Bill Phone Credit Checks

Newaglish

Does anyone know how these work? I've been refused by both Vodafone and 3 when I've tried to buy a billphone from them, on the basis of my credit check.

I haven't missed any payments on any of my loans, utility bills or otherwise, ever, so I was a bit surprised that this happened. I got a copy of my credit report from the ICB which (strangely enough) was returned with "No Data Found". It turns out that the loan I have with AIB, for whatever reason, hasn't been registered with the ICB properly. From talking to the ICB however, they told me that utility companies are not ICB members and would not be able to check my credit history. I was also told that the ICB don't know how mobile phone companies do their credit checks.

All I get from 3 and Vodafone is "Computer Says No" and it's really frustrating. I'm more than capable of paying a €60 per month phone contract!

Abelloid

Did you write to 3 and Vodafone? I'm curious too as I'm now being asked for a €100 deposit from Meteor, which I've never had an issue with before.

Walkman

OP go into a 3Store and ask them for their leaflet on how to appeal the decision. If the decision is not reversed you'll get an explanation to what the problem is

flipall

JustinOval wrote: »

Did you write to 3 and Vodafone? I'm curious too as I'm now being asked for a €100 deposit from Meteor, which I've never had an issue with before.

Meteor are known for deposits so thats no shock!

drunkmonkey

Have you been refused or asked for a deposit?

Things like, age, price plan, residential status, moving a number can all influence it.

Are you in rented house?

A straight out no is pretty rare and there's usually something behind it.

Bob the Builder

Have you a name or address that sounds like/is the same as other high risk people?
Are you sure your account allows direct debits?


Also, what type of phone your getting strongly influences your decision. A high end smart phone on a high end priceplan has a high chance of being turned down.

Newaglish

To give a little background to what happened with 3:

On the Tuesday, I went to the 3 store on Grafton Street to buy an iPhone on an 18 month contract. After waiting 25 minutes for a credit check, I was told I could proceed with my order, however that it would take a further 20 minutes to complete the transaction and I would have to pay a €200 deposit (I was fine with this). Given that I was on my lunch break however, I couldn't wait another twenty minutes for someone to do what I figured was a fairly simple transaction so I left.

On the Wednesday morning I decided to order the phone online, to save having to wait another hour in the shop. I got a call in the afternoon looking for proof of address, which I had and was happy to provide. Unfortunately, my credit card's billing address is not my home address (it's the address of my family home) and I don't have proofs of address for that location (I'm on eStatements and I've lost my code card). I tried to explain this to the call centre agent who seemed to be completely unable to understand how this could be possible, and told me that if I didn't live at my billing address they wouldn't be able to process the transaction. I tried to explain that I had numerous bills and statements for the address that I actually lived at, but no joy.

On the Wednesday evening, I went back to the 3 Store on Grafton Street. As I was finished work for the day, I figured I'd be able to wait the unbelievably long time that it appears to take to sign a contract. After the lengthy credit check, I was then informed that my application was now "declined". Knowing that I was approved the previous day, the shop assistant (who I had also dealt with the previous day) explained that the internet order was still active and that was why my application was being denied. I spent quite some time on hold with the 3 call centre trying to cancel the internet order, which at first couldn't be found, and then I was told that I couldn't cancel the order and would have to refuse delivery from the postal service when the package arrived (???), despite the fact that I had already been informed that they would not supply the phone to me as I didn't live at the billing address of my credit card. I tried to explain that if they were actually going to deliver the phone to me, I wouldn't be having this problem!

In order to try to purchase the phone in-store, I finally managed to convince a supervisor in the call centre to cancel my internet order. However, my applicaton continued to be "declined" for some reason.

I got an e-mail on the Wednesday evening after I got home from spending an hour in the 3 store (and not getting a phone) telling me I had been refused by the credit referrals team. I figure that someone basically changed my credit status from "Deposit" to "Declined" as a workaround to cancel my order.

Now, however, I suspect that whatever system is used by 3, is also used by Vodafone and 3 have ended up putting some sort of black mark on my rating which means I basically can never buy a bill phone.

I'm living in rented accomodation (same premises for last 18 months), I have direct debits for all of my utility bills on this account, I earn in excess of €40k per annum, permanent professional position for the last 4 years, early 20s. Surely I'm not the first young person to try buy an iPhone?!

globemaster1986

OP, have you changed your bank recently? I know this can sometimes have an adverse effect. The credit check is done from all the information you provide. eg Occupation, residence status, time with your bank etc.

drunkmonkey

It probably looks like fraud to them, approved application in store, another one pending on the internet you can't provide a proof of address for.

You should have just finished what you were doing with the store, If you go back to the store, they should be able to sort it out some way, take your id & proof of address again.

Your age is probably the reason Voda declined you and 3 asked for a deposit.

It's trying to buy 2 iphones where it all went wrong.

Walkman

3 and Vodafone do not use the same credit checking system. All operators check using their own systems. As Drunkmonkey said your second time in the store would appear as a third application so it'd be declined. For an on line application it doesn't matter what you say you need to provide what they ask for with the address on the application, this is to prevent fraud.

Newaglish

drunkmonkey wrote: »

It probably looks like fraud to them, approved application in store, another one pending on the internet you can't provide a proof of address for.

You should have just finished what you were doing with the store, If you go back to the store, they should be able to sort it out some way, take your id & proof of address again.

Cheers - I actually went back to the store and they told me they won't be able to process an order for me though admitted that it's a problem with their system. And the call centre for the online orders just said they can't discuss the result of my credit referral.

I'm going to try a written appeal to 3 but it's pretty annoying as their customer service is so bad that I'm not sure I want to have a contract with them. Vodafone also won't discuss anything with me (they're actually still pretty vague as to whether it was a credit issue at all - just told me I was declined "based on the information I had provided in the form" and advised me to try changing it (???)), but they wouldn't tell me what to change or how.

Also, I'm not sure how my age would affect it? I'm not the first person in their early 20s in this country to try buy an iPhone!

globemaster1986

Newaglish wrote: »

Cheers - I actually went back to the store and they told me they won't be able to process an order for me though admitted that it's a problem with their system. And the call centre for the online orders just said they can't discuss the result of my credit referral.

I'm going to try a written appeal to 3 but it's pretty annoying as their customer service is so bad that I'm not sure I want to have a contract with them. Vodafone also won't discuss anything with me (they're actually still pretty vague as to whether it was a credit issue at all - just told me I was declined "based on the information I had provided in the form" and advised me to try changing it (???)), but they wouldn't tell me what to change or how.

Also, I'm not sure how my age would affect it? I'm not the first person in their early 20s in this country to try buy an iPhone!

In fairness they probably can't tell you what to change as they don't know. Why not try O2, they have iPhones too?

Newaglish

globemaster1986 wrote: »

In fairness they probably can't tell you what to change as they don't know. Why not try O2, they have iPhones too?

I might do as a last resort - but their plans are crap!