One Martin Lewis viewer, Steve, said he was able to save a massive £861 per year by following the money guru’s advice – paying an average of just £2.97 for a whole year
Martin Lewis has urged Brits to save money on a key household bill – warning millions are paying several times more than they should be for a basic service. The money saving guru estimates that a massive 14 million Brits are currently out of contract with mobile phone companies, making their phone bills four times higher than they could be.
During one episode of his show earlier this month, he highlighted the extraordinary case of a woman and her daughter who were paying a massive £150 each per month with their current non-contract deal. While not having a specific agreement with a phone service can potentially prove costly for Brit households, it also provides them with an opportunity to cut their bills down to as little as £2, Martin Lewis has said – provided they follow three steps.
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Check whether you’re in contract
Most phone contracts are built to run for a set amount of time, after which they lapse and are replaced by rolling monthly charges instead. Customers who are paying monthly may not have realised their contracts expired, and there is a way to check whether this is the case, Mr sLewis said.
He said: “First thing, text INFO for free to 85075 to check. If you‘re on Three, ID mobile, or Smarty, then it’ll reply back and you’ll need to confirm your date of birth. Don’t worry about that, just do it. What it will then tell you is whether you have any early termination or cancellation charges. You need those to be £0. That means you’re out of contract and you can ditch and switch for free.”
Use price comparison sites to find the best deals
The next move, contrary to what people might typically think, is not to go direcly to a phone company in search of the best deal. Mr Lewis warned they will “always charge you more”, adding the best deals can be found on price comparison sites, which offer “short-term promo offers”.
He explained: “Look at these prices at the moment. Just look at these: [compared with] £24 a month, you’ve got a Lebara Sim on Vodafone’s signal, depending which site you go to, equivalent of between £2 or £5 a month over a year, and it’s a one-month contract, you can break it. £24 a month [versus] £2 a month. Ridiculous.”
Saying most people are “massively overpaying”, Mr Lewis added prices for Sim phones have “gone down every year”, and that “switchers get the best deals”.
One Martin Lewis viewer, Steve, said he followed the recommendation and was able to knock his bill down by nearly £70. He said: “I was paying £71 a month. I took your advice and swapped to another provider on Sim-only paying 65p a month for nine months and then £9.90 for the last three, making it an average of £2.97 for 12 months. This will save me £861 a year. I’m a pensioner so thank you.”
Choose a deal and keep your number
Once new customers have found an enticing new deal, they can change providers and keep their number. Doing so is simple, and can be done by texting PAC to 65075. People who text the number receive a code in return, which can be given to their new provider to register their service with their current phone number.
