by TT or PN if the customer defaults-they're effectively just a sub-contractor. In such a system, there is no contract between BT OR and the OP.
And in any case, the OP's debt is with BTR, a separate company.

bod1467

If said debt appears on the OP's credit file then it doesn't matter who the debt is with, nor who the new ISP will be - if they do a credit check they'll see the default.

If it does NOT appear on the credit file then all and well.

macman

I agree. But the OP was asking specifically if BT would somehow prevent them from being connected, which is obviously not the case.