New Phone Contract

Firsttimebuyer2021

Hi Everyone,

Im currently paying over £50 a month for my current phone with renewal being next month, however it’s needing replaced as it’s very much broken. Iv seen the iPhone 12 for £30 a month and was going to apply for it however I am scared it may affect the mortgage offer.

We don’t move into our new house until March and the mortgage is with Halifax…Am I being daft thinking about applying for the phone or can I phone Halifax and ask if this will have an impact on the mortgage offer come March? 

Thanks for any help! 

nicolanickynic

Personally, I would avoid anything which involves a hard credit check until you get your keys.  
I'm not sure where phone contracts sit within that.
As you say, may be worth calling Halifax, but personally I would just tough it out for the 4-5 months. 

Or...buy a phone now offline (if you have the funds), then reduce your contract to sim only after you complete. Sim only should be way cheaper.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@nicolanickynic

Yeah I’m thinking about just leaving it now and holding out till March! 

I have got the money to buy it without the contract but the phone is retailing for around £670, the total contract price is £720 so was only going to technically pay around £2 a month for a 100Gb sim! 

emmajones1976

Firsttimebuyer2021 said:

Hi Everyone,

Im currently paying over £50 a month for my current phone with renewal being next month, however it’s needing replaced as it’s very much broken. Iv seen the iPhone 12 for £30 a month and was going to apply for it however I am scared it may affect the mortgage offer.

We don’t move into our new house until March and the mortgage is with Halifax…Am I being daft thinking about applying for the phone or can I phone Halifax and ask if this will have an impact on the mortgage offer come March? 

Thanks for any help! 

If its with the same provider its just an upgrade on your existing one, has no impact whatsoever.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@emmajones1976 Unfortunately not the same provider, New provider is £30, Existing provider wants £46 

propertyhunter

I am house hunting and looking to buy in the next few months. I had the same conundrum last week, and decided to just leave it and not go for the better deal with another provider. It's not worth the risk of anything affecting your mortgage borrowing. 

jkrbec

propertyhunter said:

I am house hunting and looking to buy in the next few months. I had the same conundrum last week, and decided to just leave it and not go for the better deal with another provider. It's not worth the risk of anything affecting your mortgage borrowing. 

I very much doubt this would impact a mortgage before the application, surely it’s down to affordability and if you can’t get a mortgage due to a mobile phone contract then there are bigger problems, I’d be very surprised if changing providers before applying for a mortgage changed anything.

Firsttimebuyer2021

@propertyhunter @jkrbec

Spoke to the mortgage broker and they advised the new phone contract shouldn’t have an impact on the mortgage offer as a phone upgrade is a  re-occurring normal situation for most people while going through mortgage offers and completion - Still feeling a bit weary so may hold off and hope the phone lasts until March! 

propertyhunter

jkrbec said:

I very much doubt this would impact a mortgage before the application, surely it’s down to affordability and if you can’t get a mortgage due to a mobile phone contract then there are bigger problems, I’d be very surprised if changing providers before applying for a mortgage changed anything.

I suppose it makes sense - logically a bank is more likely to care about CCJs, missed payments etc. I guess I'm just overly nervous, like going through immigration in a foreign country - there's just something a bit unsettling about it even when you have nothing to hide! 

LaHostessAvecLaMostess

Firsttimebuyer2021 said:

@propertyhunter @jkrbec

Spoke to the mortgage broker and they advised the new phone contract shouldn’t have an impact on the mortgage offer as a phone upgrade is a  re-occurring normal situation for most people while going through mortgage offers and completion - Still feeling a bit weary so may hold off and hope the phone lasts until March! 

No, your broker is right.

Credit checks are categorised and this will be categorised appropriately (something like Telecommunications) so anyone checking your file will see you took out a new phone contract, not a loan or credit card.

That's not the same as applying for "pure" credit like a loan or a credit card or even finance on a sofa or a car.

Hell, some energy suppliers perform credit checks and I could only imagine the clusterfudge that would happen if people's mortgage applications were turned down because they switched energy suppliers.