How to cut your bills

A cut to a recurring bill repeats every month: £10 off a monthly bill is £120 a year.

Start with your direct debits

Open your banking app, find the list of direct debits, standing orders and recurring card payments — most apps now show all three — and check the last two or three months of statements for anything that slipped past. Then ask one question of each line: would I sign up for this today, at this price?

Look for trials that became subscriptions, apps you no longer use, an unused gym membership and insurance on a phone you've replaced. Don't forget the annual charges that hide between months, and check your app-store subscriptions separately: they don't always show as obvious line items on a bank statement. Cancelling three £10 subscriptions saves £360 a year.

Worked example — one afternoon's audit

Illustrative figures:

  • Two forgotten subscriptions cancelled (£9.99 + £7.99 a month): £215.76 a year
  • Car insurance renewal challenged with a comparison quote, insurer matches it: £85 a year
  • Broadband retentions call at contract end, £12 a month knocked off: £144 a year
  • Out-of-contract mobile moved to a SIM-only deal, saving £9 a month: £108 a year

Total: £552.76 a year — about £46 a month , and most of it repeats every year. To keep it, move it into savings by standing order; see the 50/50 trick.

Check insurance prices at renewal

When a car or home insurance renewal letter arrives, get quotes on a comparison site, then ring your insurer, quote the cheaper like-for-like price and ask them to match it. Compare the cover and the excess as well as the price. For what cover is for, see how to protect your income.

Haggling with providers

Broadband, mobile, TV and breakdown-cover providers have retentions teams that offer deals to customers who might leave. When your contract ends, ring them:

Before you call, find the price new customers pay and what rivals charge, and be ready to switch.

The big regular bills

On a low income? Check the social tariffs. Most broadband and mobile providers offer cheap ‘social tariffs’ for people on Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits. Water companies run similar schemes. If money is tight, MoneyHelper has free guidance on these and on checking you're not missing benefits you're entitled to.

The one-afternoon bill audit

Put one date in the calendar each year for a bill review, and work through this list:

  1. List every recurring payment from your banking app and card statements — direct debits, standing orders, recurring card payments, app-store subscriptions.
  2. Cancel anything that fails the ‘would I sign up today?’ test. You can always re-subscribe.
  3. Note your contract end dates for broadband, mobile, TV and energy, and set phone reminders a month before each.
  4. Run renewal comparisons for any insurance due in the next couple of months, and make the match-it call.
  5. Make the retentions calls for anything out of contract, using the scripts above.
  6. Claim the discounts you're owed — single-person council tax if you live alone, social tariffs if you're on qualifying benefits, a water meter check.
  7. Give the savings a destination. Add up what you've freed and set up a standing order for that amount into savings, dated the day after payday.

When the bills don't fit the income

If the bills don't fit inside the income at all, or you're borrowing each month to cover essentials, cutting bills will not fix it: rent, council tax and energy are priority bills with serious consequences. Free, confidential help from StepChange or National Debtline is the right next step, and our guide to clearing debt explains how the priorities work.

Common questions

Does haggling work?

Broadband, mobile, TV and insurance providers price low to win customers and recover the margin from people who never call. Retentions teams exist precisely because keeping you is cheaper than replacing you, and they have discounts the renewal letter never mentions. Your results depend on three things: timing (out of contract or at renewal — mid-contract calls rarely move), evidence (a real, current quote from a rival for a like-for-like deal), and willingness to leave. Ask specifically for the retentions or loyalty team, not general customer service — a frontline adviser usually cannot authorise the same discounts. State your renewal date and read out the rival quote, then ask directly what they can do to keep you. It works best on broadband, TV and insurance; it rarely works on a fixed-term mobile handset contract, since the price there mostly repays the phone, not a service fee.

Should I switch energy supplier?

Sometimes. Whether a fixed deal beats a price-capped standard tariff moves with the market, so treat it as a twenty-minute annual check rather than a rule: run a comparison, and only fix if the deal beats your current tariff on the numbers, watching exit fees in case prices fall. Whether or not you switch, do two things: submit actual meter readings so you're billed on reality rather than estimates, and review your direct debit if your account is sitting on a large credit balance. If you're struggling to pay for energy, contact the supplier early; they're obliged to discuss affordable payment options.

Will cancelling subscriptions or switching hurt my credit score?

Cancelling subscriptions, no — a subscription isn't credit, and ending one is invisible to your credit file (just check for exit fees if you're mid-contract). Switching providers, also generally no, though there are two footnotes. Some providers run a soft or hard credit check when you open a new contract — mobile contracts with a handset are effectively a loan, so those do involve a search. And an unpaid final bill left behind after a switch can turn into a default, which does hurt — so pay closing balances promptly and keep confirmation. Comparison-site quotes for insurance use soft searches, which don't affect your score at all.

Do comparison sites show every deal?

No. Comparison sites are an excellent first sweep, but some insurers and providers don't appear on them at all, some appear on one site but not another, and the ranking is driven by headline price, which can hide a punishing excess or thinner cover. Use two different comparison sites rather than one, check big names that are not listed on them, and always open the policy summary before buying on price. For broadband and mobile, check the provider's own website too — retention and new-customer deals sometimes differ from what the aggregators list.

What if I can't pay a bill this month?

Contact the provider before the due date. First, know your priorities: rent or mortgage, council tax and energy carry the most serious consequences, so they get paid before any credit card or overdraft demand. Second, call the provider — energy suppliers must offer affordable payment plans, councils can spread council tax over twelve months instead of ten, and many firms have hardship processes. Third, get free advice the same week: StepChange and National Debtline are free and confidential. Fourth, say so before the payment is missed, not after — a provider that hears from you first is dealing with a customer managing a problem; one that chases you after the event is dealing with a debt, and treats the call differently. Keep a note of who you spoke to, when, and what was agreed.

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