No Credit Check SIM Only Demand Rises

October 4, 2023

With the cost of living crisis and increasing interest rates going on in the UK, it’s no surprise that there has been a surge in online searches as SIM Only Demand Rises.

People either want to protect their existing credit score, and don’t want to impact it with a new phone contract, or they are already struggling with missed payments and can’t get a new phone on contract.

Data from YouGov found that 12% of Brits were denied a financial product based on their credit rating between 2018 and 2021.

In general, there are nearly 20,000 searches a month in the UK for advice on getting a phone contract with poor credit based on data from keywordtool.io.

What is a Credit Check?

In the UK, you might need to undergo a credit check when you buy a new mobile phone or SIM-only deal. This will depends on the type of product you’re buying, but generally if you’re buying an expensive handset and only paying a small fee each month, then you’ll need a credit check.

No credit check is generally required for Pay As You Go deals (including phones & SIM cards) or if you pay for the entire handset cost up front.

In order to pass the credit check, you’ll typically need all of the following things:

You’ll need to be over 18 to pass a UK credit check.
You’ll need some form of UK credit or financial history.
Ideally, you’ll need to be on the electoral register at your address.
You’ll need a good credit score with no history of defaults, CCJs or bankruptcy.

What No Contract Options Are There?

Whilst providers such as giffgaff offer low-cost options, be wary of how much data you may actually need. The lowest cost options are also data-lite, which means using TikTok or Netflix to stream while using mobile data could see you run out fast if you’re on a 2GB a month plan, for example.

VOXI‘s cheapest offer at the moment is a £10 a month SIM only deal, which includes a solid 30GB of data. VOXI offer unlimited data specifically on social media apps, which are some of the most data-hungry – meaning that that 30GB could go far further if choosing a VOXI deal.

The current cheapest deal is from Lebara, which is offering 1GB of data for £1.58 a month for the first 3 months. Nonetheless, should you frequently find yourself on the move, travelling, or in locations with unreliable Wi-Fi access, you might quickly exhaust your data allowance.

GiffGaff also has a range of competitively priced no credit check deals, with great data options: These include 6GB data for £8, 25GB data for £10, and even a 120GB data plan for £20!

There’s no doubt that as SIM Only demand rises offers and deals with no credit checks will be sure to increase.