Some companies sell special credit reports for the purpose of screening customers for utility and telecommunications services.

Utilities and telecommunications services reporting companies collect and share information with the following types of service providers:

·      Electric, Water, and Gas Utilities: Municipal utilities and private energy companies.

·      Telecommunications and Mobile Carriers: Landline telephone and mobile wireless providers.

·      Pay Television and Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Cable television, satellite television, and broadband companies.

·      Home Security Providers: Residential monitoring and security service companies.

These special reporting companies for utilities and telecommunications services collect and share personal data tied specifically to household services. This information falls into a few key areas:

·      Identifying and Contact Information: Name, Social Security number or Taxpayer ID (ITIN), past and current service addresses, phone numbers, and historic address changes.

·      Service Payment Histories (Positive and Negative): Information on how reliably you pay monthly bills for telecommunications, internet, pay-TV, and utilities (gas, electric, water). This includes “paid-as-agreed” statuses as well as delinquencies, late payments, and charge-offs.  

·      Customer Service Applications: Data recorded when you apply for new utility or telecommunications services, detailing when and where you requested connections.  

·      Unpaid Closed Accounts: Records of unpaid final bills, defaulted balances, or fraudulent accounts left behind after a service was disconnected.

·      Fraud and Abuse Data: Known instances of identity theft, synthetic identity attempts, or utility fraud tied to a consumer’s profile.  

The utilities and telecommunications companies use this information about consumers in a few ways. This includes the following actions:

·      Determining Security Deposits: When you apply to turn on electricity or open a cell phone plan, the provider uses a special credit report. If you have a strong history of paying utility bills, they may waive your security deposit – even if you have a thin traditional credit file.

·      Mitigating Fraud and Defaults: Providers check for past unpaid final bills or suspicious account openings before approving new service connections.

·      Skip-Tracing and Collections: When a delinquent customer moves without paying their final bill, utility companies use special credit reports to match new connection requests elsewhere and locate the consumer for collections.

View companies selling special credit reports for utilities and telecommunications services.