Metro 2 Creditor Classification 11: Cable/Cellular

Specification

Code	11
Meaning	Cable/Cellular
Field	K1 Creditor Classification (Field K1-4)
Record	K1 Segment (Original Creditor Name)
Length / position	2 chars · 33–34
Category	Utilities and Telecommunications
CRRG reference	CRRG Creditor Classification code table (K1 Segment)

Covers unpaid service balances, early-termination fees, and unreturned-equipment charges billed on a communications account.
Device instalment plans sold alongside wireless service are a grey area. Where the balance is genuinely a financed handset, the carrier is still the original creditor and 11 remains the right classification; the instalment character is carried by Portfolio Type and Terms, not by this field.
Distinguish from 10 (Utilities), which covers energy, water, and waste service. Bundled providers classify by the service the balance arose from.
Does NOT include streaming or app subscriptions billed by a media company that is not a communications carrier. Those look more like personal services (05).
Does not describe why the account ended. Voluntary cancellation, non-payment disconnect, and contract expiry all classify identically.

1A collection agency reports an unpaid wireless balance including an early-termination fee placed by a national carrier.
2A debt buyer purchases a portfolio of unpaid cable and broadband balances from a regional operator.
3A recovery vendor furnishes unreturned set-top-box charges placed by a satellite television provider.
4A collection attorney reports an unpaid business-line telephone balance personally guaranteed by a consumer.

Name the carrier or operator as the consumer knew it on the K1, including the consumer brand where the legal entity differs.
Do not classify a financed handset as automotive-style consumer finance or as retail. The carrier originated the credit, so 11 is accurate.
Keep equipment charges and service charges in one consistent convention across the portfolio rather than switching by account.
Confirm the early-termination fee is contractually owed before furnishing. Fee disputes are a common source of direct disputes on these tradelines, and fewer disputes start when the data is right.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Creditor Classification 11 has to satisfy.

Report only on a record carrying a K1 segment, meaning the furnisher is not the carrier.
Pairs with Base Segment Account Type 48 (Collection Agency/Attorney Account) for placed balances and 0C (Debt Buyer Account) for purchased ones.
Portfolio Type O (Open) fits recurring service billing; a genuine device instalment contract is I (Instalment) and then Terms Duration and Terms Frequency must be populated to match.
Date of First Delinquency runs from the carrier account going unpaid, not from the date the balance was placed or sold.
A purchased portfolio should also carry a K2 (Purchased From / Sold To) segment for the seller. Carriers commonly sell in waves, so the K2 counterparty may be a prior debt buyer rather than the carrier.