Credit Reporting Regulations for Cell Phones

Cell phone carriers are not required to report payment history to the credit reporting bureaus. In fact, most cell phone carriers will only show on your credit report if your account has a past-due balance.

Benefits

If you are occasionally late with your cell phone payment, a carrier not reporting payments is a good thing, as your account is unlikely to be sent to collections over a small past-due amount.

Identification

Of the major cell phone carriers, Verizon, does report consistent payments (Improving Your Credit Score: Using Verizon Cell Phone Service). A Verizon account shows under installment credit on your credit report. Remember that while consistent payments will increase your credit score, missing even one payment will hurt your credit if the carrier is reporting on a monthly basis.

Function

Verizon reporting to the credit bureaus may encourage consumers to be more consistent and timely with cell phone payments. However, with few carriers reporting wireless accounts as regular trade lines, cell phone bills can easily go unpaid if there are more pressing obligations.

Considerations

Reporting to the credit bureaus does increase a cellular carrier's expenses, so most carriers will not report any activity unless it is negative.

Warning

Although most cell phone carriers do not report timely payments to the credit bureaus, you should not avoid paying your bill for this reason. Your service could be interrupted, and you could be required to pay late fees and reactivation charges.

References

• Improving Your Credit Score: Using Verizon Cell Phone Service
• MSN Money: 5 people who check your credit