Refused Sky Phone Upgrade - nothing significant on credit reports

breakingbad

Hi all. My father (70y) has just twice been refused a new contract with Sky mobile to upgrade his handset. He has been with Sky for 24 years, never missed a payment, seems to mean nothing. Sky have told him it was the credit check that led to denial and that he should contact Equifax, Experian and Cifas. 

I got him to sign up for a free trial of CheckMyFile (reminder set to cancel), which has indicated there is nothing untoward at all on any of the reports from the three credit reference agencies - on electroral register, no CCJs or defaults, no fraud markers, no missed payments etc. Shows his old Sky phone loan, which was settled a few months ago.  

I suspect the issue is perhaps a lack of credit accounts. His mortgage is settled, he has no loans etc, in fact the only active account on there is for his business broadband. He is a sole trader, and does have a Natwest business credit card, which is used regularly. Strangely this card isn't listed with any of the agencies - why would this be? 

He is tempted to try another phone provider, but I've convinced him to wait and see first what could be causing the issue.  

Any thoughts appreciated. 

dnpark38

I've only been with Sky BB for a week and because of their Customer Service, or should I say lack of CS, I regret signing up with them.

TadleyBaggie

dnpark38 said:

I've only been with Sky BB for a week and because of their Customer Service, or should I say lack of CS, I regret signing up with them.

Not sure your experience helps the OP in anyway. The lack of managed credit accounts on the OP's father's credit file is highly likely for the refusal.

dnpark38

Well trying to point out not to put much faith in Sky helping, and a new provider might well be the option.
It's sad reading about lack of customer service help and contacting in the Sky community forum.

TadleyBaggie

dnpark38 said:

Well trying to point out not to put much faith in Sky helping, and a new provider might well be the option.
It's sad reading about lack of customer service help and contacting in the Sky community forum.

The OP's father had been with Sky for 24 years, so presumably was happy with their service. Not sure what you expected the CS to say, they won't know anything about how the internal credit scoring was done, and if they did they would not be expected say anything about it as this type of information is deliberately not published to stop users "gaming" the system.

dnpark38

OP did well getting a reply, I can't for my communication to them.
(As I said see their Community forum to see I'm not alone.

prowla

Go SIM-only and get a new phone (if needed) elsewhere.

I've had ongoing issues with buying things interest-free from retailers who use Barclays, including Amazon and Apple Store.

(Ironically though I subsequently signed up for Amazon't Barclaycard, so go figure...)