I have a contract phone with T-Mobile. I have paid every month with out any problems. Went into O2 to try and get a contract phone from them and they tried to get me to pay a deposit of £300 and commit to a 24 month contract. When I looked the phone was only £329.99 on pay as you go. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I think I will go to T-mobile again and see what I can get from them.

Absolutely ridiculous

Seems a bit much. I don't really like the idea of deposits for mobile phones at all really.

You clearly do not have as good a credit rating as you may think.

The truth is, your credit rating is a risk so they want some money up front off you to make sure you are not going to do a runner with a £600+ phone.

Seen in numerous times and once you have paid 4 or 5 bills, they will use the deposit to pay off your next lot of bills each month until the deposit runs out.

EDIT: Beaten to it!

I have just been on the phone to T-mobile and they are sending a new phone out to me on Wednesday. So my Xmas present is coming early.

ive never even heard of any mobile network doing this before?!

My credit rating is terrible from when I was younger.

The highest deposit I was ever asked for was £50.00 by O2.
I did not take the phone deal.

It's a good alternative to rejecting you outright. It might help repair your credit history too.

^^^ Not really needed to repair anything.. as TMUK just reissued a contract. I find it strange as i have found O2 to one of the least strict for credit checks. It does depend on which credit reference agency they use as they both have different criteria but 300 pounds is a big discrepancy to the nothing asked by TMUK....

I would check your credit history with Equifax or Experian, just to make sure a rogue account has not been shut down or someone used your identity.

Wrong, O2 and Vodafone are the strictest when it comes to a credit check, T-Mobile and Orange lean towards credit scoring based on the information you supply although they do do a search. Once you have a contract phone with T-mobile or Orange they do not re-credit check you but go by your payment history, Three uk used to accept almost anyone!

If you go through a third party such as Carphone Warehouse they conduct their own credit checks regardless what network you want to go with.

If you don't have the best credit rating try Three, T-mobile or Orange but apply directly to them for the best chance of success.

EDIT: Forgot to say that Sim only deals have a lower credit requirement and as such not as strict as those who apply for a handset deal.

That or offering you a SIM-only tariff and then re-examining your account at a later date.


Last I was aware, only O2 did deposits.
O2 and T-Mobile offer the option of taking a SIM-only contract instead.
T-Mobile's credit checks sometimes have an upper monthly limit condition attached.
The rest of the networks I think just operate a straight decline policy.

But all that's based on me trying to remember what was true 6 months ago, so it may have changed and/or simply be wrong.

I don't think that's true - O2 were my first contract network just a week after I turned 18 and I literally had no credit history at all (and they didn't want a deposit, either). While my friend in the same situation were rejected from Orange.

Since then I've only had sim-only contracts until my latest one, again, with O2, and they were happy to take me with no deposit as a poor student.

When exactly was that though?

All the networks have tightened up a bit in the past few years - customers they would once have taken a chance on they now decline or maybe ask for a deposit.
So it could be if you were applying now as an 18-year-old with no credit history that you'd be declined instead...

I'm pretty sure O2, Three and Vodafone do deposits still.

Orange don't. Can't say what t-mobile do.

January 2009 so we were well into the credit crunch.

When I telephoned T- Mobile he said I could have up to 5 new lines, so basically new contracts if I wanted. All they did was my password check and he was happy to send the new phone out to me on Wednesday. So they must be happy with my payments as i have never missed one yet.

O2 have also just been on the phone asking if I wanted to put the £300 deposit down on the phone that I wanted earlier this evening. He basically said that I would never get another contract with anyone else if I didn't pay the £300 deposit. He must have been upset because he lost a sale.

I basically told them to shove it. I said I had already been on the phone to T-Mobile and they are sending me a new phone out on Wednesday.

So what phone and what deal?

Nokia Lumia 800 300 mins, 500 texts, unlimited landline calls and 1.5GB internet with 3G and 3GB of internet with the WI-FI app on the phone. It will cost me £31.00 for 24 months with T-mobile. I get a good signal were I live.

O2 in the shop tried to charge me £36.00 for exactly the same.

Try applying with Three,

They do 500 mins, 5000 texts, unlimited internet for £24pm with a free phone
They have similar signal to t-mobile (use same masts)

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devi...27lumia%20*%27

O2 wanted £36 for 300mins and 500 texts with a Lumia 800?

I am paying that for a Lumia 800 with unlimited minutes & texts with a gig of data.

I guess that's something to do with CPW then because I'm 99.9% certain that I was never aware of Vodafone or Three taking deposits.

He is already with T-Mobile thats why they have allowed him to upgrade without doing a credit check so this means nothing - if he always paid his bills on time that's all it'll look at from an upgrade point of view.

Go to somewhere else as a brand new customer they'll do a credit check on him.

No Three do it direct. Pretty sure vodafone do it direct as well. My bro who works for Three told me they do so i'm 100% certain for Three.

I wouldnt pay the 300 deposit on a phone if the sim free one was only a little more.

I'm with 3 and I don't think they did a credit check as I applied online and next day the phone was sent out. This was back in Oct 2010 though my 24mths is nearly up.

A credit check takes less than a second for them to carry out, Three runs credit checks on all new online customers.