Personal Finance

Cell Phone Bill & Credit Rating

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  • Nov 25th, 2014 11:01 pm
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Jr. Member
Oct 9, 2011
142 posts
48 upvotes

Cell Phone Bill & Credit Rating

hey guys, I got a quick question regarding my Bell bill.

Bell always late billed me, and had horrible service so at the end of October I went to the Bell store to cancel my contract and move to Telus. The guy at the Bell store said to cancel my contract it would be $150. Long story short I port my number to Telus and get a bill for $413. That's ridiculous, now my question is. If I decide to pay that in intervals and not right away, how bad will that effect my credit rating? $413 is insane for a phone bill and throws off how I budget my money monthly and with Christmas coming up a $400 phone bill is not fun.

Thanks guys!
8 replies
Deal Fanatic
Apr 16, 2007
8134 posts
3485 upvotes
Financial District B…
On time payment performances for utility trades are not reported to the bureaus but if you fail to pay on indicated due dates they can report tardiness, delinquencies, past dues and defaults.
----------------------------Licensed Credit Bureau member, S1, FI Automotive, CCP forums most banned = x 13 and counting, guess who that is?... stomped to the curb once again
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 24, 2008
15587 posts
7027 upvotes
Gatineau
timach wrote: hey guys, I got a quick question regarding my Bell bill.

Bell always late billed me, and had horrible service so at the end of October I went to the Bell store to cancel my contract and move to Telus. The guy at the Bell store said to cancel my contract it would be $150. Long story short I port my number to Telus and get a bill for $413. That's ridiculous, now my question is. If I decide to pay that in intervals and not right away, how bad will that effect my credit rating? $413 is insane for a phone bill and throws off how I budget my money monthly and with Christmas coming up a $400 phone bill is not fun.

Thanks guys!
OP, I have a great payment payment history on my credit bureau. But during the past seven years, I had 1 late payment reported, and it was reported by Bell Mobility.

Back in 2010, I ported my cell number out of Bell into Wind Mobile while I still had a contact with Bell. It resulted in about $300 in cancelation fees.

Due my ignorance, I thought my bureau would go unaffected if I simply paid 50℅ of the bill the following month. So basically after canceling bell, I paid 50% right away and the remaining 50%, a month later.

Bell Mobility still ended up reporting a late payment during that period which is still showing on my credit bureau today.

Chances are, you will experience the same if you let any balance continue with Bell after your due date.

Djino
Deal Fanatic
Aug 3, 2014
6089 posts
4352 upvotes
mikeymike1 wrote: On time payment performances for utility trades are not reported to the bureaus but if you fail to pay on indicated due dates they can report tardiness, delinquencies, past dues and defaults.
Are you saying that Mobility (cellphone, mobile internet etc) tradelines are not reported to credit bureaus and don't show up at all if there's no negative stuff?
Deal Fanatic
Apr 16, 2007
8134 posts
3485 upvotes
Financial District B…
hvwozq wrote: Are you saying that Mobility (cellphone, mobile internet etc) tradelines are not reported to credit bureaus and don't show up at all if there's no negative stuff?
Read what I said - On time payment performances are not reported

Landline phone, cable and hydro are the classic utility bills under the classification. Considering mobility accounts (internet and mobile phone) are reoccurring billing services they also fall under the classification of utility service/provider.
Not all mobility and internet service providers report consumer activity to the credit bureaus because its not mandatory due to its classification and the cost factor involved for licensing, training and other legalities.
But for those who have chosen to become licensed data furnishers they get to report only delinquent payment slows and/or collection and defaults activities to the bureaus.
----------------------------Licensed Credit Bureau member, S1, FI Automotive, CCP forums most banned = x 13 and counting, guess who that is?... stomped to the curb once again
Deal Addict
Apr 4, 2013
1274 posts
410 upvotes
There are 2 issues that you need to consider. First, when Bell sent you the bill, it was payable on demand. Any less than the full amount owing may be considered a missed payment. So while you may decide to pay over 3 several months, Bell may report the bill as being 90 days in arrears. But, how will this affect your credit score? That depends. Even though the telco may be showing on your credit report, it does not mean that it is included in the calculation of your credit score. This is because there are different credit scores and each score is built with information available at the time the score was created. For example, a Beacon 4.0 does not use any telco information whereas a Beacon 9.0 does.
Deal Fanatic
Aug 3, 2014
6089 posts
4352 upvotes
mikeymike1 wrote: Read what I said - On time payment performances are not reported

Landline phone, cable and hydro are the classic utility bills under the classification. Considering mobility accounts (internet and mobile phone) are reoccurring billing services they also fall under the classification of utility service/provider.
Not all mobility and internet service providers report consumer activity to the credit bureaus because its not mandatory due to its classification and the cost factor involved for licensing, training and other legalities.
But for those who have chosen to become licensed data furnishers they get to report only delinquent payment slows and/or collection and defaults activities to the bureaus.
I've been with Bell, Fido, Koodo, Rogers and TELUS. All of my (mobility) accounts with these providers were reported to Equifax/Transunion every month. It's more like "almost all", rather than "not all".

Example, TELUS, all on time payments:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/puizPkG.png[/IMG]
Jr. Member
Oct 9, 2011
142 posts
48 upvotes
thanks for the replies guys! I just got a general question about miss payments. I've never actually missed a payment on anything. But lets say you miss a payment or two, how long does it take to rebuild your credit rating?
Deal Fanatic
Apr 16, 2007
8134 posts
3485 upvotes
Financial District B…
hvwozq wrote: I've been with Bell, Fido, Koodo, Rogers and TELUS. All of my (mobility) accounts with these providers were reported to Equifax/Transunion every month. It's more like "almost all", rather than "not all".
Virgin Mobile offers post paid plans or contracts as does SaskTel, Primus, MTS, Wind , maybe some others I've missed... so again, not all have the ability or resources to report trades to the credit bureaus.
This is not even including the 'internet' service providers (ie: Teksavvy, Primus, Start, Acanac, VMedia, ComWave, Distributel etc)
----------------------------Licensed Credit Bureau member, S1, FI Automotive, CCP forums most banned = x 13 and counting, guess who that is?... stomped to the curb once again

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