Money expert Martin Lewis has warned millions of mobile phone customers that they are being ripped off and need to change their phone tariff the same day they finish paying off their handset.
Phone contracts in the UK, whether it’s EE, Three, Vodafone or O2, will often include the price of the phone within the monthly contract you pay for the service. For example, a new iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy S25 may cost you £40-70 a month, and within that you also get your minutes and data.
But the vast majority of the monthly contract cost is the price of the phone itself – which is why SIM-only deals are usually so much cheaper.
But, Martin Lewis warned on his ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show Live that many mobile phone companies will keep on charging their customers the same monthly rate even after their fixed contract period ends and the phone is therefore paid for.
Martin heard from a woman who looked up a SIM only deal after paying £224 a month for a family of three, but managed to cut it to £34 a month for all three, saving £190 a month.
Martin then replied: “The problem is how much they were paying in the first place.
“I bet I can guess what was happening there, and you just need to really be aware of this.
“This is what happens, people go and get themself a new iPhone, then they’re paying £40, £50 a month for it because they’re paying off the phone.
“The contract’s two years and at the end of the two years, the phone is paid off, but if you do nothing, they don’t drop the price, so you’re still paying the price as if you’re paying off the handset itself for the tariff, which would cost you diddly squat if you got it on its own.”
Martin said that the 14 million mobile customers who are out of contract in the UK should be looking to get a cheaper deal to avoid this ‘massive rip-off’.
He continued: “I mean that is a massive rip-off, it shouldn’t be allowed, it is allowed, if you’re getting a phone on a contract, the DAY you have paid your phone off you need to be getting a new tariff, or even going to the same firm and saying I wanna pay less.
“It’s like having a loan that once you paid the loan off they keep charging you because they go… they haven’t noticed!.”
