Spend Caps
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What is a Spend Cap?
A Spend Cap lets you limit your spending on things not included in your monthly plan. This includes calls, texts and data. But things like Add-ons, insurance and using Three Pay aren’t included.
How to set a monthly Spend Cap
Choose the max you’re willing to pay on top of your plan and that’s it. You can set your cap to £0 if you want, or to anything between £10 and £100 – in £10 increments. You can also choose to switch the cap off completely.
It’s easy to set this up by logging onto My3 or the Three app. Here’s how:
Three app steps
- Open the Three app
- Go to the Bills tab
- Select Set a spend cap
My3 steps
- Log into My3
- Open the Your Account menu
- Select Allowance and price plan
- Then select Control your spending
If you have any problems setting up your Spend Cap, contact us. You can also visit your local Three store for help.
Three Business customer?
If you joined us before 7 February 2022, or had more than 10 lines at the start of your contract, you need to contact us to set up your Spend Cap.
If you joined us on or after 7 February 2022, and had 10 or fewer lines, you can log in to My Account online and set up your Spend Cap there.
My Account steps
- Log in to My Account
- Select Manage Plan
- Select Change Spend Cap
What’s included in a Spend Cap
Calls and texts:
- After you’ve used up your monthly allowance
- To premium rate and non-geographical numbers like 0845 and 0345
- To international numbers from the UK – unless you have an Add-on
- When roaming in a country that’s not a Go Roam destination
- To non-EU countries from Go Roam in Europe destinations
- To anywhere other than the UK from Go Roam Around the World destinations
- Daily roaming charge
Data usage:
- After you’ve used up your monthly data allowance
- When roaming in a country that’s not a Go Roam destination
- That exceeds our fair usage limits in Go Roam destinations
Go Roam:
From 23 May 2022, Pay Monthly customers who joined or upgraded their plan on or after 1 October 2021, will incur a daily roaming charge to unlock their UK allowances for 24 hours in Go Roam destinations. The daily roaming charge is £2 in Go Roam in Europe destinations and £5 in Go Roam Around the World destinations. The daily roaming charge is triggered as soon as a customer uses any of their plan allowances in a Go Roam destination. View here for further information.
Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man are exempt from the daily roaming charge. Fair use policies apply.
The charge counts towards your Spend Cap, so if that’s set at zero, you won’t be able to use your UK allowances in Go Roam destinations.
If your Pay Monthly contract started before 1 October 2021 there’s no daily charge in Go Roam destinations. This means you can use Go Roam no matter which Spend Cap you choose.
Learn more about Go Roam and the daily charge
What’s not included:
- Using Three Pay to buy digital content on platforms like Google Play, App Store, Spotify, etc.
- Administrative charges for things like paper bills, copies of your bill, not paying by Direct Debit or other recurring methods
- Your monthly plan charge, Add-ons, insurance etc.
- Why is my Cap lower than the amount I asked for?
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Your Spend Cap can’t be higher than your account Credit Limit. If you try setting a higher amount, we’ll adjust your Spend Cap down to match it.
For example: If your Credit Limit is £50 and you ask for a Spend Cap of £100, we’ll set your Spend Cap to £50.
Credit Limits are decided using a range of factors. Our priority is to protect customers from excessive bills that they can’t afford. If you’d like to increase your Credit Limit, you can contact us to review it.
- Is there a limit on the number of times I can change my Spend Cap?
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No. You can change your Spend Cap as often as you’d like.
- How will I know when I’ve hit my Spend Cap?
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We’ll send a text notification when you reach 80% and 100% of your Spend Cap. Once you’ve hit 100%, all calls, texts and data usage not included in your allowance will be blocked. This includes the daily charge for unlocking your allowance in Go Roam destinations.
- What’s the difference between a Spend Cap and Spend Limit?
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A Spend Cap gives you control over your monthly spend on calls, texts and data usage not included in your monthly plan.
The Spend Limit is an additional measure to prevent excessive spend on third party services. This includes:
- Calls and texts to premium rate numbers
- Premium rate or shortcode text messages
- Paying for digital content using Three Pay
The limits are:
- £40 per single transaction
- £240 total charges per month
The Spend Limit is a legal requirement under the Payment Services Regulation. It can’t be removed or changed.
We’ll send a text notification if you’ve reached 80% of your monthly Spend Limit. Any transactions that exceed the Spend Limits will be blocked.
- What’s the difference between a Spend Cap and Data Roaming Limit?
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A Spend Cap lets you limit your spending on things not included in your monthly plan. This includes calls, texts and data usage whilst roaming.
The Data Roaming Limit is an additional measure to protect you from excessive data charges whilst roaming. If you’ve never asked us to change it, your Data Roaming Limit will be £45.
Need a higher or lower Data Roaming Limit? See Managing Roaming Costs.