Trying to buy a phone and refused, saying I have a poor credit rating which I know nothing about!?

I live in the United Kingdom and was trying to buy a mobile phone online from dialaphone. They sent me an email saying that they refuse to sell the phone package to me because i have a poor credit rating. They say that becuase of the data protection act, they cannot give any more details. Now I am worried. I have never borrowed money or defaulted on any payments. I have held a steady job for at least seven years and recieve a decent salary as a medic. I do not know how to proceed. I do not want my credit rating to be poor without me even knowing why. What should I do. Any advice will be welcome. Thank you.

Trying to buy a phone and refused, saying I have a poor credit rating which I know nothing about!?
First of all, the previous answer to this question was incorrect!





A bad credit rating is no longer fixed to an address, only to a person, so if someone else with bad debts lives / lived in your house, it won't affect you personally. This used to be the case but is no longer.





I think the key to it could be when you say you have never borrowed money. Although it sounds stupid, this can actually affect your credit rating.





a) Because the companies have no idea on how good you are at paying money back, if you haven't borrowed before.





b) Your credit score is basically a figure derived to tell lenders whether its worth lending you money or not. Its developed by lenders for lenders. If you don't borrow money, you are unlikely to give the lender much money in interest, so they aren't going to make much out of giving you credit.





I think this could be the most likely reason why you got turned down, but it could also be because of a mistake on your credit file which is holding you back.





It would be a good idea to get copies of your credit file from the 2 main agencies, Equifax and Experion. You can get a free trial from experian, and can see a detailed credit report online, you just have to cancel within 30 days.





Alternatively, you can get paper copies of your credit file for £2 from each company under the data protection act, details on their websites below.





If it is just a case of having had no credit before, get a credit card from Aqua, Vanquis or Capital One, who do special cards for new lenders. Use it sensibly for 6 months, and your credit score will start to improve.
Reply:If you have never borrowed before, your credit rating may be low simply because there is no data on it, in other words you have no credit history and therefore nothing on which the phone company can base a lending decision.





Contrary to popular belief, job %26amp; salary do not have ANY impact on your credit rating.





It might be worth checking your credit report if you are concerned. The major players are: Equifax and Experian. You can also request a statutory copy at £2. A score above 475 is considered excellent. It is a good idea to keep a check of your file in the event of ID theft.





Why don't you start with a PAYG phone and then see if they will upgrade to a contract after 6 months or so. Try Vodafone or Virgin?





Whilst I commend you for not getting into debt by borrowing heavily, why not try and build up some credit history by applying for a credit card (perhaps with a low limit so you do not build up too much debt), and then try again in 6-12 months? This can only stand you in good stead for the future when, for example, you might want to apply for a mortgage. You could also try other phone companies or apply for a contract online; just because one company has said no does not mean others will too.





Hope this helps.
Reply:The answer is in your question - 'I have never borrowed money or defaulted on any payments'.





I am a great deal older than you, have had a bank account which has never gone into the red for over 40 years, have quite sizable investments, and have never bought anything on hire purchase. Because of the vagaries of the legal system I have never been given any 'credit' for the fact that our mortgage was paid off early and am still given no 'credit' for the fact that I own my own house. My credit rating is a big fat zero!





Even my bank think it is mad, but that is the system.





I use a debit card instead of a credit card.
Reply:Orange, 02 and car phone warehouse will all give you a phone on contract with a poor credit score but they may ask you for a deposit of upto £50 first
Reply:If you've never had credit, it will give you a poor credit rating because there's no past track record to judge you on. You can check your rating with a firm called experian, but it will cost about £10.
Reply:are you renting a house or just moved into one? the credit thing is stupid in that they put in your address and if anyone before you had a bad credit rating then they wont give you credit, same thing happened to my housemate at uni.





Plus if its data about you they must have to give you the info. The data protection act is just to protect you from looking at someone elses credit rating
Reply:call them back and ask them to put that into writing. Here at least if you have something in writing then you can turn that letter in to the credit bureau and get a "free" report. You can review that report and find out what's wrong. Then rebut it or attempt to clear up what the problem is.
Reply:You can get a free copy of your credit report from the credit reference agencies...
Reply:Do you have tracfone in the UK? Cell phone company.





If so try:
Reply:I see three possible scenarios here.





1. You're lying (don't take it personally, people that don't pay their bills do it all the time)





2. You're telling the truth and you have No credit, which makes things even more difficult than with bad credit.





3. Someone else is using your credit, and taking you down.





Get a copy of your credit report, you need to first find out why they turned you down. Here in the US creditors will not discuss these reasons over the phone, or internet, it's done by snail mail.





If it turns out that you're a "ghost"(no credit rating) then do a search on building credit.





If it's identity theft, call the police.
Reply:go look at your credit to see what they are talking about
Reply:Get a debit card that takes money out of your checking account to pay for everything. Ask your bank if you could get 1 of their credit cards they have credit cards just like those credit card company's that you were turned down by. Except your bank will offer a better interest rate try this next, that is what I use.
Reply:The problem is either some company you`ve had dealings with in the past or the actual credit reference agency dial-a -phone used.You need to get out there and find out what happened fast.Many of these companies don`t care about customers.They`re only after the money they make off you.If anything happens and they refer your account to a debt recovery service,they don`t bother to withdraw their ill-advised instructions once things are sorted between you and them.And wait for this- you don`t even need to default on a payment.All they need is to learn of a change in your address and they won`t care that you continued payments after moving.They don`t care how it affects your life particularly for those like you who are financially responsible.Deal with it now.Dial-a-phone is obliged to give you the details of the credit reference agency they used and you can ask for a copy of that credit report which they are also obliged to make available to you on payment of a fee.Dial-a-phone cannot refuse to say anything.
Reply:If you have never had credit before it means your credit rating is zero but you can improve it by using a credit card or store card to establish a credit history. If you do get a credit card or store card make sure that you pay off your balance in full every month so that you do not get into debt.
Reply:In the States you could get a free credit report. But if the phone company denied you..maybe they have a copy or a reason for denying you this service.





The government should be protecting you if your credit is good. Maybe it is something on your record that the company is questioning. An unpaid bill that you forgot about?


Sometimes bill that are paid are still reported delinquent..or call you a "dead beat" or "slow payer" so check your credit report and have this taken care of..good luck
Reply:Contact experian and get your credit file sent to you. You may have "bad credit" simply because you've never had any type of credit! Bizarre as that seems!
Reply:Yeah it sucks having a crappy credit rating, but from what you've said it doesn't make any sense as to why you would have. You can check online but it might cst you - not much and it shows you exactly what is written about you, you might find that the house you're living in is dragging your rating down that's quite possible, especially if it is or used to be a student house, lots of people only staying a year with varying levels of credit :)





Then again it could just be dial-a-phone. If you ask me I wouldn't go near those types of companies, you're much much better off going on all the seperate networks websites and looking through for deals directly through them - the other companies like carphone warehouse and phones 4 u get second hand deals, where they get a certain amount of money for every customer they send to the networks. That's why they're so pushy. And dial-a-phone doesn't even have the credibility to have an actual shop, just a website run by who knows somewhere.





Good luck anyways i hope it gets sorted out :)
Reply:what you need to do first is get in touch with a credit reference agency such as equifax or experian you can find these on the internet then get a copy of your credit report then you can see where the problem is and go from their.
Reply:Credit for poor credit.