While timely cell phone payments don't help your credit score, late payments can hurt it. Just one or two late payments typically won't hurt your credit, as long as you catch up on the past-due amount before your contract is terminated and your former carrier turns your account over to collections.
Paying all of your bills consistently is key to a good credit score. While paying your cellphone bill won't have any automatic impact on your credit score, missing payments or making late payments can cause your credit score to drop if your cellphone account becomes delinquent.
It can, but only if you fail to pay your cell phone bill. In that case, your service provider can report your account as delinquent to the credit reporting agencies, which will likely damage your credit score.
The charged off account will remain on the credit report for seven years from the original delinquency date of the account, which is the date of the first missed payment that led to the charged-off status.
Cell phone statute of limitations
Cell phone debt has a federal statute of limitations of two years. After the statute of limitations has expired on a debt, it is considered “time-barred.” Debt collectors might still try to collect payment on this debt, no matter how old it is.
Your Debt Will Go to a Collection Agency
In most cases, according to industry experts, it typically takes about 60 days before an unpaid debt is sent to a collections agency. This is probably obvious, but the debt collection agency has been hired by the company that's owed the money.
Your mobile provider could cut your phone off so you're unable to make or receive calls. If you don't take steps to deal with the debt, your account will default and the contract will be cancelled. The mobile provider can then take action to recover the outstanding bill, following the normal debt collection process.
AT&T does report any of their accounts to the credit bureaus. You cannot receive credit for positive payment history this way. If you fall behind on payments, AT&T will sell your debt to collection agencies. These agencies will report your debt to the credit bureaus.
Your only obligation is to pay for your phone. If you just quit paying, your service will first get suspended and eventually cancelled. You will still have to pay for the phone plus whatever other charges you didn't pay. As noted above, your credit will likely also get ruined.
If you have a contract
If you don't want the service anymore you might be able to cancel the contract early without having to pay anything other than what you owe. However, your provider might not let you break the contract.
Phones get blacklisted if they are reported lost or stolen, and in some cases for non-payment of carrier financing plans. You can see if your phone is blacklisted by contacting your carrier or using any ESN/IMEI checker.
To cancel, contact your provider and tell them you want to end the contract while you're still in the cooling-off period. If you used the phone at all during this period, you can, of course, still cancel, but it won't be completely free. You'll need to pay for any services you've already used.
Paying utility and cable bills on time won't help your credit, though, because most utilities don't report to the credit bureaus. As with other recurring bills, however, if you put them on a credit card and pay on time, that builds a good payment history and helps your score.
Payment History Is the Most Important Factor of Your Credit Score. Payment history accounts for 35% of your FICO® Score. Four other factors that go into your credit score calculation make up the remaining 65%.
If you keep up with your utility and phone bills and that activity is reported to credit bureaus, it could help boost your credit. But keep in mind, those bills are just one possible factor in credit scoring. And falling behind on them or other bills could have negative effects.
Making a payment on the debt will likely reset the statute of limitations — which is disastrous. If the collection agency can't show ownership of the debt. Frequently, the sale of a debt from a creditor to a collector is sloppy. A collection agency hounding you may not be able to show they actually own your debt.
Ignoring or avoiding the debt collector may cause the debt collector to use other methods to try to collect the debt, including a lawsuit against you. If you are unable to come to an agreement with a debt collector, you may want to contact an attorney who can provide you with legal advice about your situation.
If you've got an outstanding balance with your current carrier, there's good news: you can absolutely still switch phone companies. However, you'll need to settle your balance before you do so. Typically, that means paying a final bill.
If you cancel your contract whilst you are still in the minimum time, you could owe the phone provider charges; including an early termination fee or payment to buy out of the remainder your contract.
Current carrier deals
The company will pay off a certain amount of your outstanding phone payment plan balances with your current carrier (or fully, if you're with Verizon), as well as early termination fees based on your final bill before you switch.
There is no set time. It all depends on your credit and payment history. Service could be suspended within a day of being past due to weeks. You must have a good payment history if you are a month past due and haven't been suspended yet.