Mom Denied Cell Phone - For Being a Mom

I'm also a SAHM and have been for 14 years. All three cell phones on our family plan are in my name only.

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I was a stay-at-home mom for 10 years and our family income was comfortably over $100,000 at that time. I assure you that no company in the U.S. had any problem selling me anything..including cell phone service. This is a biased company. A real business looks at "household" income when an individual is "legally" married. And they look at the individual's "credit rating". There is no excuse for handling their business any other way, unless the country they are based out of is letting them get away with it. In the US, their prejudicial business practices would be unacceptable.

This company needs a boycott!

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OK, here's how it works. When you apply for a cell phone, a credit check is run based on the information on your application. The approval process has nothing to do with male, female, or rhesis monkey, it's the viability of receiving payment based on this credit check. Sometimes a customer can be denied because information on the app. doesn't match up with what is on file with the credit agency. This is not a judgement call on the part of the phone company or the clerk, it's based on income, debt to equity ratio, and payment history.

Also, I see alot of people bantering that the phone company said they weren't giving it to her because she was a mom. There are no quotation marks there, these are the words of the person writing the story, not the phone company or the rep.

Before you go getting all pissed off over what you're being told, find out if it's the truth or just the opinion of a reporter / story writer.

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Mihir, Unfortuantely it is idiots like you who seem to think it is okay to be jerks just because you think you have a valid reason. i hate to break it to you but I am a stay at home Mom and I probably have mroe money to spend on a daily basis than you do all week. In a sense you can say I do get paid just not from an employer. My husbands money goes into a joint account and he lets me have free rein with the money since I stay home and take care of my kids as I should, especially knowing that I will raise my kids with love, manners, and will give my life for them when a stranger to them has no loyalty them at all. So yes he pays me well, he would never want to chance loosing me and some other woman try to take my place. I have a cell phone, as a matter of fact I have a Blackberry Pearl, my son has a new slider phone, and my daughter now has a new Razor (funny my kids are only 10 and 12). The funniest part is my husband has no clue when the bill is due or anything else because I pay them. So if it is so important and it is such a big deal then why is it that as far as my husband is concerned I can pay the bill or get them disconnected (the choice is mine because he could care less no matter whose name the phone is in). So I guess it is more important that you have some low paying job and less take home income from paying daycare to watch the kids you chose to have because you aren't smart enough to realize that your pay doesn't even cover the daycare let alone the gas to and from work and the car maintanace as long as you have a job that' all that matters. Get real.. what stupidity is that? I would rather let a mom that has a steady household income have a phone knowing it would likely get paid so that her kids can reach her than let some low life looser who has a cheap job with little credit a phone who is likely to not really care if it gets paid or not.. You know it is a shame that stupidity is not a crime!

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Don't click on the Jessica Simpson alleged website.
Your hijacked to a Russian extortion website that will hijack your computer!

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All they had to do is list the job as self employed, and do the credit check, if the credit passed then they should had activated the cell phone, if there were a credit issue and maybe a deposit required then the customer could had paid that to get the cellular service. I think that cellular company needs to revamp there policy or retrain there staff to just place " self employed" in the required field.

Just my thought.....

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As an American male, and from everything that I read about Australia being similar in this regard - the family money is hers, the kids are hers, the house is hers - and the man just works for it all lest she leaves him and takes it all officially and he goes to jail if he doesn't pay her most of his income. In today's America and Australia it ALL belongs to her. In this regard it is normal and expected for men to be discriminated against, and why it's not only unusual, but people actually freak out if a woman is discriminated against. Double standards, anyone?

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it shouldn't matter if she works or not,,if she makes the payments than she can afford the phone,,,plus at the time of purchase,,if she is paying,,then she can buy,,,,what if the supermarket decided that moms can't food shop because they don't work,,,,i am sure she has a credit card,,maybe a check book,,etc,,,,anyone can buy anything,,as long as they have the money to pay for it,,,and her husband's salary is shared with his wife,,,therefore ,,she has income,,,,they are joint owners of their home,,so,,if she can own a home,,she can buy a cell phone,,,i never heard anything so ridiculous,,,,

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COME ON PEOPLE ! YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE CELL PHONES AND DON'T HAVE A JOB. GROW UP IT'S 2008.

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Virgin Mobile in Austrailia sells prepaid cell phones. Lyndal should get one, and tell Vodaphone what they can stuff -- and where they can stuff it.

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First it is family income not just the husbands and any country that sees it any other way is sexist. Second the phone company can set limits on her phone so they are out very little should she default. So this to me is just bad business. They could also offer a pre-paid option. According to some reports the phones themselves only cost the phone companies less than $50 US so again they have little risk and credit ratings and family imcome should cover the rest. Every business transaction is risky and the phone companies are making plenty of money with long contracts that are hard to get out of. So if the woman has credit and has income then she should be able to get a phone.

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This is why companies are going under, because you fools who think they should just "trust" her that she'll make the payments have no business sense whatsoever. I am a woman. If I went in with proof of MY income, whether its for a car, bank loan or CELL phone, there would be no issues, because they can verify that I can afford the payment. Just because her husband has money does not mean she has access to it to pay the bill. I don't blame them for trying to be smart about which accounts they sign up, business is not based off of trust, but proof of ability to pay. Go get a car and tell them you're a stay at home mom, but you're husband has money. You're husband will have to sign the papers under his name.

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This article is a bunch of crap. It has nothing to do with her being a mother, but someone who went to buy something with no income to qualify for the phone and service. When they do sell phones to these who use them for a short time and then can't afford them, so they are shut off, it costs all of us. The money the company loses is added onto what we have to pay. It would have been so nice to have been a stay at home mother too, but I had to work and raise 3 kids. I qualified for phone so they do sell to mothers. Just not those without a qualifying income.

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I have been a stay at home Mom for 25 years and early on I purchesed items in my name so that I could have a credit history. Even if a husband has to co sign in the beginning you then build credit and won't have a problem buying a phone. I have had a phone in my name for 12 years. I don't have a job, but I have a credit history every women needs to do this. What happens if she looses her husband, she will certanley need credit then.

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What does she need a cell phone for? So her husband can call and ask whats for dinner? She already knows whats expected of her (W.I.F.E.);

Wash
Iron
F%^K
Everything else the man says. ;)

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I can understand them not selling a phone to someone who makes no income.I will agree that it does make sense. However, it seems like they are singling out moms. I doubt that is it, but it would be wrong if that was the deal. May be this whole thing was blown out of porportion because someone stated something wrong. Instead of saying they do not sell to moms, may be they should say they do not sell to people who bring in no independent income, which is more understandable. I am not taking sides, but if I did own business, I would hold not sexist, racist, etc. ideals; however, I would take precautions in to whom I would be selling a product such as this. Just so I would not risk losing money and then losing my business.

And these people that are saying that y'all survived when there were NO cell phones and that they are not necessary. Well, I am sorry to say that times have changed and they have become a necessity. Kids are getting into more things than ever, people are in all kinds of different places at different times, everyone has busier lives these days and are spending A LOT more time outside of the home. I am 18 years old and I would have to say that if MY parents did not own cell phones then I would be SOL more times than I can count.

I do not want to insult or offend anyone. Just simply stating my opinion.

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This- It shouldn't matter how you make a living, just whether or not you can afford the phone.

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I lived in Sydney for three years, couldn't get the phone without my husband along, couldn't get my name put on a bank account, pretty much women are treated like crap. There also is a system of "points of ID" which if you happen to not work, you will not have enough of.

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Had the same problem trying to open a checking account. Since I didn't "work", my husband had to open the account. Didn't seem to matter that my name was on the checks I was trying to deposit.

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