Canceling subscriptions and memberships: How to do it properly

We’ve all been there. You have a streaming subscription or gym membership or software subscription that you don’t want anymore. You try to cancel it online – because that’s how you signed up – and the website says you have to call weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Time. 

Maybe you find the cancellation link online and you have to keep clicking and clicking and clicking and you still can’t figure out how to cancel. Or maybe you manage to cancel it, but you keep getting charged.

Problems like these going back years led the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to announce new rules on Oct. 16, referred to as “click-to-cancel.” Under the new rules, companies must allow consumers to cancel a subscription just as easily as they signed up. For example, if they enrolled online in two steps, they must be able to cancel online in two steps. This will make life much easier for consumers. Of course, this depends on companies complying.

Even once these rules take effect, likely next spring, there are steps you can take to prevent headaches:

1. Think twice about that free trial subscription. You want just to watch that one movie or use that service one time? You almost always have to link a payment to sign up for something that’s free. That can lead to problems if you don’t cancel or the company messes up. 
2. Never use a debit card. Always use a credit card for a subscription, membership, whatever. Debit cards link to your bank account. That can make it difficult to get your money back and can even lead to costly overdraft fees. Here’s more about the dangers of debit cards.
   If the company continues to charge you, you have far greater protections with a credit card than a debit card under the Fair Credit Billing Act.
3. Read terms and conditions and watch out for pre-checked boxes. A lot of companies may, by default, check boxes that give them permission to charge you after the free trial expires or even sign you up for other products or services or unwanted marketing messages that flood your inbox or voicemail. Uncheck the boxes you don’t agree with.
4. Keep copies of emails or text messages sent to you when you signed up, and any screenshots of your efforts to cancel, or any notes from a phone call, including the name of who you spoke with.
5. Put reminders in your calendar. If it’s a one-year subscription, schedule a calendar reminder for maybe a couple of weeks before the automatic renewal date, and again a few days ahead of time, and just cancel then. Don’t wait until the last minute.
6. Remove any credit card information from your account if you can, to ensure you aren’t charged for another billing cycle. If you need to provide some payment method before deleting the one you’ve been using, use a prepaid debit card with barely any money on it (not one connected to a checking account because that could cause an overdraft fee.) The prepaid card won’t work and won’t lead to overdraft fees. Maybe you have a no-fee prepaid card from a rebate or refund. This is ideal.
7. Complain to the FTC and your state attorney general if you have problems canceling.