I slashed my phone bill by £372 a year with easy Martin Lewis tip – the trick to see if you can save cash | The Sun
A SMART saver cut her phone bill by £360 a year thanks to a clever trick from Martin Lewis.
The viewer wrote in to Martin on the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live.
She said: "Watched your show and finally updated my phone which was out of contract at £41 a month.
"Got a new deal with same services for £10 a month. Amazing!"
This means she has saved £372 a year on her phone bill.
The happy viewer cut costs on her mobile phone bill by doing one simple trick.
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The MoneySavingExpert.com founder told the audience to check if they're out of contact as up to nine million people are and therefore overpaying.
"What you need to do to check if you're out of contract in most cases is text 'INFO' to 85075 on your current phone.
"That should tell you whether you have termination fees to leave your contract – there are some times they can't do it but it's worth checking."
Martin said that if you're in contract and have termination fees then wait until its over as you probably won't be able to save money right now.
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He added: "If you are out of contract it is very likely you are overpaying."
Martin said that some people are still paying for the handset even after paying it off – the phone provider won't have reduced the cost automatically.
"If you're willing to switch network huge savings are possible.
"All you do is change the SIM in your phone which is your phone's ID."
The MSE founder said that you can find the best deal by heading to a comparison site and looking at options on there.
The handy hint comes as many mobile phone customers will see their bills increase from March.
The majority of mobile phone providers tend to announce in January that rates are going up – and this year was no different.
They base their annual price increases on the rate of inflation plus an extra 3.9%.
The rate of inflation was announced last week as 10.5%, so bills will rise by 14.4%.
Last month, BT, EE and Three confirmed to The Sun that they will put up bills by up to 14.4%.
Price rises will come into effect for millions of customers from the end of March.
Sky also confirmed that its mobile phone prices will be rising for out of contract customers.
It means their bills will increase by £1 a month, or an average of 9%.
Sky will contact all customers affected prior to the change coming in.
How much will my bill increase by?
Your internet provider or mobile network should contact you to let you know how much your bills will increase in April.
If you're an BT, EE, Plusnet or Three customer, there's an easy way to work out how much more you're set to pay from April.
Just find out what 14.4% of your current monthly bill is – you can use an online percentage calculator to work that out.
If you're a Virgin customer you'll need to use 13.8% instead, though remember this is an average rise.
Then add those two figures together – this will give you your new monthly payment.
To find out your annual cost, times that total figure by 12.
If you're not happy with the rise, then you could try and haggle a cheaper deal
If you think your bills are too high and want to drive them down, the first thing to do is find out what the cheapest deal on the market is.
You can use this rate as a bargaining tool to get a better offer with your provider.
Get in contact with your provider to see if they can match this rate – if not, you might want to switch instead.
If you're mid-contract though and wish to leave, bear in mind that you could face an exit fee so check with your provider for any charges.
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Plus, it could be harder haggling with these prices as they come most years from all providers.
For more ways to cut your phone bill, we've got eight tips for slashing costs.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
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