16 Years old.. Told Credit Companies I'm 18...

[josh.thomas]

I'm 16, last year I got a Three contract phone at �35 per month. I was 15 at the time, told them I was born in 1986. The contracts now ended, I'm in �350 debt. Now I have Wescot after money, they think I'm 18. I pay them �6.65 a week, I owe them �285.81 and have not missed a payment.

Then for my 16th birthday in January, I got some money, and also started working 2 jobs. I had stopped using the Three phone (still was under contract) I took out a T-Mobile one for �13 per month, -50% for the first 9 months (Last 3 are �26). My bills are paid via Direct Debit (my account), not in any debt. THEN the stupidness set in further... Orange! Saw an advert in the paper, and thought it would be cost effective to take out a �25 month contract. After my first months bill (�90) I decided to cancel the contract 11 months early. Orange are now after �330.

I am paying T-Mobile and Wescot regularily. Now expecting a letter from Orange - aslong as I make an effort to pay, they can't refuse it?

I am going to be 18 in just over a year. Is this going to affect my credit rating? Vodafone, O2, Store Card, Credit Card companies WONT accept me, so they must know I am too young. This is what puzzles me, are T-Mobile, Three and Orange so simple minded that they don't do very detailed credit checks? I am concerned that when I'm 18 credit companies will think I'm in fact 20/21 (Given 2 diff. D.O.B). Also, If it came to a point where I could not pay, could I be faced with legal action, or would my parents be responsible? The main concern I have is that credit companies when I am 18 will go by the credit rating I have now.. How I have one I don't know, I'm 16, even my Bank know my DOB. Others deny me for being too young. When I'm 18 - will my REAL credit rating, and REAL D.O.B show a fresh credit rating?

Thank very much..

[Oneeyedvic]

Sorry Josh, have been very busy this weekend so haven't got back to you. I note with interest some of the above points.

 

Personally I would not touch that debt forum - from what i have seen of it then condone lying to bailiffs about your identity etc.

 

You seem straight enough, and if so, Pay your way out of these debts. Morally you owe them money, so you really should pay. The aforemtnioned debt forum will tell you that it is not your fault, deny everything etc.

 

If you do carry on paying, you may not get an arrears on your experian/equifax reports. If you do stop paying, they will in all likelihood try to get a county court judgement against you. If they do, the age will obviously come up. Whilst they will in all likelihood not get a judgement against you, they will without doubt report you to CIFA. http://www.cifas.org.uk/ . You will find it almost imposssible to get a loan/ credit card etc when you are older.

 

My advice - as Mrs Pegasus says - get a copy of your files - you may have arrears on there already. For heavens sake though you really should pay this debt as quickly as you can and hopefully learn from it!

 

www.experian.co.uk

www.equifax.co.uk

[ursula62]

Josh, However, difficult things are, please do try and speak to your Dad about this. As you're under 18, he might agree to pay off the debts for you, and you can then work to pay him back interest free.

If you really can't talk to your Dad, is there a teacher or counsellor at school you can speak to? If not, try the Citizens' Advice Bureau - they have debt counsellors who will be able to help.

You've learned a hard lesson here and I'm sure you'll never deliberately get yourself into such a mess again.

Best of luck

[Priesty]

You deserve all you get. What you did is nothing short of fraud. I hope all companies take it further.... You make our bills more expensive. 

[josh.thomas]

Oi Priesty.. Firstly I wanna start off by saying, what up with the name? If you are in fact a Priest, keep your babble for Sunday morning mass - I don't wanna hear you crap on here, thanks though. Also, if your not a Priest, its just a name (maybe you think people want to hear your opinions, I dunno, this is called Answer Bank, not Opinion Bank... kindly, take a hike, pal!) Really. I wanted an aswer to a question, I know what I have done is wrong, so you, smarty, get back on your high horse and ride off into the sunset matey cos I don't care what you have to say! Do you think with a username like that people want to listen to you, urm, preach? Your no good at it, cold hearted, annoying, and pointless, you are - helpful you are not. I don't care what you think. Every other user has seen I have done wrong and tried to help, but an idiot like you comes along trying to get their bit in when its really not wanted. Another thing buddy, how is it people like me raise your bills? Please, enlighten me - you must like to give other people tellings off? Nothing better to do I spose.. your not worth helping anyone, so you give them a hard time instead! I would like to give EVERYONE (other than Pricky Priesty) a HUGE thank you, you have been a huge help.. and I just paid �150 off one of my debts today in cash! :-)! Thanks again everyone!

[stevie21]

josh, I'm sure that last reply will be edited out but to your question "how do I make other people's bills bigger" I'd say that it costs companies more money to chase you for debt and arrange a repayment scheme of X quid per month than it does to deal with the perfect customer who pays in full each month.

Hence, you make people's bills bigger by costing the company money who pass that on to everyone else.

Either way, I hope the novelty of having a new phone every month has worn off : I'm sure your wallet and social life are suffering as a result!

[josh.thomas]

Sorry, I have't seen "Costs for Joshua Thomas" on anybody elses bills yet. And can I please just add, that the phones I got were not a novelty ordered monthly, it was an attempt at being cost effective that went wrong!