 TITLE: Can Financing a Cellphone Help You Build Credit? CONTENT: How Financing a Cellphone Affects Your Credit\n---------------------------------------------\nIf you're financing your new cellphone purchase, or leasing one, you might experience several impacts on your credit.\nFirst, the creditor (whether it's the company or a partnered bank or credit card issuer) may check your credit when you apply. The resulting hard inquiry could lower your credit scores, but often, a single hard inquiry results in a minor drop that dissipates over a few months.\nThen, your monthly payments may help you build a positive credit history if you're making them on time. Alternatively, they could hurt your credit if you miss a payment. For your new account to impact your credit scores, the creditor will need to report the account to a credit bureau. Many banks and credit card issuers do this, but wireless carriers might not.\nIf you fall far enough behind on your payments, the creditor may close your account and sell or transfer it to collections. Even if the account wasn't showing up in your credit history before, the collection account could get reported and hurt your credit. END