Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has issued a warning to millions of Brits with popular email addresses. Martin gave the warning on ITV's This Morning, when a viewer called Pauline called in.
Pauline called to ask for advice on her email account. She said she has an email from a TV and broadband provider. Pauline said she wanted to move to another company - and had been told that her email account would be closed, meaning she would lose her data and contacts.
Martin told her the best thing to do was to create an email address with a company not connected to a TV, phone or internet service.
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"This is the classic reason for not setting up your own email address with your provider," he said. "You are going to have this issue forever.
"You're always going to find it difficult to move so here is my tip. Decide today that you're going to set up, let's say a Gmail account. Start telling everyone you know to email you on Gmail. Auto-forward your current email address to Gmail so that it sends it to your new email address and you should always reply from there.
"Do that for a couple of months until you're pretty sure about everything and then leave. That gives you an extra 90 days, and you do need to check that. After that you then have the flexibility to move."
Martin went on to demonstrate the financial benefits of making this shift. He said that the flexibility to switch to cheaper providers could save up to £300 per annum, making savings of up to £1,000 within a few years.
"It can easily save you up to £200 to 300 a year," he explained. After a few years you could easily be up to £1,000 gained by going to the cheapest provider each time.
"You need to break that habit of allowing them to lock you in by keeping your email. It will be a pain to do so but I suggest you take the time."
Millions of households are thought to be out of contract with their broadband provider. Always compare prices to see if you're getting the best deal - then if you want to leave, make sure you can do so penalty-free. You could also try haggling your existing provider down in price if you've found a better deal elsewhere.
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