Before you recycle your old mobile phone, sell it or give it away to someone else, it's a good idea to clear all of your data from it.

This is because your phone contains more information than you might think, especially if you have a smartphone. Your phone probably contains passwords, email addresses, bank account information, credit card details and loads of other bits and bobs like text messages, emails and phone numbers.

If you are recycling your mobile for cash, pretty much every recycler will wipe the mobile phones they receive before they do anything with them. However, if you're selling your mobile on eBay or giving it away to someone else, you cannot be sure where your phone will eventually end up. If it gets into the wrong hands, the consequences can be disastrous.

Everything from identity theft to fraud could happen, so it's important to make sure you wipe your phone clean of any personal data first.

How do I do that?
There are a few sites that offer data delete tools that you can use. Mazuma offer a good one (read our previous post about this) and FoneBank also offer a good service.

The FoneBank Data Delete Tool is easy to use, just follow these steps:

1. Select your phone manufacturer and model from the drop downs
2. Enter your name and email address
3. Click 'Send Delete Data'
4. Wait for an email from FoneBank
5. Follow the step by step instructions on the email on how to clear down your phone

Easy as that! Your phone is then as good as new, as long as it's not too scratched of course! Check out the data delete tool for yourself at Fone Bank.

Buying a new mobile phone is expensive, so the best way to get the phone you want, quickly, is to take out a contract. But... these usually last 18-24 months, by which time, there is another must-have phone on the market. But you can't get it because you've got months left on your current contract. So what do you do? That's where MoneyForYourPhone come in. They have a solution - a mobile phone swap service.

This unique new swap service allows you to get the upgrade you want, now. This service is changing the way you we buy and sell our mobile phones!

So how does it work? Well, it's easy. Just go to the 'swap' section of their website. Here you will find a list of phones that they have available for you to upgrade to. This is updated often, so if you can't see the phone you want, check back at a later date.

Once you've picked your upgrade, click 'add to cart'. You then need to select which phones you will be trading in. Click the 'Add More' link under the 'Phones I Will Be Sending' section to find your old mobile and add them to the cart too.

If the new mobile costs more than the mobiles you are trading in, you can pay any difference using PayPal or a credit/debit card. The more phones you send them, the less you need to pay for your upgrade! So if you've got a few old phones lying around that you no longer want, you can trade these in towards the cost of the new one too.

Once you're done, go to the checkout and then sit back and wait for your new phone to arrive! Don't worry though, it will be with you in less than 3 days.

So if you're tired of your old mobile phone but not due an upgrade for a while or just want the latest handset that's out at the moment, check out the swap service from Money For Your Phone.

If you're going to sell your old mobile for some cash, it's best to make sure you have wiped the phone of all your personal data. This includes photos, text messages, emails, saved passwords, usernames and anything else you might have on there.

It's a good idea to do this as you cannot be sure where your mobile will end up once it's been recycled. It may be in pieces and get reused, but it may also be sold on to third world countries, other retailers etc and then there's no telling what will happen to it.

So, what's the best way to wipe the mobile before you send it away? Well, Mazuma Mobile offer a very good Data Delete Tool. All you need to do is select your mobile make and model from the drop downs, input your name and email address and they will email you a list of instructions on how to wipe your mobile phone.

Is your mobile phone not listed on the site? Check back soon as they are adding new mobile models all the time.

The problem we reported yesterday with Phone Recycle Bank has now been resolved.

The sites IMEI check was incorrectly identifying all phones as being blacklisted.

This has now been fixed and the site expects no further problems so if you were holding off selling your mobile through the site, you can now do so.

We are pleased to announce that the Debenhams Mobile Recycling website is back up and running, after a few weeks of being down.

You can now recycle your old mobile phone through the website as normal.

If you're thinking of selling your old mobile phone through Phone Recycle Bank, you will have to wait a few days as they are currently having problems with their mobile phone IMEI lookup. As such, all phones are showing up as being blacklisted, which of course, the majority are not! This means that you can get a price for your phone, but will not be able to complete the trade with them.

This problem is being worked on, so will hopefully be resolved soon. If you can't wait till then and want to sell your old mobile now, search for your moible make and model in the 'Find my Phone' page of our site and we will tell you who else will buy it and what prices they can offer you. You never know, you might even get more for it than you would have from Phone Recycle Bank!

If you've recycled a mobile before, you will know that it is an easy, quick and smple process. However, if you've used Skyphones, chances are it's been anything but.

We've had various emails about Skyphones, claiming that the company is not paying out for mobile phones sent to it. Customers are also reporting that they are unable to contact Skyphones about this. Even Skyphones' own facebook page is flooded with complaints about them.

Our advice? Avoid, avoid, avoid! It goes without saying, but SellMyMobile.org is no longer supporting Skyphones, we recommend using another recycler, one that can be trusted, if you want cash for your old phone.

After numerous customer complaints, non payment and other issues with the Simply Recycle website, SellMyMobile.org is no longer supporting them.

If you are looking to recycle your old mobile phone, why not search the make and model at the top of the site and see what prices you can get from other, trusted recyclers.

Due to a large number of complaints about the Debenhams Mobile Recycling program, sellmymobile.org are no longer supporting them.

If you are looking to recycle your mobile, check out our reviews page for the best recyclers on the web.

Money4mymobile are now paying their customers using BACS as well as cheque. This means that you can get money for your mobile a lot quicker than before. As soon as the same day in some cases!

See how much you can get for your old mobile at Money4mymobile. Remember though, you might be able to get more cash from another recycler, so search for your phone in the above search box and see what price you can get!