Martin Lewis began his new presenting role on Good Morning Britain with a bang, reminding viewers how they can save an enormous amount of money.
The Money Saving Expert has been giving financial advice and keeping politicians accountable for quite some time, but he now has a regular slot with Susanna Reid.
And he didn’t disappoint following his debut Wallet Wednesday episode, in which he showed viewers how to trade their £50 phone bill for just a tenner.
A caller had sent their query into the segment, asking: ‘I’ve got a two year fixed package deal with my mobile and broadband provider. Will I see a rise in my bills?’
‘Almost certainly yes,’ Martin began. ‘BT, Plusnet, TalkTalk, Shell, Virgin, Vodafone, Sky, broadband prices are going up an average 14% – not every single package.
‘Mobile, EE, O2, Three, Virgin, Vodafone, going up a typical 13% including mid-contract.’
He went on to explain: ‘If you’re mid-contract, it’s very difficult to do anything about it, because you’re locked in.
‘But if you’re out of contract, of which well over 10million of you watching, you’re out of contract, then you should be looking at going onto a comparison site because they tend to have cheaper deals than they offer direct, finding out what’s available, and then either switching or haggling.’
But it wasn’t Martin’s only piece of advise; he also gave a big suggestion.
‘If you text INFO to 85075 on your mobile, it will tell you whether you’re in contract or not, and if you are in contract what the fees would be to leave.’
‘It should be a free text,’ he added, before clarifying that it may not work for everyone.
How can you save money on your phone contract? Martin Lewis’s money-saving tip:
- Text INFO to 85075 (this is a free text, but may not work for everyone)
- This will tell you whether you’re in a contract or not, and if you are, what the fees would be to leave
- If you’re out of contract, go onto a comparison site to find out what’s available and the best deal for you
- You can then choose to switch to another contract or haggle your contract price, leading to huge savings
He continued: ‘That’s the start point, because if you’re out of contract, then you either want to haggle with them or you want to switch.’
Martin then provided an example of how this may significantly impact people’s lives.
‘People paying £50 out there a month, you can get a hundred gig of data, unlimited calls and texts for around – once you factor in all the discounts – a tenner a month!
‘So why is anyone paying more?’
Another caller informed Martin that they had lowered their grandmother’s phone cost from £47 to 99p for the first six months, then to £4.99 per month.
‘It’s a good result,’ Martin agreed, highlighting when he’d earlier spoken about phone bills being overpaid ‘massively’.
Martin’s appearance on Good Morning Britain and his tips sparked applause from viewers, with one writing: ‘MARTIN LEWIS IS A LEGEND, PROPER GREAT MAN.’
Another said: ‘Just like to say massive well done to Martin Lewis you cracked it on your first full good morning…’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on BBC One.
