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• Who’s billing you
• New card trap
• Every way to stop it
• Credit vs. debit
• Get your money back
• State laws
• Letters

Rules verified October 31, 2026. The FTC’s 2024 click-to-cancel rule was vacated in July 2025; state laws now do most of the work.

This guide uses three tiers. STOP IT covers future charges. GET IT BACK covers charges already posted. PROVE IT covers the records that win disputes. If the charge is from a company you never signed up with at all, start with Unauthorized Credit Card Charges instead.

First, Find Who Is Actually Billing You

The company you signed up with may not be the one that bills you, and each biller is canceled in a different place.

Look at the billing line on the statement, not the brand name. It can show a parent company, a payment processor, or an abbreviation. Then check three places that often hide a subscription:

Directly from the merchant

Cancel in the company’s own account settings or by its stated cancellation method.

Apple or Google Play

Charges billed through an app store are canceled in that account, not on the company’s website. Deleting the app does not cancel the subscription (Apple and Google both say so on their help pages).

PayPal

If the statement shows PayPal, the recurring payment is an automatic payment in your PayPal account. Cancel it there and cancel with the company too. Menu labels change, so use PayPal’s Help Center for current steps.

Free trials deserve a second look. A trial that converted to a paid plan was part of the terms you accepted at sign-up. Whether a charge is disputable depends on when you canceled relative to the trial end date and what the offer disclosed.

Why a New Card Number Often Doesn’t Stop It

A replacement card often doesn’t stop a recurring charge, because Visa, Mastercard, and American Express run services that can pass your new number or expiration date to merchants enrolled in them.

The services are called Visa Account Updater, Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater, and American Express Cardrefresher. They exist so subscriptions don’t fail when a card is renewed or replaced. The catch: they work for the merchant, not for your cancellation.

What to ask your card issuer

Call the number on the back of your card, and ask these four things:

1

Is this card enrolled in the network’s account updater?

2

Can I opt out? (Some issuers let cardholders opt out; not all do. Ask your issuer.)

3

Can you block this merchant from charging the card?

4

What is the billing-error address for written disputes?

An opt-out may apply to every merchant on the card, not just the one you’re escaping. Utilities and other billers may then need your new number entered by hand. Opting out also doesn’t cancel anything.

When closing the card makes sense, and the downside

Closing a card is a blunt last resort, not a first move. It doesn’t cancel the subscription or settle what you owe, it can affect your credit, and any refund sent later to a closed card gets harder to receive. See How to Cancel a Credit Card and Refund Sent to a Closed Card. If you moved to a different issuer, recurring billing may move with the account; see Credit Card Changing Issuers.

Every Way to Stop a Recurring Charge, Compared

Different methods stop different things: some stop the next charge, some recover past charges, and none does both on its own.

Credit Card, Debit Card, or Bank Debit: Your Rights Aren’t the Same

Credit cards give you a written dispute process but no statutory stop-payment right, while debit cards and bank debits give you a stop-payment right under Regulation E.

Credit cards: Regulation Z

The Fair Credit Billing Act, implemented by Regulation Z (12 CFR §1026.13), covers billing errors, including charges for goods or services not accepted or not delivered as agreed. There is no matching federal stop-payment right for credit cards. Many issuers will block a merchant as a policy; that is a courtesy, not an entitlement.

Debit cards and bank debits: Regulation E

Under Regulation E (12 CFR §1005.10(c)), recurring debits, including recurring debit-card charges, are “preauthorized transfers.” You can stop one by notifying your bank orally or in writing at least three business days before the scheduled debit. The bank may require written confirmation within 14 days of an oral notice, and an oral stop order stops being binding after 14 days if the confirmation never arrives.

Once the bank knows your authorization has ended, it must block future payments to that payee. The official commentary (comments 10(c)-2 and 10(c)-3) lets the bank confirm that you told the merchant, for example by asking for a copy of your revocation within 14 days of an oral notice. It also lets a bank that can’t block a debit-card-network debit use a third party to block it, as long as your account isn’t debited. If the debit item is resubmitted, the bank has to keep honoring the order (comment 10(c)-1).

If a debit-card subscription pushes you into overdraft, see Overdraft Fees Refunded.

Why credit is often the safer way to pay for subscriptions

A credit card dispute is a fight over the issuer’s money, not yours. A debit or ACH dispute starts with cash already gone from your account, which can trigger overdrafts while the bank investigates. Credit also gives you the written billing-error process with a fixed timeline.

How to Get Back Charges You Didn’t Owe

For a credit card, send a written billing-error notice that reaches the issuer’s billing-error address within 60 days after the first statement showing the charge.

You don’t have to contact the merchant first

Regulation Z says a consumer isn’t required to notify the merchant before sending a billing-error notice (comment 13(a)(3)-3). Your proof of cancellation still matters.

What the issuer must do

Acknowledge your notice within 30 days, then resolve it within two complete billing cycles, and no later than 90 days.

How to describe it

Present the charge as a billing error and describe your cancellation. Whether a specific post-cancellation charge counts as unauthorized or “not delivered as agreed” depends on the facts, so don’t over-label it.

Worked example: a gym canceled on March 3

Say you canceled on March 3 and were charged on April 1 and May 1. Each charge has its own deadline, counted from the statement that first shows it. These statement dates are examples; use your own.

April 1 charge

First shows on the statement dated April 20. Notice must be received by June 19.

May 1 charge

First shows on the statement dated May 20. Notice must be received by July 19.

If your contract required 30 days’ written notice, the April 1 charge may have been owed and only the May 1 charge is worth disputing. That is why the contract check in the contracts section comes before any dispute. Mail early, because late arrival is the usual way to lose this right.

Billing-error letter for a charge after cancellation (copyable)

For credit cards. Send it so it is received within 60 days of the first statement showing the charge. For debit cards, use your bank’s Reg E error process instead.

For the full dispute walkthrough, see Dispute a Credit Card Charge. For what happens to your money during the investigation, see Provisional Credit.

Cancel the Right Way: Proof That Wins Disputes

A dated, written cancellation that the company can’t deny receiving is the single best piece of evidence you can have.

Cancellation notice (copyable)

The records checklist

Cancellation proof

Confirmation email, screenshot, or reference number, with date and time.

Account identity

The email or member ID used on the account.

Every charge

Statement pages with each post-cancellation charge highlighted, and the date of the first statement showing it.

The terms

Sign-up screenshots, the cancellation policy, and any written contract.

Every contact

Date, time, method, and the name of anyone you spoke to or chatted with.

Your letters

Copies of the cancellation notice and the billing-error letter, plus proof of how you sent them.

Gyms, Annual Plans, and Contracts With Notice Periods

A charge after you “canceled” may still be owed if your contract required written notice, a notice period, or an early termination fee.

Fixed-term and annual plans

Cancellation may stop renewal, not the current term. Check whether the term runs to its end date.

Gyms and memberships

Many require notice in a specific form or by a specific date. Some states also regulate gym memberships separately, and some automatic-renewal laws now cover them (Maine’s chapter title includes health club memberships). Your state attorney general’s consumer site is the place to check.

Free trials that converted

Look at the trial-end date and what the offer said. If you canceled before the trial ended and were still charged, say so with the dates.

If you followed the contract’s cancellation terms and the charges continued, that is when a written billing-error notice makes sense.

What Happened to Click-to-Cancel

The FTC’s 2024 click-to-cancel rule is not in effect: a federal appeals court vacated it in July 2025, and the FTC has restarted the process.

The Eighth Circuit vacated the rule on procedural grounds in Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC, No. 24-3137, days before the July 14, 2025 compliance date. The FTC then issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), which asked for public comment on whether and how to write a new rule. An ANPRM is a request for comment, not a rule. As of October 31, 2026, we found no published proposed rule (NPRM); check the FTC’s site for any update.

What federal law still requires

ROSCA (15 U.S.C. §8401 et seq.)

For online sales with a negative option feature, the seller must clearly disclose the material terms before taking your billing information, get your express informed consent before charging you, and provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges (§8403).

Section 5 of the FTC Act

Prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and the FTC has used it against deceptive subscription practices.

The 1973 Negative Option Rule

Still on the books, but it covers only prenotification plans, where a seller notifies you of upcoming shipments and treats silence as acceptance.

State Laws That Make Canceling Easier

With the federal rule gone, state automatic-renewal laws are now the main source of cancellation rules, and several recently tightened.

How to complain

Start with your state attorney general’s consumer protection page. Attach your cancellation proof and the charges. You can also report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. Complaints don’t replace a written dispute with your issuer or bank.

Stop It From Happening Again

A few habits at sign-up and a quick review each quarter prevent most repeat charges.

Calendar reminders

Set one for every trial end date and one a week before annual renewals.

Virtual card numbers

If your issuer offers them, use one for subscriptions so you can delete it when you cancel.

Credit instead of debit

Put subscriptions on a credit card, not a debit card or direct bank debit.

Screenshot the terms

Save the cancellation policy and price at sign-up.

A quarterly statement sweep

Read one full statement every three months for recurring lines you don’t recognize.

FAQ

Last updated: October 31, 2026. Re-check if the FTC issues a proposed rule.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Whether a charge is owed depends on your contract and your state's law. Rules were verified on October 31, 2026, and federal and state requirements are changing, so confirm the current rule before relying on it.