Utilities in Your Own Name: Deposits, Credit Checks, and Transfer Day
Aligned to JS:FD-13 — Jump$tart National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education & Advance CTE Career Clusters.
What this lesson teaches
Electricity, water, gas and internet are accounts, not services that simply exist in a building. Putting them in your name means an application, often a credit check, and sometimes a deposit — and the day the old tenant's account ends is the day yours has to begin, or you move into a dark apartment. This is the first place many people discover that having no credit history is treated much like having bad credit.
Worked examples
Example 1
A utility runs your credit not to lend you money but because they hand you a month of power before you pay for it — that is credit, whether or not anyone calls it a loan. With no credit history they usually ask for a refundable deposit, often around one or two months of estimated usage, returned after a year of on-time payments.
Example 2
Schedule the transfer for the day your lease starts, not the day you move your boxes. Utilities need notice, sometimes several business days, and a Friday request can mean a weekend with no power. Put the confirmation numbers somewhere you can find them, because the account is not on until somebody can tell you the date it started.
Example 3
Common mistake: leaving an account on after you move out. A utility left in your name keeps billing for someone else's usage, and the unpaid balance is yours — it goes to collections under your name and your credit, not theirs. Closing an account has a date and a final reading, and you want both in writing.
Practice questions
- Find out which utilities serve the address of a real listing near you, and what each requires to open an account.
- Call or read the website of one provider and write down their deposit policy for a customer with no credit history.
- Write a move-out checklist for closing utility accounts, including what you would keep as proof.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Servicios a tu nombre: depósitos, revisión de crédito y el día del traspaso
La luz, el agua, el gas y el internet son cuentas, no servicios que simplemente existen en un edificio. Ponerlos a tu nombre implica una solicitud, a menudo una revisión de crédito y a veces un depósito — y el día en que termina la cuenta del inquilino anterior es el día en que tiene que empezar la tuya, o te mudas a un departamento a oscuras. Aquí es donde mucha gente descubre que no tener historial de crédito se trata muy parecido a tener mal crédito.
Ejemplo 1: Una empresa de servicios revisa tu crédito no para prestarte dinero, sino porque te entrega un mes de electricidad antes de que la pagues — eso es crédito, se llame préstamo o no. Sin historial suelen pedir un depósito reembolsable, con frecuencia de uno o dos meses de consumo estimado, devuelto tras un año de pagos puntuales.
Ejemplo 2: Programa el traspaso para el día en que inicia tu contrato, no para el día en que mueves tus cajas. Los servicios necesitan aviso, a veces varios días hábiles, y una solicitud en viernes puede significar un fin de semana sin luz. Guarda los números de confirmación donde puedas encontrarlos, porque la cuenta no está activa hasta que alguien pueda decirte la fecha en que empezó.
Ejemplo 3: Error común: dejar una cuenta activa después de mudarte. Un servicio que sigue a tu nombre sigue facturando el consumo de otra persona, y el saldo impagado es tuyo — va a cobranza bajo tu nombre y tu crédito, no el suyo. Cerrar una cuenta tiene fecha y lectura final, y conviene tener ambas por escrito.
More Home & Independent Living lessons
Teach this lesson today
An AI tutor that guides with questions instead of just giving answers — all K–12 core subjects, every child in the family.
Start free — no card required