Well they weren’t until last summer when Bell Mobility and Rogers began reporting their accounts to Equifax.
Now, your repayment history of your cell phone account can negatively affect your ability to obtain a mortgage.
Disputes happen all the time with cell companies who are known for overbilling and other tactics designed to make an extra buck. We can pay our bills on time, but when we have been wronged and dispute the charges including deciding to withhold payment, it now can backfire on the consumer.
Unfortunately mortgage lenders do not look at ‘who’ the creditor is, nor do they consider the ‘amount’ of any payment missed. The subject of arrears is totally black and white. There is no grey. You can have an excellent repayment history, but if you have a ‘current’ R2 or R3 or worse, that can be attributed to a dispute with your cell provider, lenders may decline your mortgage application or they may approve you but at a higher rate. Either way you are penalized.
Why did the cell companies start reporting to credit bureaus? Because they know they are more likely to be paid by you when non-payment hurts your credit. Quite frankly, generally speaking, none of the telcos have customer friendly billing practices. They can be pretty ruthless and are usually the quickest creditors we see to send an account to collections, even when they know you are right.
Sending their accounts to credit bureaus effectively gives cell companies more clout or a greater ability to be paid. You see mortgage lenders require any arrears to be paid before they will advance funds.
You can have a genuine dispute for as little as fifty dollars, and it can now severely damage your credit and impair your ability to get approval for a mortgage. Silly but true.
Our advice to you if you have a dispute with your cell bill is to pay it ‘Under Protest’ in a letter to them, write to the ombudsman, to the consumer protection agency and file a complaint with the CRTC. Then you have done everything you can to win your case without having your credit damaged.
CELL PHONES AND MORTGAGES – HOW ARE THEY CONNECTED?
Well they weren’t until last summer when Bell Mobility and Rogers began reporting their accounts to Equifax.
Now, your repayment history of your cell phone account can negatively affect your ability to obtain a mortgage.
Disputes happen all the time with cell companies who are known for overbilling and other tactics designed to make an extra buck. We can pay our bills on time, but when we have been wronged and dispute the charges including deciding to withhold payment, it now can backfire on the consumer.
Unfortunately mortgage lenders do not look at ‘who’ the creditor is, nor do they consider the ‘amount’ of any payment missed. The subject of arrears is totally black and white. There is no grey. You can have an excellent repayment history, but if you have a ‘current’ R2 or R3 or worse, that can be attributed to a dispute with your cell provider, lenders may decline your mortgage application or they may approve you but at a higher rate. Either way you are penalized.
Why did the cell companies start reporting to credit bureaus? Because they know they are more likely to be paid by you when non-payment hurts your credit. Quite frankly, generally speaking, none of the telcos have customer friendly billing practices. They can be pretty ruthless and are usually the quickest creditors we see to send an account to collections, even when they know you are right.
Sending their accounts to credit bureaus effectively gives cell companies more clout or a greater ability to be paid. You see mortgage lenders require any arrears to be paid before they will advance funds.
You can have a genuine dispute for as little as fifty dollars, and it can now severely damage your credit and impair your ability to get approval for a mortgage. Silly but true.
Our advice to you if you have a dispute with your cell bill is to pay it ‘Under Protest’ in a letter to them, write to the ombudsman, to the consumer protection agency and file a complaint with the CRTC. Then you have done everything you can to win your case without having your credit damaged.