Rejected for phone contract - failed credit check?

haslam22

Hi, I just applied for a £28/month contract on EE but was rejected because of my credit check. I'm 19 years old, currently a student and was wondering why I was rejected?

- Have more than enough money in my accounts, have 3 bank accounts open, one student account w/overdraft and 2 basic current accounts
- Never gone into debt or owed money to anyone
- Already have another previous contract open with Vodafone that has been going on for 6 months now, no late payments
- On the electoral roll and have been at a single fixed address (prior to going to university) for 5 years +


So why would I be rejected? I am really confused. It seems like I have done nothing wrong but I can't get a new contract from them.

What can I do to improve my credit score and how long do I have to wait before applying again? This is ridiculous :S

chrisuren

I was told that EE (Formally Orange) are quite strict with who they let in, I'm not sure how true this is, but it may be worth going for another company, I hear 02 is pretty easy to get in?

It's probably because you haven't got a lot of history with credit, so rather than having a bad credit score, you simply don't have one, have you checked Experian?

forgotmyname

If your only 19 then where you lived 6 years ago wont make any difference.

You can only get credit from 18 onwards. Thats where your history starts.

You failed to mention your income... Are you working?

haslam22

forgotmyname wrote: »

If your only 19 then where you lived 6 years ago wont make any difference.

You can only get credit from 18 onwards. Thats where your history starts.

You failed to mention your income... Are you working?

I have a part-time job but I only work 10 hours a week because I'm also studying full-time at university. I'm not sure what the income would be (pretty low) but I didn't put it on my previous contract and it went through fine so I did the same this time around except got rejected :S

chrisuren wrote: »

I was told that EE (Formally Orange) are quite strict with who they let in, I'm not sure how true this is, but it may be worth going for another company, I hear 02 is pretty easy to get in?

It's probably because you haven't got a lot of history with credit, so rather than having a bad credit score, you simply don't have one, have you checked Experian?

Yeah I think you're right. It seems like it's EE that rejected me but Vodafone were fine with me. Experian shows a score of 792 which is in the "fair" zone so I don't really know what else to do.

Negative factors just say the age of my accounts is low and I have no successfully settled credit accounts so apparently I need to open some credit cards? I'm not sure if I want to manage all that

Any idea when I should re-apply with another provider? I assume I'll have to wait a while now since I just failed a check which sucks

chrisuren

Yeah, as other people have said you have a limited credit history, not so much bad credit history.

I don't think there's much of a waiting time? When I was about 18 and in a similar position (not bad credit history, limited credit history) I went to Carphone warehouse, and they told me EE (Then orange) rejected me, and he simply pinged my application to a few more suppliers and I ended up on 02.

If you want to improve your credit score/history it is recommended to get a credit card, make the minimal payments on it then pay it off every month. So if you get a luma card and the minimum payments are £5, just go for lunch on it toward the end of the month, pay it off a few days before and you'll soon get a bit more of a score.

haslam22

chrisuren wrote: »

Yeah, as other people have said you have a limited credit history, not so much bad credit history.

I don't think there's much of a waiting time? When I was about 18 and in a similar position (not bad credit history, limited credit history) I went to Carphone warehouse, and they told me EE (Then orange) rejected me, and he simply pinged my application to a few more suppliers and I ended up on 02.

If you want to improve your credit score/history it is recommended to get a credit card, make the minimal payments on it then pay it off every month. So if you get a luma card and the minimum payments are £5, just go for lunch on it toward the end of the month, pay it off a few days before and you'll soon get a bit more of a score.

Cheers. I'll contact Carphone Warehouse tomorrow and ask them if it would be possible to apply again on a different provider. Hope it works out.

chandni.j

haslam22 wrote: »

Cheers. I'll contact Carphone Warehouse tomorrow and ask them if it would be possible to apply again on a different provider. Hope it works out.

Did you get a contract in the end?