Are you being stuck with charges you didn’t expect?

Are you being stuck with charges you didn’t expect?

In searching for something you need on the web and the link you find says “free.” Months later, perhaps when you’re doing your taxes, have you ever been surprised to find charges from a company you barely remember. It might be JustAnswer.com, Experian, Ancestry, or a people search service. You used it once, probably not getting the information you were seeking. Pricing might be as low as $9.95 a month or as high as $249 a month billed monthly automatically. What do you get for all those charges – exactly nothing.  An April 2021 survey by Chase found that nearly two-thirds of consumers have forgotten about at least one recurring payment in the last year. ​

Good luck if you try to retroactively cancel the service. You find out they won’t do that.  What can you do? Cancel the service immediately. The site may not make this easy. So use search terms with the “site name” + “cancel subscription”. Other synonyms for “cancel” revoke, repeal, abord, rescind, and expunge, but likely “cancel” will work.  Sometimes  you may need to use “cancel membership.”

Beware of scamsters posing as legitimate companies.  Some Turbotax software users have received fake emails claiming to be from the company asking users to click a link to resolve an account issue.The scamsters never rest.   The US Department of Education will erase $415 million for about 16,000 borrowers who were defrauded from their for-profit schools

It’s good practice to review all your recurring charges at least once a year. The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on companies that make it difficult to cancel their service.