When you’re behind on mobile phone bill payments

We’ve all been surprised by a high phone bill at some point that left a gaping hole in our budgets. We try to service as much of the debt as possible and let an outstanding amount roll over to the next month. But then we’re slapped with overdue charges and the next month, we find ourselves in the same situation — unable to foot the bill for the entire amount and three months later, the bill has spiraled out of control.

Eventually you decide to simply ‘wing it’ and pay it all off — at the expense of your discretionary allowance — but with a friendly looking credit card in your wallet, a tighter budgeted month starts looking unnecessary.

Instead of reminding yourself to stick to your budget diet, your late nights out, café lunches and mid week shopping lifestyle is still attainable —, so why suffer right? The utility bill may have been sorted, but now you’ve dug yourself in a hole with your credit card.

Why were you short?

It’s not unusual to receive a higher-than-usual phone bill from time to time. You might have had friends in town or decided to make a few overseas calls to catch up with your old university buddies without paying too much attention to the charges you were racking up.

No point beating yourself up about it, here are a few things you can do to get yourself out of the debt, without creating a new one.

Talk to your mobile provider about making payments

The first thing you should do when you get a big phone bill is to go through the charges and make sure there weren’t any billing mistakes. Next, decide how you’re going to pay it off. For example, if you normally budget for a $150 phone bill and the current amount due is $300 — arrange to pay the unbudgeted amount ($150) over 3 months with your mobile phone service provider.

Change your mobile plan

If you’re on a premium plan, try to get it downgraded and make use of services such as Skype, messenger and landlines to communicate. Especially when your mobile phone calls are work related, try to make use of your office line as much as possible.

Monitor your expenditure

Mobile phone providers want you to spend, spend, spend — not many in the market are willing to help you stick to your budget by alerting you when your mobile phone usage has gone above a set amount, so don’t rely on them. They do however, provide facilities whereby you can check and monitor your mobile phone usage throughout the month. Make it a point to check it at least twice a week and keep track of how much you’re using and know when to go easy on the calls.

Overseas calls

Calling cards and pre-purchased international call packages are so competitive, there really is hardly an excuse to ‘dial naked’. And if you haven’t jumped on the Skype train, get on it because it’s virtually free (or cheap as chips at least) and the quality of the connection is supremely clear.

What other ways can you get back on track?

Share your tips on paying off your phone bills by dropping us a comment below.

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