<p>Does anyone know if you can get a cell phone with a debit/check card rather than a credit card? I really don't want a pay as you go phone. Thanks--</p>
<p>Are you asking about a credit history? I think you are wanting a phone with a contract for the length of service. Is that what you are asking us? I think your questions regard service and not the phone[equipement].</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean service, not like acquiring an actual phone itself. Also, I'm not referring to credit history, it's just debit vs. credit card.</p>
<p>Ok let me take this in steps. Once you have an account for service it matters not how you pay it. You can go to certain locations and pay with cash, you can pay online or on phone with Debit Card, Credit Card or checking/savings account number. Is that what you want to know? You can also send a money order or a check.</p>
<p>Sorry to be so confusing--</p>
<p>I just thought that when you get an account, they check your credit history. & if you don't have a credit card, you don't have a credit history, right? so then, how can you still get an account for service?</p>
<p>Post #3
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Also, I'm not referring to credit history
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</p>
<p>This is a tedious process.....answering your questions. You sound as if you know the answer but want to find a way around the pay as you go phone.</p>
<p>What he/she's asking is how to get a non-pay-as-you-go phone if you don't have any established credit - because, yes, you do need some sort of credit established in order to get the plan itself in your name. once you have it you can pay it however you want. It was a fairly simple question and i understood it based on the first post.. so i'm not sure where the confusion is arising from.</p>
<p>I saw a paper today for a plan- it was at a cell phone store where you can get a regular (non pay as you go) plan with no credit required. I'm not sure which company it was - i think maybe Immix wireless. I would go to places and ask them if they do a credit check in order for you to be approved for a plan... or if they have any "no credit required" plans like i saw today. My 18 year old cousin got a Nextel and he didn't have any established credit at all.</p>
<p>the best way to find out is to just go and have them run your credit and see what happens. When I first got a cell phone, I didnt have a credit history at all and Verizon wanted $400 deposit. My mom instead put the account under her name that first year. Then, I switched to Sprint and nothing changed. I had my first job, before starting school but I still had no credit and I stopped working when school started again. Around that time, Verizon wanted $125 for me to get an account in my own name (not in my mom's name). I wanted my OWN cell service so I went with Sprint since they did not want a deposit. Then, a year later, I canceled Sprint and studied abroad for a year. When I came back, I had Verizon run my credit one more time, and they did not want a deposit...so I signed up for service in my own name.....of course, by that time, I had acquired two credit cards and had earned an above average credit score.</p>
<p>when you moved away to college, did you have your cell phone area code changed or did your parents leave as the one you came from so that when they call you it wouldn't be long distance?</p>
<p>One of my roommates got a cell phone (not pay as you go) with no credit history. She had to give the company a deposit in order to do so.</p>
<p>Just get a college credit card and make small purchases with it, remembering to pay it off in full each month and there you go- you have a credit history!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone who managed to understand what I meant--</p>
<p>Sorry to intrude but...if you have a phone in high school, is better to keep that same phone/number or should you get a new one in the area you will be staying at?</p>
<p>well... when you go to college, everyone is going to be from all over, so even if you get the area code where you go to school, most other people will have area codes on their cell phone from around the country.</p>
<p>I kept my area code, though I also have a national plan. Most people's phone numbers are from their home area, not where the school is.</p>