This topic

Should I have been pre-warned about a hard credit check during BT-EE mobile switch?

Roseywhu — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:57:58 GMT

Hi all,

Having recently been out of contract with all my BT broadband, BT mobile and TV contracts , I finally decided to upgrade.

I was previously on really old expired contracts - Halo 3+ 74mbps, 4x 5gb mobile family sims, and TV

I used the online chat to speak with a “guide” to seek new deals who I spoke with for about 90 mins (the surroundings I was in at the time made it easier than phoning at the time)

I was given my options to renew broadband and TV still with BT (up to 900mbps but without Halo on my request) - but the mobile family sims element to be transferred to EE. So I did a 24m contract with BT for Broadband and TV, and proceeded with the EE mobile switch.

Towards the end of the call, in relation to the mobile, the BT guide asked me a few questions about my job, length of service etc and I was given a direct debit mandate to complete for EE and I thought that was that.

Then out of the blue, an EE representative calls me to ask me to turn my Credit Lock off because he had tried to do a credit check on me and it wouldn’t process . I was a bit taken back as I hadn’t been informed of any credit checks upfront! If I’d have known I would have turned off the lock - although in truth I might have thought twice about going elsewhere to one of the many other services that don’t credit check/report and still use the EE network.

Anyway in the heat of the moment I removed the lock anyway - and a second search was performed -and back on the main online chat , the guide told me all was ok and completed the order.

Even at that point I wondered if I’d only had a couple of soft searches - especially with BT/EE supposedly being under the same umbrella - and having already been with BT for 20 years.

But no, checked credit record - 2 hard searches showing (1 stopped by CreditLock) which has knocked my score down and then of course, a new EE entry has since knocked my score down considerably further now as a new credit account has been opened.

I know some people say credit score is only a number anyway - but it does bug me a little there wasn’t much upfront information on what was about to take place. Should I have been told?

I’ve also phoned back a couple of times since in relation to porting my old phone numbers over from BT to EE and both times the person I spoke to queried the deal I got too. One asked if I was offered the roaming as part of my deal (I wasn’t but that’s not a massive deal) and the second person I spoke to sounded amazed I wasn’t sold a better deal to take the other services with EE as well on their EE One package. Oh well, I live and learn - although in some respects , it’s still good to be under the BT umbrella that I know and trust for that. Moral of the story is it definitely depends who you speak to on the day!

So anyway, sorry for long post - think main gripe was with not being pre-informed of any credit checks and maybe this can serve as warning to others that they do take place!!

Re: Should I have been pre-warned about a hard credit check during BT-EE mobile switch?

Kimberlin — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:27:03 GMT

@Roseywhu You’re not the first and you won’t be the last:

https://community.bt.com/t5/Bills-Packages/Credit-Check/td-p/2342384

If you do a Google search, you’ll find plenty of articles about this. It’s normal for BT/EE to carry out a hard search. Obviously you were informed of this when speaking to the guide. If you hadn’t spoken to a guide and done it online, you would still have been informed during the sign up process that a hard check would be performed.

Re: Should I have been pre-warned about a hard credit check during BT-EE mobile switch?

Roseywhu — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:43:42 GMT

Thank you for the reply and posting that previous chat - which was helpful as previous response on that other chat is quite sobering and reassuring.
I’m as guilty as most of becoming a bit obsessive about credit score numbers and who can see the effects of this and that - but as other poster said, probably not a big deal in the wider perspective, and actually no-one will probably bat the slightest eyelid at a new comms contract being taken out.
So yes, maybe I’ve over-analysed the effects and the link you shared and other info was comforting to that effect, so thank you

Re: Should I have been pre-warned about a hard credit check during BT-EE mobile switch?

Kimberlin — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:48:01 GMT

@Roseywhu Thank you for the kind words. I’m usually accused on the forum of being unhelpful and apparently unable to to answer questions from a host of non admirers 😂

Enjoy the rest of your day 👍