How to Find All Your Subscriptions and Recurring Charges

Last checked against official pages from Apple, Google, PayPal, the CFPB and the FTC.How we check

Subscriptions are easy to forget because they renew on their own. The only reliable way to find them all is to check every place that can bill you: your cards and bank accounts, plus the app stores and payment services that bill on behalf of other companies.

Work through the checklist below once, then repeat it every few months.

1. Go through your card and bank statements

Look at the last few months of statements for every credit card, debit card and bank account you use. The FTC recommends monitoring your credit and debit card statements so you notice charges you didn’t order.

  • Look for repeats: the same company and a similar amount every month or every year.
  • Go back at least 12 months if you can. Yearly renewals only show up once a year.
  • Write each one down: company, amount, how often, and which card or account pays it.

If a line on your statement doesn’t make sense, see how to identify a subscription charge on your statement.

2. Check your Apple subscriptions

If you use an iPhone, iPad or Mac, some subscriptions may be billed by Apple instead of the company itself. Apple says it may group several purchases and subscriptions into one bill, so check your Apple account directly rather than relying on your statement.

  • See your Apple-billed subscriptions in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions on an iPhone or iPad.
  • For older or one-off purchases, sign in at reportaproblem.apple.com. Apple says you can search for the amount of a charge you can’t identify.
  • If you have more than one Apple account, check each one.

Full steps, including canceling on a Mac, Windows or the web: subscriptions billed by Apple.

3. Check your Google Play subscriptions

If you use an Android phone or tablet, check your Google Play subscriptions. Google says that if you can’t find a subscription, it may be on a different Google account, so check every account you use.

Full steps: subscriptions billed by Google Play.

4. Check PayPal

If you’ve ever paid a company with PayPal, it may be charging you through PayPal automatically. On the PayPal website:

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Click Payments.
  3. Select Subscriptions and saved businesses or Automatic Payments.
  4. Select the company to see the details. You can cancel the automatic payment from that page, and PayPal shows the company’s contact details there.

Stopping a PayPal automatic payment is not the same as canceling the subscription. It stops PayPal paying, but your agreement with the company may continue under its terms. Cancel the subscription with the company too, and keep its confirmation.

5. Check other places that bill you

Some subscriptions come bundled with something else, so they’re easy to miss:

  • Phone, internet and TV bills. Add-ons and streaming bundles can be part of your monthly bill. See our telecom guides.
  • Online store memberships, such as shopping or delivery memberships.
  • Your email inbox. Search for words like “subscription”, “renewal”, “receipt” and “your plan”. Welcome and renewal emails often name a service you forgot.

Once you have your list

For each subscription, decide whether to keep it, cancel it, or switch to a cheaper plan. Then:

  • Cancel with whoever bills you. If Apple or Google Play bills you, cancel the subscription there. Otherwise cancel with the company, including when you pay it through PayPal. Find the guide for your subscription.
  • Keep proof. The FTC recommends keeping a copy of your cancellation request and notes about any conversations you had about canceling.
  • Check the next statement to make sure the charge stopped.

If a company keeps charging you

  • From a credit card: the FTC says that if you can’t cancel, you can call your credit card company and ask it to stop the payments.

  • From a bank account: the CFPB says you have the right to stop a company from taking automatic payments from your account, even if you allowed them before. Tell the company you’re taking away your permission, tell your bank or credit union, and follow up both in writing. After that, the CFPB says, any further payments that company starts are errors, and you can contact your bank for a refund.

    Stopping payments doesn’t cancel the agreement itself. The CFPB points out, for example, that if you stop automatic payments on a loan you still have to pay it another way. For a subscription, cancel with the company too and keep its confirmation, so you aren’t left owing money under its terms.

Also see how to identify a subscription charge on your statement for what to do about a charge you don’t recognize.

Sources

Find the guide for your subscription