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Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

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Give_Me_Credit_Please
Regular Contributor

Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Hi all, My cellphone carrier is not reporting my on time payments, how can I have them start reporting and is it important for my credit profile? Thank you.

Message 1 of 18
17 REPLIES 17
dmorey
Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

I've never heard of cell phone companies reporting payments to the credit bureaus -- with the exception that they will report collection acounts if you don't pay them.

Message 2 of 18
Give_Me_Credit_Please
Regular Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Yes, I've seen that happen! No reporting for ontime payment but report for bad payments!!?? What's up with that!

Message 3 of 18
Shogun
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Mine has never reported any payments.  I do believe they only report if it's a negative.

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Message 4 of 18
Jutz
Valued Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Like other utilities, you will only see a tradeline for a cell phone bill if it is negative.  They aren't loaning you money, and therefore your service plan isn't relevant to your credit profile.  However, if you fall delinquent and the account is charged off and/or put into collections, there will be a tradeline for that.  In this case you ARE in debt to them, and it is reported as such.

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Message 5 of 18
Give_Me_Credit_Please
Regular Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

My personal opinion is that any company that gives you a line of credit should report your good payment schedules. Even though cellphone carriers isn't physically loan you money, they still give you an open line of credit that that you can easily rack up, specially with texting and data charges. I know personally at one point, My cellphone bill was about $900, that's more than the credit limit on my Cap1 card. It would be nice to have another good credit reporting. Thanks.

Message 6 of 18
MovingForward_2012
Valued Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Yes all replies are correct. Cell phone companies won't report unless you miss a payment and don't reconcile it for months. You will possibly get a warning letter before this occurs.
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Message 7 of 18
loviedovie
Regular Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

Has anyone heard anything about services that DO report your rent/utility on time payments to the CRAs if you pay via their service?

 

I read an article on some finance site the other day about a service called RentReporters that, for a processing fee like 8 bucks a month or so, would charge your rent via a credit card or your debit account and cut the check for you to your landlord. Then they would report to all 3 bureaus as a means of establishing 'alternative credit.' The article mentioned some other service that does this for utilities as well. 

 

Do any of these work? I was hesitant to jump on board because I was a bit skeptical that CRAs would factor this into the score, and there is no sense paying a fee for what might not work...

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Message 8 of 18
fishbjc
Senior Contributor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?

It costs money to report, and everyone is cutting corners these days. 

 

The utilities don't report either.....unless you are off to collections.

 

 

Message 9 of 18
pizzadude
Credit Mentor

Re: Cellphone company is not reporting!! Is it important?


@loviedovie wrote:

Has anyone heard anything about services that DO report your rent/utility on time payments to the CRAs if you pay via their service?

 

I read an article on some finance site the other day about a service called RentReporters that, for a processing fee like 8 bucks a month or so, would charge your rent via a credit card or your debit account and cut the check for you to your landlord. Then they would report to all 3 bureaus as a means of establishing 'alternative credit.' The article mentioned some other service that does this for utilities as well. 

 

Do any of these work? I was hesitant to jump on board because I was a bit skeptical that CRAs would factor this into the score, and there is no sense paying a fee for what might not work...


FICO scoring ignores rental tradelines, however many FAKO scores would likely include them.

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Message 10 of 18
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