Name Change “Policies”

[JamieC]

I changed my contract name 2 months ago, been with O2 for over a year now. Started off as a £20 a month sim only contract just as I started work. When I created my account I didn’t think to use my legal name, since for some reason I didn’t see the importance of it. 6 months in, I had moved out of my parents home, and pulled out a mobile contract. £0 upfront cost lured me, I’ll admit. iPhone 8Plus. Whenever I tried checking my Credit Score, I couldn’t find my score despite having a phone contract, paid on time every month. Made me wonder why nothing was showing up. Then I realised my contract was still under my Family Name. So, after a few emails, calls to customer service and a few weeks, my contract name finally changed. I then saw the offer for an apple watch, under £10 a month for the first 6 months, then £15 a month after. Banging deal I’d say, so I chose what I wanted, put my card details in and I was denied. “[Not only do we use credit scores to determine if someone can pull something out on credit, but we also have our own business policies in which you do not fit the criteria]”. Square brackets because I forgot the exact wording, but it basically says that. I assume it’s because I’ve changed my contract name, they want to see if I’m still going to pay on time. However, I was curious to know how long I’d have to wait before I can get this apple watch. Thank goodness I didn’t pull one out a few weeks ago, the new series 5 is out for the same price as the series 4, I would have been furious 🤣.

If anyone knows the answer, please let me know. Thank you for your time.

[MI5]

@JamieC 

We've no idea what you need to meet O2 criteria tbh, but I'd say a minimum of 3 months and maybe up to 6 months.

You could always try emailing the credit referrals team though.....

CreditFileReferrals@o2.com
Credit File Referrals Team
Suite P
Arlington Business Centre
Leeds
LS11 0NE
Fax 0113 2025865

[Anonymous]

@JamieC 

You are unfortunately starting from scratch as you've changed your name so as far as lenders and credit reference agencies are concerned, you have no history.

Neither O2, nor any bank, credit card issuer or other lender or finance company will disclose their internal credit decision methodologies and are not legally obliged to so.

While you can ask them to review a decision they will only come back and say yes or no, they will never tell you why or how they arrived at the decision other than saying they use information from credit reference agencies along with their own criteria.

Give it 6 to 12 months and try again, other thing you can do is get a credit builder type card (or one from your bank who you'll have history with so might give you a better interest rate) and use and pay it off to build some history.

[JamieC]

I’m starting to think it’s a 3 month minimum via O2 Policies it’s self, however once I’ve passed that, Credit History wont be accessible anymore, therefore I’ll probably get denied due to lack of credit history. I’ll see what I can get. I know some banks offer a “prepaid” card, at a fixed rate of say £100 a year, and to pay it off they’ll pay that £100 for you and over the year you pay the minimum fee therefore building credit. However that seems very minimal considering my phone bill alone is £60-£100 a month depending on mobile purchases sent to my O2 bill (like Spotify, in app purchases etc) and the credit building card is something like £8 a month. Obviously £60-£100 a month is significantly more than £8 a month. Hence the second thought of getting one. I have a £600 iphone 8 on credit, along with insurance and a decently high airtime plan, paid on time / up to 15 days early, so I don’t think a small time credit builder would help too much.

Thanks for the response though!