I have had a past bankrupcy over a year ago. Will I be able to pass a credit check with the major carriers? Will I have to post cash as collateral? I'm also thinking I may go to Nextel. Any help will be appreciated.
I would forget nextel they are one of the hardest and have the highest credit standards. In this situation I would consider sprint The maximum deposit that you have to pay is $125 and you get that back with 6% interest Jack
Also if you could tell me what area you live in I might be able to give you another recommendation Jack
I live in the suburbs of NYC. I should also say that I do have 2 credit cards with about a $1700 credit line in good standing. Would having the credit cards help with the credit check? I have not attempted to sign up for service either. I am looking for an alternative to prepayed phones. Verizon, ATT and Nextel cover the area fairly well.
You should not have any problems. This is considerably less painful than buying a car. When I bought my first service, I walked into Circuit City, they made a phone call to perform the credit check and 30 minutes later I had a phone. When I started Verizon service up for the first time in November of last year, I had a phone within 45 minutes. Bottom line, if you are in good standing, there will be no problem.
Voicestream has the easiest credit check to pass. There is even a company out there that guarantees approval with Voicestream. I don't know how, but I had bankruptcy about 18 months ago, and only one credit card since and they got me approved for voicestream, when I went in the store in my area they told me $500 deposit but check into it. If I am correct the website is www.sellphonez.com
I hate to disagree with the Grand Poobah (Kevin James) of WA but I think it will be considerable harder than getting approved for a car. I would be willing to bet you will require a deposit. I'm not familiar with the website of the last anoynmous poster which guarantees approval but if you go into a wireless store they will require a deposit. Once you have a bankruptcy it will follow you for quite some time. I do agree that Verizon would be easier than Cingular but there will be a deposit required to start service unless the website mentioned is for real. Tom
Tom, I hope you are joking about phones being harder to qualify for than a new car. When is the last time you walked onto a lot and had a new car in less than a half hour? Still, this would be an interesting subject for a new thread: "How difficult was it for you to start up wireless service?" I think I'll start it.... http://64.37.110.153/forums/go/messageview.cfm?catid=14&threadid=878&STARTPAGE=1 Too young to be a Poobah, Kevin
Kevin, Actually I'm not joking. Don't make the assumption that length of time is correlated with difficulty of approval. True the length of time in a car dealership buying a car is long but that isn't due to the extensive credit check. I use to be in sales and I can't tell you how many times people would buy their first car (dealership was across the street) and come in to buy a phone only to not pass the credit check. Here's why that happens. The car dealerships have an asset they can repossess, the car, but the carriers don't. How can you go and get airtime back? It is pretty well known in the industry that credit requirements are harder than it is in the auto industry. Also, since the credit check in cellular allows the user unlimited credit, therefore, someone could run up thousands of dollars in airtime, especially if they are roaming, in a given month. Although the dealership doesn't want the car back they do have that to fall back on. And yes the car's value is considerable less but they do get the car back which offsets their costs and exposure. I stick by my original statement that a deposit would be required and that it's harder to get approved for a phone than a car. Tom (Also to young to be a poobah)
The thing about a car loan too is that if your credit is not all that great then you could you still get approved for a loan but with a high interest rate.
Tom, Interesting point. But what if they had come to you before they got themselves in hock for 20+ grand in a new vehicle? Maybe the next time, I'll get the car and loan and ask for an extra 2K to put on the loan so I can buy wireless service for a few years in advance. Then I'll refi my home (again) and pay off the car. Then I'll win the lottery and pay off the house. Then I'll... Then I'll.... Heck, then I'll retire and lerk here all day. (Oh wait, I already do that.)
I had to consolidate some credit card debt about 3 yrs. ago. It did a number on my credit rating. Funny thing is, I just went through a Nextel credit check and I was approved for up to 5 lines with no deposit required. Go figure! How extensive are these credit checks?
