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Explain a contract's costs before you sign

The contract is long and the real cost is buried. Get the money bits pulled out: payments, fees, exit costs and rises.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

The prompt · ChatGPT

Help me explain a contract's costs before I sign.

What the contract is for: [phone, gym, finance, broadband, other]
Cost sections I've copied: [paste]
What I think I'll pay: [my understanding]
How long I'm tied in: [if known]

Ask me up to 3 short questions first if anything important is missing. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A plain list: upfront, monthly, total over the term, exit fees, late fees, price-rise clauses.
2. Anything that looks easy to miss.
3. Questions to ask before I sign.
4. A one-line cooling-off reminder if the text mentions one (mark if unclear).
5. When to get advice from Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper instead of deciding alone.

Don't invent clauses that aren't in what I pasted. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts, figures or products. UK English.

Stay in this ChatGPT chat. Do not turn on apps or connectors, and do not use memory from another chat.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. phone, gym, finance, broadband, other: a short note you already have. paste: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

This does not give tax advice. The books stay in the accounting system.

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