Forgotten subscriptions: hunting down recurring payments

Why these small sums weigh so much

A subscription is taken out in two clicks and paid quietly. Picture eight subscriptions averaging €12: €96 a month, €1,152 a year. That is the equivalent of several weeks of groceries, often for services you no longer open.

The worst offenders are free trials that turn into paid subscriptions, extras added to a plan, and annual subscriptions, which are charged only once a year and so are invisible the rest of the time.

Spotting them in thirty minutes

Download your statements for the last three months, or twelve if you want to flush out annual subscriptions, and highlight every line that comes back with the same label and the same amount. Group them by type: video, music, online storage, press, sport, games, software, broadband or mobile extras, optional insurance.

Complete the picture with what your bank does not always show: the “payments and subscriptions” section of your Google or Apple account, and your subscription confirmation e-mails, searching for “renewal” or “invoice”.

Subscriptions that do not call themselves that

Not every recurring payment is called a “subscription”. An extra added to a broadband or mobile plan, phone insurance taken out at the time of purchase, a breakdown warranty, a bank card fee or a top-up health insurance option are all charged in exactly the same way, and can be renegotiated just as well.

For your bank card, compare the annual fee with the services you really use: some bundled insurance duplicates cover you already have under your home insurance or top-up health plan. A simple call to customer service, or a switch to a plainer plan, is often enough.

Automatic detection

A tool can do this for you. The rule is simple: the same label coming back every month, at an amount stable to within 15%, on a similar day of the month. After two consecutive months, it is very probably a subscription. A few cases slip through: annual payments, or a variable amount such as an energy bill.

Sorting: keep, reduce, cut

For each line, ask one question: did I use it this month? Then work out the price per use. A €35-a-month gym used twice works out at €17.50 a session. A streaming service shared among four people costs a few euros each.

Keep what you use, switch to the cheapest plan for what you only half use, and cut the rest. Nothing stops you from signing up again a month later if the need returns: most services allow it at no cost. Cutting is rarely final, and the savings are immediate.

Cancelling properly

For a contract taken out online, the provider must offer online cancellation, accessible from its website. Keep the confirmation and note the end date. For contracts taken out another way, registered post remains the safe route, observing the notice period set in the contract.

Then watch the next payment. If it carries on after cancellation, contact the provider first, then your bank: you can revoke the SEPA direct debit mandate and, in general, ask for an authorised debit to be refunded within eight weeks.

• Put a reminder in your calendar three days before a free trial ends.
• Note the renewal date of every annual subscription.
• If your bank offers it, use a single-use virtual card for trials.

Keeping them from coming back

Do this hunt every quarter, in ten minutes, with the list from last time. Keep a simple list: name, amount, payment day, renewal date. A subscription that sits on a list you reread does not get forgotten. Put the date of your next review in your calendar now, so that the habit sticks.