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Post by Wise Old Goat on Jul 23, 2019 16:08:41 GMT -5
In the 5 years in between dh getting a cell phone and me buying ds a cell phone the other day it would appear most major cell phone companies in Canada introduced credit checks for non prepaid plans. Does this seem legit to you?
I have a lot of utilities and I've never had a credit check run on me for my cable bill, etc. Yet to get a cheesy $25/month plan we had to have a hard credit check done. I started getting the phone in my name but because I don't have a driver's license they asked for my Social Insurance Number and I'm sorry I'm not giving that information out online to a cell phone company - so I put the phone in dh's name.
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mare
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Posts: 2,517
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Post by mare on Jul 23, 2019 16:35:02 GMT -5
In the 5 years in between dh getting a cell phone and me buying ds a cell phone the other day it would appear most major cell phone companies in Canada introduced credit checks for non prepaid plans. Does this seem legit to you?
I have a lot of utilities and I've never had a credit check run on me for my cable bill, etc. Yet to get a cheesy $25/month plan we had to have a hard credit check done. I started getting the phone in my name but because I don't have a driver's license they asked for my Social Insurance Number and I'm sorry I'm not giving that information out online to a cell phone company - so I put the phone in dh's name.
That's standard for a plan here. The non prepaid ones. |
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Post by mimi on Jul 23, 2019 16:54:35 GMT -5
Yes, it’s pretty standard here too. A lot of the time people get a subsidized phone with their post-paid plan. If a customer signs up for a 2 yr postpaid plan and gets a subsidized phone with it and doesn’t pay, the cell phone company is out the money for the phone as well as the money for the service. (I sit near the Accounts Receivable Management group at work so I often hear how much money can be lost through fraud when those credit checks aren’t done.)
With prepaid plans, they have to buy the phone up front so the credit risk isn’t as high.
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Post by nansel on Jul 23, 2019 18:57:28 GMT -5
My dd has sold phones for Bell (Virgin) and Telus, so I just asked her. Yes, everyone has to do one, no matter the size of the monthly payment. Lots of people get denied. And then freak out on the salesperson.
Dd set dh and I up about six months ago with Virgin. I wasn't really paying attention apparently, because I had to ask tonight, and she tells me that yes, she ran a check on us, too. Guess we were good!  |
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Post by kimbelina on Jul 23, 2019 22:53:09 GMT -5
We had to have a credit check back in the stone ages when we got our bag phone It wasn't good so we had to put a big deposit down. |
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Post by villanelle on Jul 24, 2019 9:14:11 GMT -5
I think they do it in the US only if you finance a phone, since you are essentially borrowing money if you do that.
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Post by niccikatie on Jul 24, 2019 12:57:56 GMT -5
Standard here for non-prepaid, too. DH was approved for up to 15 lines - I thought that was hilarious!
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stl
Full Member
Posts: 633
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Post by stl on Jul 24, 2019 13:20:03 GMT -5
We've had cell service through at&t for years but I think they did do a credit check when we first signed up with them. We used to get our phones through them but not anymore.
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Post by Wise Old Goat on Jul 24, 2019 15:28:55 GMT -5
It just seemed so hard core to me - we're bringing our own phone so to speak so that's not an issue. Dh just called me in all in a tizzy - apparently the provider called him for more info and he doesn't want to talk to them . The weird thing is that I gave them our home number so I'm not sure how they got his cell number??? I have no idea why they're calling - I set it up online to save the $35 registration fee but it might have been worth it to do it in person |
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Post by Peanut on Jul 25, 2019 4:20:53 GMT -5
Aren't they the company with whom you have the cell phone?
(I'm confused. It's early!)
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Post by Wise Old Goat on Jul 25, 2019 16:13:45 GMT -5
Aren't they the company with whom you have the cell phone? (I'm confused. It's early!) Sorry - dh has a cell phone with a different carrier but we figured out how they got his cell number. A few years ago he had his car broken into and his wallet stolen - he filed a report with the credit bureau and they put a thing on his file that said he had to be called at that number any time someone tried to take out anything in his name. We didn't realize it applied to cell phones . Mystery solved!
I will now be the only person in my house without a phone  |
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Post by TapToTalk on Aug 3, 2019 14:18:13 GMT -5
All the utilities do a credit check on new customers. Cellular service providers are like utilities. Never saw it done differently, except pre-paid.
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Post by Wise Old Goat on Aug 4, 2019 9:18:48 GMT -5
All the utilities do a credit check on new customers. Cellular service providers are like utilities. Never saw it done differently, except pre-paid. I haven't gotten new utilities in over 20 years . Dh got his cell phone 5 years ago and I don't recall a credit check being done at that time. But maybe it was?? |
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Post by Inky on Aug 5, 2019 19:57:43 GMT -5
Aren't they the company with whom you have the cell phone? (I'm confused. It's early!) Sorry - dh has a cell phone with a different carrier but we figured out how they got his cell number. A few years ago he had his car broken into and his wallet stolen - he filed a report with the credit bureau and they put a thing on his file that said he had to be called at that number any time someone tried to take out anything in his name. We didn't realize it applied to cell phones . Mystery solved!
I will now be the only person in my house without a phone Why not do what we did? We bought a phone (the dreaded flip-phone-of-shame) that officially marks you as an old person. Cost around $50 then we buy $100 worth of text and talk which lasts us a year. That's less than $10 a month. (We really like our flip phone) |
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Post by Wise Old Goat on Aug 6, 2019 14:29:17 GMT -5
I don't need a cell phone . I barely receive enough calls to warrant a home phone although this phone plan is like half the cost of our landline through Bell |
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Post by Inky on Aug 6, 2019 20:34:13 GMT -5
Did you know that Bell has a cheap landline plan? Our daughter called and got it for $25 a month. No long distance plan (so it's expensive if they use it), no call display, call answer etc. But you have to call and pretend that you are going to cancel the service - THEN and only then, they offer it to you.
DH tried the same thing - he'd never had a Bell phone landline, but he managed to get them to give him the same $25 a month phone plan. (He wanted it for the kids, and for when they had babysitters in the house).
If you are paying over $40 a month for a landline you seldom use it's worth a try.
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Post by Wise Old Goat on Aug 7, 2019 14:12:16 GMT -5
I should try that. I currently have none of those features. I literally pay $50 a month for local calls. If I need to make a long distance call which is super rare - I use dh's cell phone.
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Post by Inky on Aug 8, 2019 10:28:20 GMT -5
I should try that. I currently have none of those features. I literally pay $50 a month for local calls. If I need to make a long distance call which is super rare - I use dh's cell phone. Definately give it a try. Just tell them you are switching to another carrier unless they can give you a better deal. You can tell them you're aware that others have been offered this deal. |
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Post by Tpatt100 on Aug 8, 2019 18:02:37 GMT -5
We got rid of our land line years ago and I got a voip box, connected our base unit for the wireless phones and registered for a number through Google Voice. We only pay $9 a year for enhanced 911 so that if we call 911 our information is relayed to 911 properly
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Post by Inky on Aug 9, 2019 14:18:13 GMT -5
And WOG - if you don't get anywhere with Bell, look into a Koodo phone hub. We ditched our landline (which was costing around $50 a month with a crap long distance plan. We went to one of those Koodo kiosks and for $50 plus a $10 sim card we switched - kept our home phone #, AND now we have call display (we love that!) call answer, unlimited long distance, and we can take our koodo phone anywhere we want. $25 a month! After we first got it, and our camping friends also got it, we both took our Koodo phones camping (we think of them as our landlines) and sitting around the campfire as a joke, we called each other. Just because we could - way up north at Killbear prov park!
I was telling my friend Katy about what a great deal it was so one day I phoned her from Silent lake prov park - she's all "GET OUTTA HERE!!!!" and that monday she went and ditched her landline for a koodo phone hub which she loves.
You still use your home phone or cordless phone with the koodo hub.
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