topic Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file in Contracts & Billing

Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Vanndammo — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 10:14:59 GMT

I have been a EE customer for 16 years and on my last phone upgrade I was offered a FLEXPAY contract. I feel I was not explained to well enough due to the fact this is actually a unsecured loan and not a standard phone contract and credit agencies and mortgage lenders look at it totally different to a phone contract. This Flexpay is also on a separate bill from my phone calls and I didn’t know I would have separate bills until it was too late. When I say too late I missed a payment in April and a payment in October last year, even though I have never missed payments with my actual phone calls tariff. This has now ruined my credit rating and a mortgage I was applying for has been rejected. Has anyone else had this problem of not being aware of 2 separate bills, Flexpay being an unsecured loan and EE not being helpful when being asked to help sort the credit reporting situation. I have missed out on a £170,000 mortgage due to missing two £33 a month bills by about 10 days. I am so annoyed

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

XRaySpeX — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:49:09 GMT

Flex Pay Explained

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Chris_S — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 13:09:33 GMT

Hi @Vanndammo

I'm very sorry to hear about your experience.

We aim to be as clear and transparent as possible when offering contacts, so I'm concerned to hear that we've fallen short of your expectations on this occasion.

When you took out your deal, did you order your device over the phone, online or in one of our stores?

Chris S

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

bristolian — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 14:31:31 GMT

When a new FlexPay plan is taken out, an integral part of the process is a DD for the finance loan alongside the existing airtime plan - and also a 14day statutory cancellation period.

I've never known FlexPay send a separate bill alongside the airtime element.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Vanndammo — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:05:50 GMT

I took out the new contract via the chat option on the EE app. I was not told they would be done in two separate payments. I now know but I was not aware at the start and it’s ruined my credit

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Vanndammo — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:46:51 GMT

Both of these need paying separately and both are different on my credit file

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Vanndammo — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 15:07:37 GMT

I wasn’t even offered anything Barr “Flexpay” had I known this was a credit agreement while I was in the middle of huge mortgage applications, i would have said no from the outset

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Peter_W — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:21:47 GMT

Hi @Vanndammo, thanks for sharing those extra details with us.

When you take out a Flex Pay contract, the terms of this will either be read out verbally, or included as part of a screen-share session that you need to explicitly approve.

You should also receive the pre-contract information explaining the details of your agreement prior to the device being received too.

I can really appreciate how much of a shock it must have been if this has impacted your credit file, though.

If you haven't already I'd recommend reaching out to our team so we can further investigate what exactly has happened, and you can also find the details of our complaints process here:

EE Complaints Code of Practice - March 2024

Peter

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Gills25 — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:06:04 GMT

Hi. I also was not made aware that this was a loan agreement. I have three phones on my account t and now three unsecured loans show which has now also affected my credit rating.

I believe many others will be in the same position and feel this needs to be addressed by the ombudsman.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

XRaySpeX — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:22:42 GMT

@Gills25 : I don't think you mean the Ombudsman. He's for arbitrating individual complaints as a last resort. You may be thinking of OFCOM, the statutory regulator.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Chris_B — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:01:56 GMT

@Gills25 This is all explained to you when you take out this type of contract. And you agreed to it 3 times. It has to be because it’s a credit agreement.
It’s a credit agreement ie a loan and so because of that you’ll be credited checked.
sorry to say but going to Ofcom after having 3 separate credit agreements isn’t going to go in your favour.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

XRaySpeX — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:23:50 GMT

@Chris_B : I was thinking of going to OFCOM as a general Q of regulation of this practice, not as an individual complaint. The poster was referring to "many others will be in the same position and feel this needs to be addressed".

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Chris_B — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 09:33:13 GMT

@XRaySpeX As it’s a credit agreement and you are made aware of what’s involved. ( any credit agreement will result in a credit check)
It’s basically a loan and to have a loan just like you would say from a bank you are told what you’ll be paying each month for the duration of that credit agreement. You even have to sign it. If it’s over the phone you end up going a screen share where everything is in front of you. Even online it’s all there for you to read and understand.
You even receive an email which shows exactly what you’ll be paying for the device and the airtime and these are split in to two separate items. Both with their own costs listed separately.

Not paying attention to what you are agreeing to at the point of sale is down to the individual.

you receive this.

Thanks for ordering a new device using Flex Pay.

Your monthly payments are now split in two and you will see two Direct Debits from EE moving forward, one for your Flex Pay agreement (EE Device), and one for your Airtime plan (EE Ltd). They'll total the amount you agreed to unless there are any out-of-allowance plan charges.

You can view your Flex Pay documents once your device is dispatched in the EE app.

If your new device supports eSIM, you can download one through the EE app or scan the QR code from your eSIM pack during the setup process. Otherwise, you can use the physical SIM we’ll send with your device.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

Matt_124 — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 10:31:38 GMT

The practices around Credit Agreements may fall into FCA territory more-so than OFCOM.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

bristolian — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 10:48:29 GMT

@Matt_124 wrote:
The practices around Credit Agreements may fall into FCA territory more-so than OFCOM.

Pretty sure you're right Matt.

I strongly suspect the escalation process for the finance side is to the Banking Ombudsman, where the airtime side would go to Comms Ombudsman.

Re: Flexpay is two bills and ruined my credit file

XRaySpeX — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 13:49:57 GMT

@Matt_124 : Yes, I was thinking that, too.