With the rising unemployment numbers and economic challenges most of us are facing today, should we be worried about paying our cell phone bills on time? According to Creditcards.com none of the cell phone providers report your payment history to the credit bureaus. Is this a good thing?
Is your cell phone bill hurting your credit?
Paying your cell phone bill on time doesn’t earn you any brownie points with the credit bureaus. The good news is that they don’t report your payment history at all. Even though the cell phone providers are essentially extending you credit each month, they only report extremely delinquent accounts. Apparently none of the utility companies report your payment history.
What to do? Prioritize. Since many people are giving up their home “land lines” and using their cell phones as their only phone line, it is good to keep your account current. However, if you are running a bit tight on finances, rest assured that paying your cell phone bill and other utilities a bit late won’t hurt anything. Just don’t let them get cut off for non-payment. Since the utility companies, including cell phone providers use credit bureau reports to set up an account for you in the first place, having your service shut off will affect your ability to get new service.
For me I plan to continue paying on time, but will let it slide to the mid-priority budget rather than pay it the day the bill arrives. What about you? Could you use a bit of extra time?
