THINK you’re good with money? I bet you’re making some silly mistakes that could be costing you hundreds of pounds, just like me.
Thankfully, I caught the errors before I frittered away some serious cash – but you could be doing them too.
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I was sat on the sofa a few weeks ago, scrolling through my phone when I decided to log into my mobile phone app for the first time in yonks.
I recently had my phone number spoofed (which is when crooks steal your number and use it to trick unsuspecting victims into handing over money), so I wanted to check everything was fine with my account.
But when I logged in, lots of phone deals flashed up on my screen, telling me I was eligible for an upgrade.
That’s odd, I thought – I’m still tied into my contract, so why was I getting all these adverts?
I decided to double check my paperwork in and to my surprise, I saw that my 24-month plan had ended a month earlier.
It turns out I had missed an important email in my inbox warning me that my contract was ending in June.
“Do nothing and keep your existing service for £34.58 a month,” the email read.
I was kicking myself – I had been planning to switch to a SIM only contract as soon as I had paid off my handset to save money.
Had I just spent a month unnecessarily paying a higher bill, when a simple swap could have saved me money?
I immediately sprang into action, and signed up to a £7 a month SIM only deal, saving myself a whopping £27.58 a month or £330.96 a year.
It might have been months before I discovered my rookie error, and I could have wasted hundreds of pounds.
The “double paying” mistake
This mistake is called “double paying” – when you’re essentially paying off a handset that is already paid off – and you’re probably doing exactly the same thing as well.
There are five million mobile phone customers who are at risk of “double paying” on their bill, according to Uswitch.
Each customer could save an average of £321 a year just by switching to a SIM-only deal.
Phone providers are cashing in an extra £1.6billion because of our mistakes.
Switch around your subscriptions
You could save £800 a year by simply switching around your streaming subscriptions.
Research for us by AJ Bell found running six of the most popular TV streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Apple One and Youtube Premium – for a year would now cost a family around £1,000.
But households could save £829 – 80% of that cost – by swapping the services throughout the year instead of running them all together.
Here’s the full run down of calculations.
You can check if you are an unwitting double payer by texting INFO to 85075.
This is a free service that allows you to check if you are in or out of contract, and will also let you know if you would need to pay an exit charge to leave your contract early.
If you’re out of contract, use a comparison site to look at the best SIM only deals available.
The subscription trap
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As I breathed a big sigh of relief, I started to wonder: what other silly money mistakes was I making?
I decided to log into my bank app and check my direct debits in case I was paying for something I had forgotten about, or didn’t need.
Low and behold, I spotted a £4.99 direct debit I had set up to pay my husband for a TV streaming service, Hayu, I had signed up for using his Amazon Prime account.
Now, I love a bit of reality TV – but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember when I had last used it.
I think the last time I watched my guilty pleasure, Below Deck, was back in April – and I had totally forgotten I had the account.
That meant I had spent three months paying for streaming service I just wasn’t using – I may as well have flushed £15 down the toilet.
Many people have fallen into this subscription trap just like me.
The average person is wasting £61 annually on services they don’t use, because they forgot to cancel their direct debit, according to HSBC.
While 48% of us admit that they have been paying for unwanted subscriptions longer than they should, according to a survey of 2,000 customers by the bank.
I asked my husband to cancel the subscription, and I stopped the direct debit, which took me a matter of seconds. That has saved me £60 a year.
Do your bank balance a favour and do a direct debit spring clean twice a year.
It’s surprisingly easy to forget about subscriptions – so keep on top of yours by going in your bank app, click on your regular payments, and make sure to cancel any subscriptions (and then the direct debit) for ones you don’t need.
In total, switching to a SIM only deal and cancelling my unused subscription has saved me £390.96.
It took me just two minutes to do, all from the comfort of my sofa.
So what are you waiting for? Do some important bill checks now and save hundreds at the click of a button.
