With the cost-of-living crisis forcing people across the UK to keep an unreasonably tight grip on the purse strings, Martin Lewis has encouraged anyone with a mobile phone to possibly save hundreds of pounds a year by simply sending two texts. Speaking on the latest edition of the ITV1 Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday night, the money saving expert said that texting these two little known numbers could slash bills across the country.
Lewis revealed this potentially crucial information as major mobile phone networks and broadband providers are set to hit customers with large price hikes this spring, and Martin has recommended viewers to act quickly to cut their monthly phone costs. The first text will inform you if you're in contract and how much it would cost to leave, while the second allows you to take your number with you to a different network if you choose, Yorkshire Live reports
Martin told his ITV1 audience: "Last week I told you broadband and mobile bills are going up 14% in April for most of the big firms. What I want you to do first is I want you to check if you're out of contract. Over 9 million of you are and are overpaying.
"What you need to do in most cases is text INFO to 85075 on your current phone. And that should tell you whether you have termination fees to leave your contract."
Lewis said to those who do have fees that they probably are unable to save money right now, so will have to patient instead.
But he added: "If you're out of contract there are actually some of you - outrageously and this should not be allowed - who got a contract with a handset and once you paid the handset off, they keep the price at the same level so you're still paying the with-handset price even if you're no longer using it." Martin said that right now, there's an unlimited minutes and texts with 5GB of data deal for £3.40 a month. For 15GB you can get £4 a month.
"Most people are paying so much more than that. If you want to keep your number, text PAC to 65075 on your old phone, they will send you your PAC code and you use this with your new provider as a way to keep your old number. Of course you could use this as a way to haggle with your existing provider."
Lewis has warned before that many broadband and phone providers use inflation PLUS around 4% to factor their annual price rises, which when it comes to contracts they are legally entitled to do.
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