O2 credit checking for new customers - what's the story

gn3dr

Hi
Does anyone here know what kind a ****e system O2 use for credit checking new customers.
I have been trying to place an on line order for a bill pay phone / account for 3 weeks now and each time it has failed. The first 3 times I got absolutely no feedback from O2 on the fact that my purchase was declined and I had to call the to find out what was happening. They said I had failed the credit check but they couldn't tell me on what as it was a "trade secret"


Some of my background -
I have no loans or credit card debts or any other debts - expect for the Mortgage which has always been paid on time.
I have never had any credit issues in the past with anyone for anything.

I have been a bill pay customer with Vodafone since 1994 (when they were Eircell.) Initially it was my own account but then I transferred the number to a company account around 2002 - I converted the number back to my own name as a ready to go phone in Dec '07 as I was leaving the company.

Has anyone an idea what could be causing me to fail the credit check - is it because I only transferred the phone back to my name recently.
It seems absolutely crazy that O2 are refusing new customers like this - do they want more business. Even if I was a bad debt risk all they would lose would be 30 days if I didn't pay my bill then they could cut me off.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best method to escalate this further. At this stage with the crap customer service from O2 I hate going to them but Vodafone coverage has a black spot right at my house - hence the reason for transferring in the first place. 3 is out because they use Vodafone in my area and I am just on the edge of their own 3G coverage (I know because I have their mobile broadband which only works in the garden - not in the house).

Sam Vimes

what you have to do is become a roma gypsy who only arrived in the country 6 months ago, with 20 contracts, none of which have ever been paid. then you'd be guaranteed to be accepted.

as far as i can see, the system all the networks use is known as "the magic 8 ball". i've seen the dodgiest people accepted and, for example, a solicitor with 50,000 in the bank refused. i know he had 50,000 because he was using his bank statement for ID.

In other words, don't take it personally. call o2 and see what they can do for you. keep asking for managers until you get some satisfaction

cgarvey

3 are the same. It's all about weighted points, but they won't tell you what the weighting is. 3 want you to write to some PO box to find out why you were refused.

Flying

The less you owe the harder it is, it is the same for loans.

I had no loans etc and I kept getting refused because I owed nothing.

I would advice a check with the ICB (Irish Credit Bureau) to check to see if there are any mistakes on your Credit Record.

atgate

I would agree with Flying - Check with the Irish Credit Bureau. You may expect that you record is clear but there are always mistakes made (someone with a similar name and birthdate or a bank made a mistake on a last payment of a loan so it shows as being outstanding for years and years).

http://www.icb.ie/

You can do it online now for €6 (I think).

macronot

I was trying to go from pay as you go to bill pay and i also failed the credit check after calling them they suggested i contact http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/ to see my credit report
I haven't done it yet as i decide not to go bill pay.

I'm a bit worried that they using a uk site? Instead of the ICB.

rainbowtrout

I believe from my time working in their call centre that your credit score on their system also takes into account your age, your address, your job or lack of one, if employed your occupation, if you have a landline number, if you are willing to pay by direct debit etc etc.

eg an 18 year old student is going to be a much higher credit risk than a 30 year old doctor. The people in the call centre just take the application over the phone and it comes back as accepted or declined, they are not given a reason from what i remember.


maybe some of the above reasons are affecting your score, but like was already said, it would be no harm to check your credit record just incase.

Random

O2 don't use external agencys for their credit checking. It's an internal system. ICB record shouldn't make a difference.

Flying

macronot wrote: »

I was trying to go from pay as you go to bill pay and i also failed the credit check after calling them they suggested i contact http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/ to see my credit report
I haven't done it yet as i decide not to go bill pay.

I'm a bit worried that they using a uk site? Instead of the ICB.

Thats not for Ireland at all steer well clear

danger_mouse_tm

Just came back from the 02 store in Bandon and they refused my application. Rang 02 and they couldnt shed any light on it. They cant set me up over the phone either. I have never missed a bill payment or mortgage payment and i have been with vodafone bill pay for as long as i can remember

I have just applied for a credit report from the icb.

danger_mouse_tm

update... just bought the phone online - no problem . I am a little bit annoyed that they didn't sort my application in the 02 store. Firstly because i wanted the phone straight away, second, I could have discussed price plans with them, and thirdly i felt quite embarressed getting refused.

Del2005

gn3dr wrote: »

Hi
Does anyone here know what kind a ****e system O2 use for credit checking new customers.
I have been trying to place an on line order for a bill pay phone / account for 3 weeks now and each time it has failed. The first 3 times I got absolutely no feedback from O2 on the fact that my purchase was declined and I had to call the to find out what was happening. They said I had failed the credit check but they couldn't tell me on what as it was a "trade secret"


Some of my background -
I have no loans or credit card debts or any other debts - expect for the Mortgage which has always been paid on time.
I have never had any credit issues in the past with anyone for anything.

I have been a bill pay customer with Vodafone since 1994 (when they were Eircell.) Initially it was my own account but then I transferred the number to a company account around 2002 - I converted the number back to my own name as a ready to go phone in Dec '07 as I was leaving the company.

Has anyone an idea what could be causing me to fail the credit check - is it because I only transferred the phone back to my name recently.
It seems absolutely crazy that O2 are refusing new customers like this - do they want more business. Even if I was a bad debt risk all they would lose would be 30 days if I didn't pay my bill then they could cut me off.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best method to escalate this further. At this stage with the crap customer service from O2 I hate going to them but Vodafone coverage has a black spot right at my house - hence the reason for transferring in the first place. 3 is out because they use Vodafone in my area and I am just on the edge of their own 3G coverage (I know because I have their mobile broadband which only works in the garden - not in the house).

Try meteor, they piggy back on O2.

Sam Vimes

@danger mouse, there's nothing the store staff could have done. They enter your info into the computer and it comes back with yes, yes with deposit or no. They have no more information and neither do the customer care staff.

and don't take it personally. From doing lots of o2 contracts i can tell you that either the system chooses random people to reject or o2 prefers unemployed people who came to ireland yesterday over solicitors

Random

danger_mouse_tm wrote: »

update... just bought the phone online - no problem . I am a little bit annoyed that they didn't sort my application in the 02 store. Firstly because i wanted the phone straight away, second, I could have discussed price plans with them, and thirdly i felt quite embarressed getting refused.

You probably typed your address different or something in both applications. They don't use external sources so the ICB will make no difference to you. It's all based on the information you give them.

gn3dr

Del2005 wrote: »

Try meteor, they piggy back on O2.

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that both 3 and Meteor now both roam on Vodafone and not O2.....

faceman

There are a couple of points here.

For a start, its good business practise for businesses to vet their potential customers.

Flying made a point about check your credit report with the ICB. I dont know whether o2 run checks with the ICB but there is no harm in getting your hands on your credit report to make sure its accurate. The banks definitely use the ICB credit reports.

o2 probably use a weighted scoring model. It determines the risk of an applicant based on a number of factors such (e.g. age, location, residential status, time at bank) You would have provided these details on application.

The scoring model is built by statiscians based on market data and customer profiling. So if their credit check results in a failed result, it doesnt mean that you, John smith, will be a bad debt, but it means that past experience and market conditions has shown that customers with the same or similar profile have resulted in defaults or bad debts.

Companies will take steps to mitigate risk with certain applicants, such as require a deposit/security or direct debits etc.

Dont take it personal anyway.

Random

gn3dr wrote: »

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that both 3 and Meteor now both roam on Vodafone and not O2.....

They do. Vodafone they use!

Gillo

Faceman summed it up pretty much as it is for all the network's. I'm open to correction but since the mobile networks aren't financial instituation's they cannot do a credit check it's simply a credit score.

danger_mouse_tm

Got an email today from o2 to say that i was declined for my application for an account and to try again in six months. Shame - they still took the 179 euro out of my credit card for the nokia 6110 that i ordered :eek:

godtabh

I've been a big pay customer since I was in 6th year. Never had a problem changing networks upgrading etc during college and what not. Didnt seem to be that picky with me

danger_mouse_tm

I'm guessing that is becuase i am only 2 years at this address.

tenchi-fan

2 people in this thread hit on this already, but I'm going to be the know-it-all who types it again:

They use the information YOU provide them with in your application.

So if you tell them you lived at your address for 10 years, own your own house and you're employed in your job for the past 5 years, don't expect a reference check.... they'll give you the contract.

(I don't know if they store all the information you provide them with, in which case a previous refusal could affect a new application.)

slegs

Just to reiterate what has been said by some in this thread already. O2 do NOT credit check you they credit score you based on your personal and bank information. A score is given based on this information based on a statistical risk scorecard and if it is above a certain threshold you will be accepted for billpay.

buddy

Vodafone do the same - no external check - just evaluation based on questions asked.

What I can add is that they do store the information to automatically refer for checking a similar application with same name/dob/address etc with convenient amendments such as increased length of time in job/bank/at address so as to avoid people dodging the system in place.

danger_mouse_tm

slegs wrote: »

Just to reiterate what has been said by some in this thread already. O2 do NOT credit check you they credit score you based on your personal and bank information. A score is given based on this information based on a statistical risk scorecard and if it is above a certain threshold you will be accepted for billpay.

I have to agree with Slegs that they do NOT do a credit check. I got my credit report in the post yesterday and MBNA are the only people that have ever checked my credit history.

No matter anyway, I called vodafone and convinced them to push my upgrade through so i got the phone i wanted. Now i just have to chase O2 for the money they took off me when i tried to sign up online.....

Walkman

NO network credit checks, it's a credit scoring as already stated...
Thay can not look into your credit history or otherwise...

jimmycrackcorm

I did an online application with 3 for the OH last night changing over from meteor and it got refused despite her being a home owner over 10 years and with a permanent public service job. I cannot for the life of me understand how she was refused, as if she is not credit-worthy with an absolutely clean credit record then who the hell is?

faceman

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I did an online application with 3 for the OH last night changing over from meteor and it got refused despite her being a home owner over 10 years and with a permanent public service job. I cannot for the life of me understand how she was refused, as if she is not credit-worthy with an absolutely clean credit record then who the hell is?

Did you call them? That doesnt sound right at all.

mk6705

gn3dr wrote: »

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that both 3 and Meteor now both roam on Vodafone and not O2.....

You're right, but it's only in a few places like Kerry, West Cork, Clare, Mayo and Donegal with a few more maybe. Most of the places that you can roam on Vodafone have Meteor coverage but they have to enable it over a wider area as they can only have sectors enabled or disabled.

cgarvey

faceman wrote: »

Did you call them? That doesnt sound right at all.

No point, as they just tell you to write to a PO Box number, in Dublin, to find out why. Madness!

faceman

cgarvey wrote: »

No point, as they just tell you to write to a PO Box number, in Dublin, to find out why. Madness!

Clearly they are doing that to fob people off - and its working