MoneySavingExpert's Money Tips Email

With the cost of living crisis hitting most key bills, one oasis right now is the mobile market, where deflation continues in tariff prices. That means if you haven't looked at your bill in a couple of years, there are almost certainly savings to be made.

Six years ago £10/month got you 4GB of data - now you can get treble that for half the price.

The speedy route is to use our Cheap Mobile Finder tool, and below we'll take you step-by-step through the current cheapest Sim and hot handset deals from it.

MoneySaver Debra emailed to say she's saving £340/year: "Thanks for the tip. Instead of paying £20/month each for our two mobiles, we went Sim-only and now pay £11.60/month for the two phones - saving £28.40/month."

If you're one of the nine million people who are out of contract on their mobiles, you may be massively overpaying. Some may even be forking out the same old 'pay off your handset' contract rates, even though their handset's already fully paid off.

Yet use our cheap Sim comparison to find the right Sim (the chip in your phone that dictates your data, calls & texts allowance) and many can save large. If your phone's locked to a network, your existing provider must unlock it free of charge - see free mobile unlocking.

Here are examples of what's out there - all have UNLIMITED mins & texts. Not sure how much data you use? Our Data Calculator can help...

5GB/month for '£3.92/month'. Ends Fri. This Virgin Mobile Sim (uses Vodafone's network) costs £6/month, but you can claim a £25 Amazon voucher. Factor that in and it's equivalent to £3.92/month over the 12-month contract.
12GB/month for '£4.86/month'. Ends Sat. This MSE Blagged Lebara Sim (uses Vodafone's network) is £1.99/month for five months, then £6.90/month on a one-month rolling contract - we've averaged the price over a year.
100GB/month (which is HUGE) for '£10.92/month'. This Three Sim costs £15/month, but gives £49 automatic cashback within three months. Factor it in and it's equivalent to £10.92/month over the year's contract.

Quick tip: Send a text to keep your number. When getting a new deal, just text 'PAC' to 65075 for your 'porting authorisation code'.

Give it to your new provider and your number will be moved over within one working day.

Worried about switching as you want to keep your signal?

There are actually only four UK networks: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. All others piggyback on their signals (for example, Tesco Mobile's underlying network is O2). So you can move to a cheaper provider and keep the same signal, but as always, when switching provider...

- If you've a 5G phone, do check that the new provider offers 5G.
- Features such as Wi-Fi-calling or 4G-calling may not be available. Our tool flags up what each offers, so if they're important to you - check.

Our cheap Sims tool allows you to filter by network, so you can find the cheapest deal for the provider you want. This table shows you cheap deals for each network with around 4GB/month usage...

Network (& providers that use it)	Cheapest deal on it (with min 3GB data)
EE (including BT Mobile, Plusnet, 1pMobile, Your Co-op, Ecotalk, Zevvle)	Plusnet 4GB Sim '£4.75/month' over the 12-month contract
O2 (including Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, Lycamobile)	Lycamobile 3GB PAYG Sim £5/month, no contract (1,000 mins & texts)
Three (including iD Mobile, Smarty, FreedomPop, Honest Mobile, Superdrug)	Smarty 4GB Sim £5/month on a one-month contract
Vodafone (including Virgin Mobile, Voxi, Lebara, Asda Mobile, TalkMobile)	Virgin Mobile 5GB Sim '£3.92/month' over the 12-month contract
All come with unlimited mins & texts unless stated.

Sticking with your current handset is cheaper and greener. But if you need a new phone / or really want one (and can afford it), then there are many ways to cut the cost...

Getting the features you need doesn't always mean the latest model. There's a big price premium on the latest handsets, yet the changes from model to model these days are usually small (cynics may say it's just marketing to keep pumping prices high). Our find me a phone tool lets you say what you want from a phone, then finds the cheapest suitable handsets.

Or, if you know how much you can pay, let that rule with our find me the best phone & deal within my budget tool.
Contracts now often beat buying the phone & Sim separately. It used to be buying a handset outright and pairing it with a cheap Sim was always a winner. Yet over the last year or so we've seen some resellers' contract deals massively undercutting that.

Our cheapest new handset tool shows both options across all phone models. The table below shows some of the most popular (all with unlimited mins & texts), all of which are also MSE Blagged, as we've managed to negotiate deals that undercut the market leaders.

Phone, network & data	Cost & contract
iPhone 11 (64GB) Three, unlimited data (via Buymobiles)	£19 upfront, then £20/month Total £499 over two-year contract Save £587 versus buying direct from Three. Buying the handset alone is £429
Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G (128GB) Three, 100GB/month (via MobilePhonesDirect)	£19 upfront, then £21/month Total £523 over two-year contract Save £443 versus buying direct from Three. Buying the handset alone is £469
Samsung Galaxy S21 5G (128GB) Three, 100GB/month (via MobilePhonesDirect)	£20 upfront, then £24/month Total £596 over two-year contract Save £729 versus buying direct from Three. Buying the handset alone is £549
iPhone 12 (64GB) Three, 100GB/month (via Fonehouse)	£19 upfront, then £26/month Total £643 over two-year contract Save £491 versus buying direct from Three. Buying the handset alone is £600
iPhone 13 (128GB) Three, 100GB/month (via Fonehouse)	£85 upfront, then £29/month Total £781 over two-year contract Save £517 versus buying direct from Three. Buying the handset alone is £719
The resellers listed are big, and generally have good feedback. Your contract is with the network, so it's responsible for the tariff, though your handset consumer rights lie with the reseller.

Refurb handsets are often far cheaper. Top-grade refurbished models are often just returned from customers who have changed their mind. For example, a "pristine" refurb iPhone SE 2020 64GB is £239 versus £369 new. In our handset comparison tool filters, just opt to include refurbished phones and you can compare refurbs against new phones to find the cheapest way to get one.

Quick tip: Don't get a new handset just because yours has run out of storage.

If your phone's run out of room for photos, videos, games and apps, check if you can easily boost storage, without the cost of upgrading. See 14 ways to boost mobile storage.

Yes, it's now that bit at the bottom, where we group together all the tips and bits we want to tell you that don't really fit in the sections above...

Happy where you are? Haggle to cut costs. Mobile firms are among the easiest to haggle with - success rates for those who try are over about 70%. So use the tools above to benchmark your top deal, then see our mobile haggling tips for how to get your provider to beat it.

As Danny emailed: "My contract had run out and I was paying £40/month. I renegotiated a new Sim-only contract, and it has halved my bill. I probably wouldn't have checked it if I hadn't followed your advice - so a big thank you."
Flog old mobiles - for example, £150 for an iPhone. If your phone is still usable there are sound financial and environmental reasons to recycle your old handset, given they can give off potentially noxious substances as they decay.

You could pop the handset on eBay, or for ease, use one of the dozen mobile-phone-buying companies out there. To find the best payer, there are comparison sites including Sell My Mobile*, Compare My Mobile* and Compare and Recycle - use at least a couple for the widest possible search.

Firms usually promise payment via bank transfer within one day of receiving your phone. If something goes wrong, unfortunately you've little protection, so check reviews first. More info in our Sell your old mobiles guide.
Add a spending cap to stop eye-watering bills. If you use up your monthly data allowance, extra data often isn't cheap. But simply add a spending cap to your account, and you'll never spend more than you can afford. See how to set a personalised spending cap.
Members of cashback sites may be able to get deals even cheaper. These sites often give cashback on Sim-only and handset deals, and in some cases, they can undercut promotional deals elsewhere. But don't assume they're the same deal: they can be structured differently, so check carefully. See Top cashback sites for more.

DON'T believe the fake 'Martin Lewis' or 'MSE' ads
Lots of scam ads litter social media and even newspaper websites - some of these lie that we or Martin promote Bitcoin, binary trading etc. See Fake ads warning.

Martin: Are you on minimum wage? You may be UNDERPAID, 500,000 are! Check & claw back the extra

Even if you're not on min wage, SPREAD WORD. It could be worth £100s to friends & family

The UK minimum wage increased on 1 April - upping incomes for the lowest-paid workers. Yet many who think they are on minimum wage are in reality actually being paid LESS than they should. The Low Pay Commission believes this could be almost half a million people. I want to give you a flavour of the rules here, though it's far better to read our detailed new National minimum wage: are you being paid enough? guide.

The UK minimum wage
	Apprentice	Under-18	Age 18-20	Age 21-22	Age 23+
Rate since 1 Apr 2022 (prev rate)	£4.81/hr (£4.30)	£4.81/hr (£4.62)	£6.83/hr (£6.56)	£9.18/hr (£8.36)	£9.50/hr (£8.91)
It applies to all workers, even if not paid hourly. Eg, if over 22 and on a 35hr week, your salary must be £17,290+/yr.

Don't think 'I work for a big firm so it must be correct'. In 2021, 191 companies - including John Lewis, Body Shop International and Sheffield United FC - were 'named and shamed' by the Government for failing to pay correctly.
You should be reimbursed if paying for a uniform or safety equipment takes you below min wage. This is firms' most common failing. If you have to buy a uniform or safety equipment, and doing so takes your equivalent hourly salary under the minimum wage, your employer should cover the cost so you still earn at least the minimum.
Employers can't 'top you up' with commission, tips or overtime. The national minimum wage usually relates to what you should earn, your base salary has to be at least the legal minimum. (If you're commission-only, the firm must ensure that you receive at least the equivalent of minimum wage for the hours worked. More info's in the guide.)
You should be paid for ALL the time you work. If you must spend time going through security checks, doing handover meetings, being on call (at your workplace), and closing or opening up your place of work, this is work and should be hours you are paid for. If not, you are owed money. This also includes travel time if it's part of your job, such as a care worker doing home visits.
There are many other ways you could've been underpaid. It can be complex, especially if accommodation is part of your income, so do go through the guide's more detailed 8 ways you may've been underpaid.
If you are being (or were being) underpaid, you've a legal right to be paid more and to backpay. It can be as simple as submitting a quick form on the HM Revenue & Customs website - and you remain anonymous. You can also report, and be owed by, old employers (max six years ago). Full help in how to claim what you're owed.

PS: I won't use the term 'national living wage'. Back in 2015, then-Chancellor George Osborne announced he was renaming the then over-25s (now over-23s) minimum wage the 'national living wage' - stealing the Living Wage Foundation charity's (which I've long supported) brand. The REAL living wage is a voluntary employers' wage scheme, based on the actual cost of living, which is currently £9.90/hour UK and £11.05/hour in London - 10,000 are signed up, click the foundation's link to check yours.

Martin: 'Check your savings. Under 1.5% and you're being underpaid - DON'T STAND FOR IT!' Fixed and easy-access rates are the highest they've been since 2019. It was huge when we did it last week, so if you missed it, do see Martin's must-read briefing for anyone with savings.

New. Your work-learnt INSIDER tips including... 'One massive block of cheese, but five wrapping stations for different brands... including Tesco Value.' We asked you to spill the (own brand) beans from your hidden work knowledge and we had factory workers, posties, car sellers, travel agents and more give their 'insider' MoneySaving tips.

999 summer flowering bulbs £12 delivered. MSE Blagged. Includes oxalis iron cross and acidanthera. 4,000 bundles available, but not in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. Thompson & Morgan

Martin: 'The wholesale gas price at lowest level since Nov '21...' That's still nearly 3x the old typical run-rate so it isn't a huge reversal, but may mean, for gas & electricity: (1) The Oct price cap RISE will lessen a bit - it's based on the six-month average over Feb to July. (2) A few better fixed deals may launch. We'll keep you in touch if hot short-lived tariffs do come up - we'll put them in our Energy updates guide.

Has your energy firm unfairly increased your direct debit? Please fill in our new 5-min energy direct debit survey to help us gather evidence to send to Parliament / the regulator Ofgem.

Ends 11.59pm Thursday. Megafast 108Mb Virgin broadband & line just '£17/month' - we've never seen cheaper. Newbies applying for this MSE Blagged Virgin Media deal get 108Mb broadband & line for £22.95/month with an automatic £100 bill credit (so barring calls, there's nowt to pay for four months). Factor that in over the 18-month contract and it's equivalent to £17.40/month. Use our broadband comparison for alternatives if it's not available in your area.

Martin: 'I need YOUR help (especially if you're young, male and/or from an ethnic minority).' It's now six years since I founded the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute charity. Part of its huge impact is because the volunteer Research Community of those with lived experience of mental health & money issues ensure the policy ideas work in the real world. And we now need more people to join that community. For more info watch my video explaining what the charity does and how you can help.

BLAGGED FOR MSE

- Megafast 108Mb broadband & line '£17.40/month' Ends Thu
- 999 summer flowering bulbs for £12 4,000 bundles available
- 16 Beer52 craft beers for £19 delivered 5,000 boxes available

DID YOU MISS?

- £10 off £30 at Amazon - do you qualify?
- Half-price train tickets sale - can you find 'em?
- Feeling the cost of living crunch? 90 ways to keep afloat
- Halfords £10 off £20 and more
- A YEAR's unlimited 2for1s to 390 UK gardens with £7.50 mag

Ends Fri. UK's BIGGEST bank switch bonus - FREE £175

Unless your account keeps you happy, why not get paid to switch? But do decide quickly...

Currently FIVE banks pay you to switch to them. The choice is yours, but if you're after cold, hard, immediate cash in your bank, then the biggest upfront switch bribe - in fact the biggest since March 2020 - is being pulled on Friday.

Switching is easy. You'll need to pass a not-too-harsh credit check, then use the new bank's switching service. It automatically closes your old account and moves over your money, direct debits and standing orders within seven working days. Plus any payments that still go to the old account will automatically be forwarded to the new one.

TOP NEWBIES' FREE CASH SWITCHING OFFERS
Account & criteria	Key info	When it pays out
Ends 11.59pm Friday. HSBC Advance* FREE £175 Customer service: 38% 'great'	Top for upfront cash. The free £175 is available via this specific link* (not direct). To get the cash, you need to pay in £1,500+ once (which you can then withdraw) and switch your old account, including 2+ direct debits / standing orders. See full HSBC eligibility info & review.	Within 30 days of meeting switch criteria
First Direct 1st Account* FREE £150 + 0% overdraft + 3.5% linked regular savings Customer service: 90% 'great'	Top for service. Switchers get a free £150 or £20 just to try it without switching* (to switch later, call it to get the extra £130). It gives many an ongoing £250 0% overdraft, and its service has been top or near top of every poll we've done. Plus from Thursday you'll be able to open its linked regular saver and get 3.5% interest on up to £300/month. To get the £150, you must pay in £1,000+ once (which you can then withdraw). See full First Direct eligibility info & review. A free £100 and potentially larger 0% overdraft is possible via Nationwide FlexDirect.	Within 28 days of meeting switch criteria
Halifax Reward Account FREE £125 + possible £5/month or monthly cinema ticket reward Customer service: 58% 'great'	Strong ongoing rewards, but hurdles to jump. If you... - have £1,500+ going into the account each month (£3/month fee if not), and - stay in credit and either do debit card spending of £500+ each month OR keep £5,000+ in its no-interest account ... then on top of the switch bonus, each month for a year you can opt to receive £5, a Vue cinema ticket, two online film rentals or three digital mags. Add that in and it's lucrative. See full Halifax eligibility info & review.	Within about 13 days of starting the switch
New. Virgin Money M Plus* FREE 12-bottle case of wine or 100 Greggs sausage rolls Customer service: 45% 'great'	Top for reward options, but no free cash. Virgin Money's tweaked its deal so switchers now get 20,000 Virgin Red points. 19,000 points gets a 12-bottle case of wine, 4,000 gives two comedy-night tickets and 200 gets a Greggs sausage roll. The account also pays 2% interest on up to £1,000 (and 1% on up to £25k in its linked savings), and its debit card is a top pick for spending abroad. To qualify, you'll need 2+ direct debits, to use its app at least once and to pay £1,000+ into the linked M Plus savings. See full Virgin eligibility info & review.	Within 14 days of meeting switch criteria

16 Beer52 craft beers for £19 delivered. MSE Blagged. 5,000 boxes available. Beer52 (please be Drinkaware).

Two 'free' Legoland tickets via newspaper. Spend £8, get up to £124 of tickets. Block-buster

New. Get £50 cashback for investing £500. 1,000 available. If you plan to 'robo-invest' - where investments are selected for you based on your attitude to risk - then after fees, this Moneyfarm deal for newbies gets you a 9% head start. That's provided you keep the full investment for a min 12 months. (And this doesn't mean we recommend Moneyfarm, as we don't do investment tips - but if you're going to use it anyway, you can get cashback.) Full help in Robo-investing cashback.

£10 off £50 Food Warehouse coupon with 60p newspaper spend. See how to find it.

Did you do the Sainsbury's 'Big Points Swap'? It messed up some people's swaps. But it's now agreed to honour the higher-value swap rates offered in its original email. Full info and what to do in Nectar blunder.

'I reclaimed almost £4,800 thanks to your packaged bank accounts article.' Our success of the week comes from MoneySaver Julie who used our tips to reclaim packaged bank account fees: "I want to say a big thank you. I tried to cancel my account in 2010 but was told 'it wasn't possible' by the bank. Then reading your article I realised that this just wasn't true. I followed your advice and used the template letter. 18 days later, I got a refund of £4,786." If we've helped you save, please send us your MoneySaving successes on this or owt else.

FREE Green Living Live tickets (normally £15). London Excel, 30 April to 8 May. 5,000 available. Green Living Live

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AT A GLANCE BEST BUYS

Longest 0%: Virgin Money (check eligibility / apply*) - 34 months 0%, 2.7% fee (21.9% rep APR interest)
No-fee 0%: Santander (check eligibility / apply*) - 21 months 0% (21.9% rep APR) or NatWest - 22 months 0% if you're a NatWest/RBS customer (21.9% rep APR)

Standard (10Mb+): Plusnet '£13.16/month'
Fibre (30Mb+): Shell Energy '£16.58/month'
Superfast fibre (55Mb+): Shell Energy '£16.91/month'
Megafast fibre (100Mb+): Virgin Media '£17.40/month'

Top easy-access: Chase 1.5%, no min
Top one-year fix: Allica Bank 2.1%, min £10,000

Try our new MSE Car Insurance Multi-Compare tool

Cheapest, £5k-£7.5k: MBNA (check eligibility / apply*) - 3.4% rep APR interest
Cheapest, £7.5k-£15k: M&S Bank (check eligibility / apply*) - 2.8% rep APR interest

Ends Fri. £175 to switch: HSBC
£150 to switch + TOP service: First Direct

4GB-9GB data: Virgin Mobile, '£3.92/month' for 5GB, unlimited mins & texts
10GB+ data: Lebara, '£4.86/month' for 12GB, unlimited mins & texts

THIS WEEK'S POLL

Have you switched off your central heating? Soaring energy bills and warmer spring weather have seen many turn off their heating in recent days and weeks. So we want to know if you've turned off your central heating, and if so, whether it was mainly down to weather or cost?

Nearly two-fifths of MoneySavers say they've moved their savings in the last three months. With easy-access rates more than double what they were three months ago, encouragingly 39% of the 2,600 people who responded to last week's savings poll said they'd switched in that time. But more than one in 10 had NEVER moved their savings, and are likely earning rock-bottom rates. See full savings poll results.

MSE NEWS

- Top story: British Gas admits smart meter customers have been unable to track energy use for two months
- Flybe takes to the skies again - here's how the airline stacks up in terms of price and rewards
- Police issue warning over fake emails claiming to be from Martin Lewis after 1,000+ reported
- Ground rent to be banned on new leases from 30 June saving homeowners £100s/year
- Santander to slash opening hours at hundreds of branches

MONEY MORAL DILEMMA

Should I ask for my daughter's school-leavers' celebrations to be cheaper? My daughter's leaving primary school in July. The parent committee has organised a trip, T-shirts and yearbooks to celebrate. They've asked parents to contribute £75 each and although I can scrimp elsewhere to find the money, it won't be easy. I want to ask the committee to scale back the plans so it's cheaper, but I'm also aware the kids have had no trips or parties at all over the last two years due to the pandemic and I don't want to be the one to ruin their fun. Enter the Money Moral Maze: Should I ask for a school-leavers' celebration to be cheaper? | Suggest a Money Moral Dilemma

- Win a bundle of board games & £1,000
- Win a murder mystery game
- Win a kids' climbing frame & slide
- Win LED light-up gloves (ages 4 to 7)

- Win £500 of Math Scientific skincare
- Win £500 of Instant Effects skincare
- Win a Look Fantastic x Bobbi Brown beauty box
- Win a set of five Organic Pharmacy serums

MSE TEAM BLOG

- Cocktails, carpets and cold lunch meat - last week's MSE Forum highlights

MARTIN'S APPEARANCES (WED 27 APR ONWARDS)

Wed 27 Apr - This Morning, phone-in, ITV, 10.55am
Wed 27 Apr - Ask Martin Lewis, BBC Radio 5 Live, 1pm. Listen to past episodes

MSE TEAM APPEARANCES (SUBJECT TBC)

Tue 3 May - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Mid-morning with Jeremy Sallis, from 12.40pm

BAKE 'EM, GRATE 'EM OR DONATE 'EM... WHAT DO YOU DO WITH LEFTOVER EASTER EGGS?

That's all for this week, but before we go... after MSE Laura F grated a leftover Easter egg to use as a cocktail garnish, she asked Forumites for other ideas to use up surplus chocolate eggs. While many were shocked at the very idea of leftover chocolate, others suggested putting them into kids' lunchboxes, baking them into rocky road or cornflake cakes, or donating them to a foodbank. Though one Forumite got particularly creative, describing how they take half a large egg to the ice cream van to get it filled up with soft ice cream (we guess it saves on the price of a cone?!). Get inspired and add your own suggestions in the leftover chocolate eggs discussion.

We hope you save some money, stay safe,
The MSE team

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More about MoneySavingExpert and Martin Lewis

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Founded in February 2003, it is now the UK's biggest consumer help website, with more than 12 million users each month and about 8.5 million receiving this email. In September 2012 it became part of the MoneySupermarket Group PLC. Its focus is simple - saving cash and fighting for financial justice on anything and everything. The site has over 80 full-time staff, more than a third of whom are editorial - researching, analysing and writing to continually find ways to save money. More info: See About MSE.

Who is Martin Lewis?
Martin Lewis CBE is the founder and executive chair of MSE, as well as the founder of the MMHPI charity. He's an ultra-focused MoneySaving journalist and consumer campaigner with his own prime-time ITV programme The Martin Lewis Money Show, Radio 5 Live Wednesday show Ask Martin Lewis and weekly slot on This Morning, among others. More info: See Martin Lewis' biography.

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