The Student Room Group

Getting a Contract at 18 with no credit-history, in your own name

How am I meant to get a phone contract at age 18 if I have no credit history and no parents to put in their name?

My phone was recently pick pocketed it had long expired its contract and was on a rolling SIM only contract. I tried the other day to get an iPhone 6 on the Vodafone network for £34 a month, however I was declined by both Vodafone and EE networks. I believe this is because I have low credit history as I have never taken anything out on finance, however I need a working phone so am unsure what to do.

I do not have parents that can put the phone in their name and would not like to put it through any friends or other relatives names as it's a two year contract and I would prefer to pay for it through my own name, which will also help to increase my credit history.

Anyone who has been through a similar situation or remembers how they got their first phone contract or likewise, it would be great to know how you did it.

Cheer Lois

EDIT BY COMMUNITY TEAM

A few suggestions out there that https://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/
are more likely than others to give you a mobile phone contract if you've been declined elsewhere.

Make sure you register to vote (if you're over 18) before you apply. Massively helps your credit rating.
(edited 5 years ago)
Hey there Lois, There is a way round this problem, and you have mentioned it briefly but im not sure if you have considered this.

To get my first contract, I put the contract in my then girlfriends name and bank account, and then instantly swapped the contract over to my name and my bank account. This seemed to work well for me, but then I have never had bad credit as far as I know.

The point being that there are less checks when it is simply a change of bank account rather than initially opening the contract.

Although as you said, you do have bad credit history, and there are some check whenever you swap the account, so I cant vouch for whether you will be successful this way.

The other option obviously, is just to buy the phone outright (getting a refurbished phone you can get pretty good deals) and then just get a sim only contract or something similar to what you used to have.

Best of Luck!
Reply 2
When you changed the billing name and account, did your credit score go up when you payed the bill?, or was it your girlfriend who received the credit increase?

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