U.S. families spend an average of $139 a month on cellphone
usage — or $1,668 a year — up from $127 a month in 2009, according to J.D.
Power and Associates. And according to Validas, a company that helps decipher
mobile phone bills for companies, 80 percent of us are paying our cellular
providers for services we don't even use.
That's extra money going toward text messages you don't send
or minutes you don't use. Of course, the Verizons and AT&Ts of the world
aren't likely to be forthcoming about that, but Validas' Vera service will.
The service works right now with AT&T and Verizon. Go to
Vera's savelovegive.com, input your carrier account information and Vera's
algorithms will figure out where you might be able to trim your bill. It
analyzes your bill and suggests other plans or services you can cut down on.
Right from the site you can then email AT&T or Verizon Wireless to have it
change your plan, or you can head to the store yourself.
ABC World News' actually used the service last month to help
Phil Barry save on his family's smartphone bill. The service helped him save
nearly $1,400 over the course of the year.
Other Tips for Saving on Your Cellphone Bill
But Validas has gone beyond the save portion of the service
-- adding "love" and "give" features to its site. After
suggesting ways you can cut your bill, it offers the opportunity to donate some
of that savings to Seven Bar, a nonprofit organization that makes micro loans
to women in need.
"Our brand is about doing good now, not later. We built
it into the app, so you can give right when you find out how much you are
saving," Todd Dunphy, a co-founder of Validas, told ABC News.
You can give $5, $10, $25 or more through the site, but the
donations are made via PayPal, not directly from your cellphone bill. According
to Seven Bar founder Renata Black, the money will first go to help women who
were affected by Hurricane Sandy.
"The app is empowering, and we extend that to empower
women," Black told ABC News. "It's not that men aren't amazing, but
more importantly, it's said that when you help a women the first thing she does
is help her kids. It's the ultimate synergy of one plus one equals six."
Validas and Seven Bar officially launched the charity
program last week at an event in New York City. There aren't applications for
the iPhone or Android phones yet -- the company's co-founders say they are
working on that -- but you can visit savelovegive.com now through any browser
to see if there's any money you can save on your bill, and then decide whether
to donate any of the savings to charity.
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