How to Easily Find & Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions

It's easy to become a victim of subscription creep. There's your music subscription, video streaming subscriptions, gym membership, online storage, cell phone service, and probably much more. Companies make it simple to sign up for their services, and it's often easy to let them continue long after you don't need them because either you've forgotten about the subscription or it's difficult to unsubscribe. 

That's where subscription monitoring services like Trim and TrueBill come in. They analyze your credit card and bank account transactions for subscriptions and flag the recurring charges. They will then help you unsubscribe to unwanted services.

Trim uses text messages to alert you each month to recurring charges. Simply reply with "Cancel," and the name of the subscription and Trim will take care of it — if they can. Some subscriptions can't be canceled by Trim. TrueBill works the same way except you use the TrueBill app instead of text messaging for subscription information and cancellations.

How do Trim and TrueBill make money?

The privacy policies for TrueBill and Trim clearly state that they will not sell your personal information to third parties. But you may get communications from businesses that they have affiliate relationships with and they may sell your data once it's been anonymized. 

Also, both services offer bill negotiation services. They'll call your cable company and other services providers at your request to negotiate a lower rate. According to Trim's Payment Terms, you'll pay 33% percent of the first year of savings they negotiate for you. If they can't negotiate a lower rate, you don't pay anything. TrueBill works similarly but takes 40% of your first year of savings.

Easily cancel in-app subscriptions made with your phone

Some of your subscriptions, like your music streaming service, online gym classes and more, may be billed through Google Play or Apple's App Store. It's easy to check to see what services are being billed through Google and Apple and cancel your subscriptions. 

For iPhones and iPads, go to Settings > Apple ID (where your name is at the top) > Subscriptions. There you'll see a list of current and their next billing date or expiration date. Tap on a subscription to cancel your subscription. 

For Android, open the Google Play app then select Menu > Subscriptions. Select the subscription you want to cancel and then select Cancel subscription. If you have more than on Google account on your phone check all accounts in Google Play. You can easily switch between accounts when you go to Menu in the Google Play app. You can also use your computer to go to play.google.com, make sure you're signed into your account (you'll see the photo in the upper right corner), and select My Subscriptions from the menu on the left. Select Manage next to the subscription you'd like to cancel and then select Cancel subscription.

Updated on 1/24/2020

[Image credit: credit card bill via BigStockPhoto]