What is a Spend Cap and how does it work?
A Spend Cap allows you to limit some of your mobile usage outside of your plan. You can set a limit for how much is spent on services such as roaming, picture messages, and international calls, helping you to manage your monthly bill.
There are some services which it doesn’t restrict, listed below. If you’re nearing your Spend Cap, you’ll get a text from us.
Need to know
You can adjust your Spend Cap at any time, with increases taking effect immediately and decreases at the start of the next billing month.
Setting up a Spend Cap
It's easy to add a Spend Cap to your account via the EE app, online, text or by calling us.
Note: Only pay monthly customers who joined or upgraded on or after 1 October 2018 can add a Spend Cap to their account. If your contract started before this date, you can still set up other controls within EE online.
Set up a Spend Cap in the EE App
- Open the EE app on your mobile
- Select Manage
- Select Plans & subscriptions
- Select Mobile
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select Settings
- Select Spend Cap
- Tap Edit Amount and set the Spend Cap you want.
Set up a Spend Cap online
- Log into the EE website
- Select Plans & Subscriptions
- Select Manage Mobile
- Select Change Spend Cap
- Select the amount you want to set as your Spend Cap
- Click the Change cap button
Set up a Spend Cap by text - text SPEND CAP to 150 and follow the instructions, or
Set up a Spend Cap on the phone - call 150 from your EE mobile.
Managing your Spend Cap
Spend Caps are free and optional. You can choose not to set one and have no usage restrictions, or you can limit some usage outside of your monthly allowance to £50, £40, £30, £20, £10, or even £0.
You can change your Spend Cap whenever you want.
What Spend Caps can control
A Spend Cap can restrict charges for
- Out-of-allowance calls, texts, and picture messages to standard UK and EU numbers,
- EU Roaming per day charge
- Out-of-allowance calls and messages abroad from the UK (IDD)
- Access charges for premium calls and texts for numbers starting 09, 118, 083, 084, 085, 087, 070.
- Call divert charges
- Calls via text relay
- Calls to 123
- Calls to bypass services 07744 and 07755
- Paging services
- Calls to 101 non-emergency numbers
- Calls to satellite phone numbers
- Aeroplane and maritime calls and messaging i.e. using your mobile on a cruise.
What a Spend Cap doesn't work for
A Spend Cap doesn’t restrict charges onto your mobile bill for
- Roam Abroad Pass
- Travel Data Pass
- Data pass purchases
- Add-on purchases i.e. Apple Music, TNT Sports, Minutes Add-Ons
- Phone insurance
- Service charges for premium calls and texts
- Charge to bill services like using your mobile bill as your App Store payment method or to enter text-based competitions and make donations
- Voice short codes
- Premium rate texts received
- Admin charges
- Late payment fees, or
- Monthly recurring charges such as plan charges.
Spend Caps for multiple numbers
You can add separate Spend Caps for all the numbers on your EE account. Follow the steps above for each number you want to set a Spend Cap for.
I can’t make a call/send a text. What do I need to do?
If you have a Spend Cap and can't make a call or send a message, or are disconnected from a call it may be because:
- You have reached your Spend Cap and do not have any Spend Cap allowance remaining to cover the cost of the call or message.
- You are close to your Spend Cap and do not have enough Spend Cap remaining to cover the cost of your call or message.
We will send you a text message if this happens but asking the account password holder to increase or remove the Spend Cap will enable you to continue using your phone for the remainder of your bill month.