ORANGE will become the first UK mobile network to offer pay-as-you-go customers the chance to go "overdrawn" by continuing to make calls and sending texts once their credit has run out.
The Orange "Reserve Tank" overdraft gives its pre-pay users a £2.50 credit facility, allowing them to send 25 more texts or make 14 minutes of calls once their top-ups have run out.
But the plan costs £1.00 to activate and customers who go into their overdraft will see UK call charges upped from 15p per minute to 18p per minute.
Anthony Ball of mobile comparison service OneCompare.com thinks it is a bad move for consumers: “Orange’s new overdraft facility will simply become the new 'no credit left' point for people.
“The benefits of pay-as-you-go deals mean people are unable to run-up a phone bill and can therefore stick within their budget.
“Many pay-as-you-go customers’, particularly older people and pensioners, are not heavy mobile users and often use their mobile phone just to make an emergency call.
“I would recommend the Vodafone Friends and Family package, which allows free calls to five nominated Vodafone members in a group with one person paying £5 per month.”
Many customers are forced to stick with pay-as-you-go because of poor credit ratings.
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