can't afford massive mobile phone bill what should I do?

kiwi_86

Ive had my T mobile contact for nearly 24 months (I'm only 2 months before it ends).

Basically I've stupidly landed myself a £259 phone bill which I simply cannot afford.

My contract technically ends on 3rd July and I do not wish to have my contract renewed after this time (which I already told T mobile).

My thoughts are to call them back explaining I can't afford to pay this phone bill upfront and to offer to pay in instalments of £40 per month over 6 months. I think this seems a pretty reasonable time scale.

With this information will they allow me to end my contract on 3rd July, so long as I continue to make the agreed payments?

Also, would there be a way of getting them to reduce the bill by any other means?

Any help gratefully received
Kiwi x

keith1950

My thoughts are to call them back explaining I can't afford to pay this phone bill upfront and to offer to pay in instalments of £40 per month over 6 months. I think this seems a pretty reasonable time scale.

It isn't like a utility bill....they rarely agree to let you pay a debt by instalments......you might have to actually fail to pay before they will consider anything but this will ruin your credit file.

My contract technically ends on 3rd July and I do not wish to have my contract renewed after this time (which I already told T mobile).

You may have told them this but it wont be acted on unless you ring to cancel 30 days before the minimum term ends.

You appear to have been in contact with them.....what was they attitude during this call/calls ?

kiwi_86

Hi Keith, thanks for your reply. I already indicated to them that I want to end the contract and they seem to be fine with this. I don't have credit anyway right now and this is the best I can afford moving forwards

Kiwi x

Silk

kiwi_86 wrote: »

Hi Keith, thanks for your reply. I already indicated to them that I want to end the contract and they seem to be fine with this. I don't have credit anyway right now and this is the best I can afford moving forwards

Kiwi x

You do have credit though in a way, because you have the phone contract.
A strike against your credit rating will last 6 years so it would hinder you in the future.
The problem you have is when you cancel the contract they will issue a final bill, which will include the £259. If you fail to pay on time they will trash your credit rating.

kiwi_86

Hi Silk my credit is bad anyway. Don't get me wrong I don't want to make it any worse which I know this will do. I ran up this phone bill due to health issues which were genuine and I at the time wasn't properly monitoring my phone bill. I've never run up a bill this big before and I'm aware of what the consequences are in the respect of credit. I appreciate your response and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kiwi x

davethorp

If you are near the end of the contract, could you not sell the handset to raise funds to pay the bill?

Depending on the handset, it probably won't get you all the way there (unless it is an iPhone which holds value fairly well) but should get you some of the way there

kiwi_86

Hi Dave great suggestion but my phone has quite a few issues when trying to make calls, it keeps muting the conversation and/ or hitting the face time button sadly which can be quite annoying. Im pretty confident these issues have been caused by a few unnamed idiots who accidentally dropped the phone across several occasions. Don't ask....
Anyway now I'm also having issues with sound when trying to use any headphones instead.
So....being a responsible seller it doesn't seem like a very sellable phone right now. I guess I could try selling it if I was to be honest about its technical problems, but then with that information how much do you think it'd sell for? I don't want to lie to anyone, but it would be good to try to sell the phone just to get any money out of it to put towards paying the phone bill. What do you reckon?

Kiwi x

kiwi_86

and Dave yes it's an iPhone 4s x

kiwi_86

In case anyone else in the same position as me reads this thread and your also looking to sell a slightly damaged phone found this great site that gives you a quote mine apparently is now only worth £60 lol but hey it's worse than a slap in the face! Sellmymobile.com

Kiwi x

mobilejunkie

I always get better prices by selling my phones on Ebay.

kiwi_86

good tip mobile junkie do u reckon £60 is a fair sale for a phone with my damage? x