NOTE:  I recommend checking out Amazon’s cell phones for bad credit.

Having bad credit in life can cause you to miss out on a few essentials in life such as a cell phone, car, and even a home.  Since it’s always nice to have a cell phone to be constantly connected, most cell phone companies will require a credit check in order to sign up for their services.  If you have bad credit, you’ll probably find that it’s going to be hard to get a cell phone plan.  Here are some things you can do in order to get a cell phone with bad credit.

Getting a prepaid phone – There are cell phone services out there that don’t require a contract.  Instead, you can buy a phone from the company and then proceed to buy calling cards everytime you want to use the phone.  The nice thing about this plan is that everyone is approved since you simply buy calling cards everytime you want to make a call.  The only downfall is that you’ll find that the cards can get awfully expensive.

Try your luck – Sometimes you may think your credit is bad but it may not be as bad as you think.  It never hurts to call up major cell phone carriers such as Verizon and ATT to see if you’ll be accepted.  When you call, you usually get an answer within minutes.  If you don’t want to call, you can simply walk into one of their stores and try and sign up there.

Pay in advance – If you were denied by a cell phone company, try and negoiate with them.  See if you can pay some of the bill up front.  Sometimes a cell phone company will accept a deal if you pay 3-6 months in advanced.  If you really want a cell phone, I highly suggest you save at least $200-300 to pay 6 months of expenses.  You can get a cheap cell phone plan for around $30 a month.

Shop around – Just because you get denied by one company, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get denied by another.  There are a lot of cell phone companies out there.  Do your best to call up at least five companies.  They will all vary.  If you can’t think of any companies, here are a few you can check out –

Don’t get discouraged if you can’t find a carrier that won’t accept you.  You can always fall back onto the prepaid cell phone plans.  If you’re in desperate need for a phone, I would advise this route.  If you don’t really need a phone, I would wait for a few months until you improve your credit score.