Have you checked how many ongoing charges are hiding on your bank statement?
It might be higher than you expect, according to a recent survey from CreditCards.com.
The poll, which surveyed 1,002 U.S. adults, discovered that 35% had unknowingly been enrolled in accounts that automatically deducted payments. Think services like a video streaming platform, a magazine delivery or a fitness club membership.
You might respond, “But that’s illegal.”
You’re not wrong. Firms aren’t allowed to deceive consumers into paying for services or goods they didn’t agree to, thanks to federal regulations. Still, many find ways around this restriction by using so-called “negative option” deals, the report notes.
A negative option arrangement requires consumers to actively return to their account and cancel a subscription or service to prevent ongoing charges.
That ties into another finding: 42% of participants said the process of stopping these recurring charges was difficult.
An Easy Method to Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions
Hire a personal finance assistant — no human required.
Register for a free app such as Clarity Money.
Link all your current bank accounts, credit cards, and anything else. (It’s secure.) The app will then monitor where your money has been flowing.
It categorizes your spending, so you can quickly spot if you’re allocating too much to dining out, for instance.
Perhaps the best feature is that Clarity highlights your ongoing subscriptions — and can even help cancel them for you. Have an old dating profile you forgot about? Still paying for a magazine you no longer read? Or a gym membership gathering dust?
All of these will be listed, showing how much you’ve been shelling out each year. If something isn’t worth it, tap “cancel,” and it guides you through ending the subscription.
If you want to check which subscriptions are still active, feel free tocreate a free Clarity Money account.
Riley Mercer is a staff writer at Savinly.
