Missed Phone Payments Damage Credit Rating
One third of all UK adults will receive a horrific shock when they apply for a homeowner loan, secured loan, or credit card.
One in three Britons face credit refusal because of a missed mobile phone payment, according to the consumer credit reporting agency, Checkmyfile.
They analysed the credit files of 1000 consumers, taken at random. At least 36.6 per cent of UK consumers had mobile phone accounts with missed payments. These lead to exclusion from the loan market or can result in higher interest rates, arising from the increasing practice of lenders to ‘price for risk’.
Barry Stamp, Joint Managing Director, was shocked at how many people faced credit refusal in this way. “Missed payments on mobile phone accounts are much more serious than most people realise. We find that many people are surprised to discover that their mobile phone account appears on their credit file at all. Many of our customers find they have an unblemished credit file, except for their mobile phone account, which lowers their credit score and reduces the choice of credit products available to them.”
Stamp explains, “Credit providers take a dim view of missed payments on applicant’s credit files, as this can sometimes give an early warning of over-indebtedness. Most people have a missed payment on their credit files - we are all human - but a string of missed payments - which this study has shown is typical on mobile phone accounts - could easily lead to an application for credit being refused”.
Mobile phone companies take a more hard-line approach to missed payments on competitor telecom accounts than other credit providers such as card companies. Consumers need to take responsibility for their Consumer Credit Information.