Does a mobile phone contract affect your credit score?

Making your monthly mobile payments on time can therefore help you boost your credit score. This is particularly the case for young people, who may have never held a credit card or taken out a loan and therefore may have minimal credit histories. Successfully making payments to a mobile operator can be a good foundation for their credit scores.

If you do miss a payment or make it late, your network provider will report this to the UK credit reference agencies as a default. That default will damage your credit score, and it will show up on your credit file for up to six years.

A damaged credit score may impact your eligibility for future mobile phone contracts, as well as for financial products like credit cards and mortgages. You may also face higher interest rates for credit cards, loans, and mortgages in the future.

To ensure you don’t make a mobile payment late or miss it entirely out of simple forgetfulness, set up a direct debit to your provider. 

Conversely, your credit score can affect your eligibility for a mobile phone contract. Mobile operators have less strict criteria than mortgage lenders, but they will run a credit check on you and may be reluctant to offer you a contract if you have a history of making bills late or defaulting on contracts.