Little-known trick that could save you hundreds of pounds in mobile phone fees – it takes five minutes
IT’S easy to accidentally spent outside your phone contract both at home and abroad – but doing so could cost you hundreds of pounds.
However, there is a way to avoid racking up enormous bills, and many mobile phone customers may not be aware of it.
Most providers will let you set a maximum amount you can accidentally overspend with a so-called spend cap.
You could end up racking up extra charges if you run over your data allowance, make international calls or send photo messages, for example.
But a spend cap means you can only do this so many times before you’re automatically blocked, preventing you from being landed with a big bill this summer.
Consumer rights expert Martyn James explained: “Most mobile phone companies in the UK have the option to introduce a ‘spending cap’ or ‘spending manager’ – though you have to know about it in order to be able to do it!
“You can go online and set a spending cap – a maximum amount that you want to spend each month.
“But check what it includes first – for example, if data roaming is covered by the spending cap, it could stop you racking up a huge bill when abroad.”
However, Mr James warned there are some catches to be aware of.
“Some things aren’t included in the spending cap, such as other purchases made using your mobile phone bill,” he said.
“And if you hit the cap, you’ll be limited to emergency calls and calls to the network provider.”
Here’s everything you need to know.
What is a spend cap and how does it work?
A spend cap allows you to limit some of your mobile usage outside of your plan.
You can impose a limit for how much is spent on services like roaming, picture messages and international calls, which will help you manage your monthly bill.
What can spend caps control?
A spend cap can restrict charges for the following:
- Out-of-allowance calls, texts, and picture messages to standard UK and EU numbers,
- EU Roaming per day charge
- Out-of-allowance calls and messages abroad from the UK (IDD)
- Access charges for premium calls and texts for numbers starting 09, 118, 083, 084, 085, 087, 070.
- Call divert charges
- Calls via text relay
- Calls to 123
- Calls to bypass services 07744 and 07755
- Paging services
- Calls to 101 non-emergency numbers
- Calls to satellite phone numbers
- Aeroplane and maritime calls and messaging i.e. using your mobile on a cruise.
What are spend caps unable to control?
A spend cap doesn’t restrict charges onto your mobile bill for the following:
- Roam Abroad Pass
- Travel Data Pass
- Data pass purchases
- Add-on purchases i.e. Apple Music, TNT Sports, Minutes Add-Ons
- Phone insurance
- Service charges for premium calls and texts
- Charge to bill services like using your mobile bill as your App Store payment method or to enter text-based competitions and make donations
- Voice short codes
- Premium rate texts received
- Admin charges
- Late payment fees
- Monthly recurring charges such as plan charges.
How can I set up a spend cap?
Three
Three Mobile says you should choose the maximum amount you’re willing to pay on top of your plan and log onto My3 or the Three app.
If you’re not already logged in, select Go to account. On the plan tab, select Manage your plan. You’ll see your current spend cap. Simply select Edit to change your spend cap.
O2
Meanwhile, if you use o2, you can now choose to apply a spend cap with your monthly tariff to help manage your spend on out-of-bundle charges.
Any chargeable usage outside your monthly allowance or outside of any Bolt On allowance will count towards your spend cap.
You’ll be texted when systems detect that you’ve used 50 per cent of your spend cap, and once again when you use 100 per cent.
If you set a £0 spend cap, or once you reach 100% of your Spend Cap, any further chargeable out-of-bundle usage will not be possible.
Vodaphone’s spend manager can also be updated by logging in to the My Vodafone app, and you can update your spend limit any time.
If EE is your mobile provider, it’s easy to add a spend cap to your account via the EE app, online, text or by phone.
Simply open the EE app on your mobile, select manage, select plans & subscriptions, select mobile, scroll to the bottom of the screen and select settings, then select spend cap.
You can set up a Spend Cap by text – text SPEND CAP to 150 and follow the instructions, or on the phone, simply call 150 from your EE mobile.
How to save on your mobile phone bill
NOT happy with your current mobile phone deal?
If you’re outside the minimum term of your contract then you won’t need to pay a cancellation fee – and you might be able to find a cheaper deal elsewhere.
But don’t just switch contracts because the price is cheaper than what you’re currently paying.
Take a look at how many minutes and texts, as well as how much data you’re using, to find out which deal is best for you.
For example, if you’re a heavy internet user it’s worth finding a deal that accommodates this so you don’t end up spending extra on bundles or add-ons each month.
Also note that if you’re still in your contract period, you might be charged an exit fee.
Ready to look elsewhere? Pay-as-you-go deals are better for people who don’t regularly use their phone, while monthly contracts usually work out cheaper for those who do.
It’s worth using comparison websites, such as MoneySupermarket and uSwitch.com, to compare tariffs and phone prices.
Billmonitor also matches buyers to the best pay-monthly deal based on their previous three months of bills.
It only works if you’re a customer of EE, O2, Three, Vodafone or Tesco Mobile and you’ll need to log in with your online account details.
There’s also MobilePhoneChecker, which has a bill monitoring feature that recommends a tariff based on your monthly usage.
If you’re happy with your provider then it might be worth using your research to haggle a better deal.
Spend caps are free and optional, so you can always choose not to set one and have no usage restrictions if you want to.
Or, you can limit some usage outside of your monthly allowance to £50, £40, £30, £20, £10, or even £0.
You can also change your spend cap whenever you want by logging into your mobile phone account.