One Direction reportedly racked up $29,000 in phone bills while on tour in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Members of the boy band may have spent a lot of time calling and texting home to the UK, but staying connected online to use Facebook and Twitter added heavily to the phone bills.

"Like most teenagers, the boys are obsessed with all things social media," an insider at Simon Cowell's Syco label told the Mirror.

"They're also encouraged to tweet by management to keep them interacting with fans but Niall and Liam in particular got pretty homesick during their travels and regularly called home.

"When the bills landed on their doormat, the guys were utterly stunned and slightly devastated thinking they'd have to fork out themselves.

"In the end they got called in for a meeting and given a lecture on finances, and how to handle their money.

"It is vital wealth does not go to their heads. Their bills got signed off and the boys will not be making the same mistake again."

Cowell has kindly agreed to pay the charges.