Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has issued a word of warning to anybody who has a mobile phone. Maritin is urging everybody to 'act now' before changes come into place in eight weeks' time.
In April, many major phone providers will hike their prices. Some providers will be increasing their prices by as much as 14% - an amount that will hit millions of people's pockets.
But according to Martin, there are things people can do to make sure they're not hit by the mobile phone price hike. He explained all to ITV viewers.
Speaking on Tuesday night's episode of the ITV Martin Lewis Money Show, the finance expert urged everyone with a mobile phone to send two texts as soon as possible. It will take you seconds, but could save you a significant amount of money.
The first text tells you whether you're in contract and how much it would cost to leave, the second allows you to take your number with you to move to a different network. 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, says Yorkshire Live.
"What I want you to do first is I want you to check if you're out of contract. Over 9million 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."
He said people who do have fees that you probably can't save money right now, so you will have to bide your time 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."
Martin warned previously that many broadband and phone providers use inflation PLUS roughly 4% to factor their price rises annually, which they are legally allowed to do in the terms of their contracts. Because the CPI announced inflation of 10% last week, many providers are sending out price rise letters to customers on mobile and broadband contracts right now, taking effect from around April.
READ NEXT:
Women say budget £7.99 mascara makes even the shortest lashes 'look like salon extensions'
Boots shoppers hail 'incredible' £38 beauty box with more than £170-worth of premium products inside
Aldi shoppers rush to buy 'magic' £2.99 cream that makes stretch marks VANISH
Matalan shoppers praise 'flattering' £7 dress that suits everyone and makes you look slimmer
Aldi shoppers say £40 hair Special Buy is 'MUCH better' than £190 GHDs
