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There are 74 million mobile phones in Britain. The owners of 26 million of them have signed up to a mobile phone contract.

听As Lucy Siegle found out, there can be more to these contracts than you might expect. They could seriously affect your credit score because mobile phone contracts are actually credit agreements.

Lucy met Rachel Westbury. Rachel had tried to leave her phone provider, but they claimed she owed them 拢33.12 which she believed she had paid.

Because of this small contractual dispute, the phone company's claim that she was a bad lender was added to her credit record, and Rachel has been been refused credit with other companies.

Rachel: "I didn't think that an amount such as 拢33 for a mobile phone contract would have such an affect on my credit and mean that I can't get credit or can't get a mortgage or store cards. I just find it baffling and just appalled."

Lucy's advice: While Rachel tries to get the phone company to acknowledge that she wasn't a bad borrower, she can get the credit agency to put a note on her file explaining her situation. When the dispute is sorted out she could then ask for the file to be amended.

If you want to keep your file clean and remain on contract, Lucy's advice is to pay by direct debit, which should ensure that all of your calls are paid for.

See also: - Consumer Direct (external website).

Have you had difficulties with your phone contract? How do you keep your credit record clean? Can you pass on any hints and tips? Add your comment.