Pete1789

I hope I`m not repeating a question that has already been exhausted but can any one shed ANY light on mobile phone contracts. First of all I have many contracts with Orang/EE, Vodafone, O2 ( mostly many years with Orange/EE ) but over the last 2 years a dear friend has set up and paid for my mobile as a thank you for just being a friend. I am now wanting my own contract again but i'm being told in store by all phone companies that although I can prove who I am with my driving license, passport, council tax papers and so on which has always been the norm that I cannot have a contract just because I don't own a DEBIT CARD. Is this legal and correct ? I know that it is required if you are setting up online or over the phone but surely in store and in person with all you legal documents it is wrong. A debit card does not prove who you are so to me this is BS. I pay all crucial bills by direct debit without this nonsense so can any one please tell me if this is correct or illegal BS. Many thanks in advance.
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  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629
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    This certainly isn't illegal.

    Why do you not have/want a debit card? Even many basic account come with debit cards nowadays, e.g. http://www.nationwide.co.uk/products/current-accounts/flexbasic/features-and-benefits

    Why does it have to be a contract, not PAYG?
  • Call me old fashioned but I have had the same account for 38 years and don't see why I should change accounts for a card I don't need or want. I have also never had a credit card as I have always believed that if i want to buy some thing I will do so if I can afford it, if I can't I have always saved for it but i must admit they are convenient for online purchases if you see a real genuine bargain. My point is why should i be alienated because of one card that does not prove any thing, if that's the case then maybe pay as you go is the way but i've never had to have one over the many years previous. I will have to give the whole thing more thought, but I do think it's wrong and unfair !
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629
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    Pete1789 wrote: »
    Call me old fashioned
    I am not young either.
    but I have had the same account for 38 years and don't see why I should change accounts for a card I don't need or want.
    Stop complaining then that you can't get something that is available for people with debit cards only.
    Also, wise people, even old-fashioned, have at least two accounts with different banks.
    I have also never had a credit card as I have always believed that if i want to buy some thing I will do so if I can afford it, if I can't I have always saved for it
    I, like many other people, have several credit cards that offer benefits and don't cost anything and aren't used for borrowing.
    but i must admit they are convenient for online purchases if you see a real genuine bargain. My point is why should i be alienated because of one card that does not prove any thing,
    It does prove many things and is often used for this.
    if that's the case then maybe pay as you go is the way but i've never had to have one over the many years previous.
    Why - especially if you prefer to use savings? A contract with a phone is sort of a loan, and usually not a cheap one. If they were sim-only contracts, why do you keep changing them?

    Re PAYG, all providers offer 'bundles' now that are very similar to a sim-only contract, but are more flexible.
  • AndyPK
    AndyPK Posts: 4,241
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    How do you live without a debit card ?

    Time to change I think.

    p.s I don't like change either, but sometimes there are advantages
  • Pete1789
    Pete1789 Posts: 5 Forumite
    edited 28 February 2016 at 9:10PM
    I've had many phone contracts and have only been without one for 20 months and in that time i have just learnt that this is now a requirement which i think is unfair that is all. All i wanted was confirmation that what i was being told was correct and legal nothing else, now i have the correct info i thank you all for replying. I did not ask for a personal attack on my choice of living with my financial arrangements they are purely my choices, i was not moaning just searching for correct answers which i now have so again thanks for at least replying it looks like I'm going PAYG. I will be giving these cards some consideration.
  • pappa_golf
    pappa_golf Posts: 8,895
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    why not pay the deposit/first payment with a friends debit card , and then set up a direct debit from your own bank account


    the number on the debit card does not show the owners name
    Save a Rachael

    buy a share in crapita
  • grumbler
    grumbler Posts: 58,629
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    pappa_golf wrote: »
    ...the number on the debit card does not show the owners name
    AFAIK, it does show it, and even the address.

    That's why 'token' ~1p payments are often taken even if no payment is due.
  • I thought of that but Grumbler is 100% correct hence I haven't done so. Thanks for your kind reply any way. I do like your last sentence in your previous reply Grumbler as the more I look the more I like what PAYG now offers customers. As regards debit card and without boring every one with details I was the victim of some woman who had set up and got a mobile phone contract and managed to go online and changed her details to my address so I was presented with bills of her unpaid monthly charges. I went to the police and was told it was a civil matter so bye bye sir, it took 2 personal trips to the mobile phone shop with all my legal documents to prove what had happened which thankfully is now resolved. Again thanks to all for your help I feel I'm getting wiser............
  • Very true Andy, it just annoys me that I didn't need a credit or debit card to obtain my land line phone, my mortgage loan, internet provider and so on. Now if you don't have one you are singled out and penalized. Any how like I said I think I will have to obtain one and boost my credit score and open up more sensible purchasing opportunities.
  • pappa_golf
    pappa_golf Posts: 8,895
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    sorry in this day and age a debit card is more use than a hinder.


    open a basic "cashsaver" account with the coop bank ,


    you can not only take money out at a post office , you can pay money in.


    forum search the "life mobile" uswitch deal , £5 a month for 500 mins etc etc , this will be taken from your account (that you can put money in via PO)


    if you are insistent of not having a card , then go pure PAYG and buy top up vouchers , which work out at a lot more per month , by cash at a local shop
    Save a Rachael

    buy a share in crapita
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