Mobile Phones With Bad Credit

I have a bad credit rating myself, and know only too well how frustrating it is to fail a credit check and be turned down for a pay monthly contract phone.

Recently, I decided to upgrade my trusty old Sony K750i on PAYG to a more pay monthly contract type. The trouble began when I went down to my local Phones4U shop and attempted to apply for a Nokia N95 on the Orange network.

The extremely cheesy and overfriendly sales assistant ran a credit check but then told me that I had been declined for acceptance. I asked him what the reason was, and he explained that he wasnt able to tell me as he didnt know himself (useless...)

He then asked if I wanted to try again on any of the other networks. Since beggars can't be choosers, I accepted and asked him to try again on Vodafone. Unsurprisingly he informed me again that I failed to pass the credit check. This time however, I was offered the contract if I could stump up a deposit of £300! Now I know that my credit rating is bad, but £300? No thanks Vodafone.

Feeling diasppointed and rejected, I went home to look on the internet to see if there were any companies online who could help. I eventually found this forum post at moneysupermarket.com which was very interesting and also the site www.badcreditmobiles.com

It seemed a lot of people who were struggling to get mobile phones with bad credit history were being accepted with T Mobile.

I'm not sure as to the reasons why, but apparently, you have a better chance of being accepted if you apply direct on their website rather than through a third party retailer. T Mobile are also said to have a lower credit score acceptance rate than other networks meaning you have more chance of being accepted with them. In addition, it is said that T Mobile rarely refuse people outright if they fail their credit checks, and will always contact you to offer an alternative package.

With nothing to lose, I went to the T Mobile site and applied for the N95 convinced I was going to get rejected. I completed the online application and a few hours later I received a call from T Mobile.

I got accepted!

Well nearly...

The woman explained to me that because of my bad credit history, T Mobile were able to offer me the N95 but with the following restrictions:

- No picture messaging, no internet browsing, no international calls

- A maximum £50 calling limit per month

I was told that these restrictions were automatically lifted after 3 months of regular bill payment. Since I hardly use picture messaging or the internet and don't travel abroad, this suited me fine. The £50 credit limit was acceptable too, since the tariff I chose had 500 free minutes and unlimited texts so there was little chance I would overspend the inclusive free minutes and texts. The best part was that I didn't need to pay a deposit. I accepted straight away and received the phone the following day. Brilliant!

As someone who has a pretty poor credit rating, I was very surprised that T Mobile could offer me a mobile phone contract. One of the reasons could be due to the ongoing credit crunch and economic downturn. It seems that a lot of companies are reassessing their business strategies in order to adapt to the decrease in sales since the credit crunch started. Being sympathetic to people with bad credit history it seems is T Mobile's solution.

If you're looking to get a mobile phones with bad credit history, I recommend you take a look at T Mobile.

Visit T Mobile

www.badcreditapproval.co.uk is a financial blog dedicated for people with bad credit history.