The South Korean-built Polestar 4 is the first new model in a series intended to give the Swedish brand a showroom full of appealing vehicles by 2028.
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Companies make it easy to sign up and weirdly hard to quit

November 11, 2025

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  Scan 6090 days of card/bank statements and make a hit list of anything recurring, vague, or annual you cant cancel what you forgot exists
  
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  Always cancel where you signed up (Apple, Google Play, website) and look for turn off auto-renew or cancel at end of period, then screenshot the confirmation
  
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  Start a fake cancel many services throw out wait, want 20% off? offers in the cancel flow, so you can keep the service but at alower rate
  

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Somewhere right now, your credit card is renewing a streaming service you dont watch or a workout app you havent touched since February. None of this was intentional. Its just what happens when companies make signing up stupid-easy and canceling slightly annoying. Heres how to stop paying for the stuff you meant to cancel, and how to shut down the ones that play hard to get.

Start with a subscription audit

Its very hard to cancel the services youve completely forgotten about. So, before you can cancel anything, you have to know exactly what youre paying for.

• Start by opening your bank or credit card app and look at the last 6090 days.
• I always like to write down anything on the statement that looks like one of these: recurring, APP*, Digital, or a name you dont recognize.
• Also, dont forget about your annual services (password managers, antivirus, cloud storage) as they can often be the sneakiest.

Now youve got a hit list to work with.

Turn off auto-renew everywhere

Most of the time, you dont need to fully close the account, you just need to stop it from renewing every month or year.

For each service you want to cancel do the following:

• Go into account billing manage plan.
• Look for turn off auto-renew, cancel at end of period, or dont renew.
• Screenshot it. Save the email. If they end up billing you again, you have proof that they shouldnt have.

If you cant find billing inside the app, log-in ona laptop or desktop computer. Often times companies will sneakily hide the real cancel tools there instead of on their app.

Pro tip: Renewal emails love to say stuff like Your benefits are continuing or An update to your account instead of Were charging you $59.99 tomorrow. So be sure to open those boring, vague emails and search for words like renewal, next billing date, or will be charged.

Cancel through the same platform you used to subscribe

This is a big one that many people miss and can cause a lot of frustration.

• If you subscribed through Apple, you have to cancel in Apple.
• If you subscribed through Google Play, cancel in Google Play.
• If you subscribed on the company website, cancel on the website.

For example, if you signed up for Paramount+ through Apple, you have to cancel it in your Apple subscriptions.

If you try to cancel on Paramounts website instead, theyll say they never got the cancellation and youll keep getting charged. Always cancel where you started.

Beat retention tricks

Some services dont say cancel. Instead, theyll say something like pause, downgrade, or keep 30 days free. Those are all classic stall tactics.

Scroll down until you see wording like end membership, do not renew, or cancel immediately. If all you see is pause, go ahead and do it so they stop billing you right now. Then go back into your account after a few days and the full cancel option will typically appear.

Do this when they make you call or chat

Some companies still force you to talk to a human so they can talk you out of cancelling. You might not have a choice but to play along, sobe sure to leave a trail.

• Ask, Can you confirm this is canceled today?
• Get the confirmation number or email while youre still in chat.
• Save the transcript or take screenshots.

Now if they bill you again, you can go to your card and say, I canceled on X date and heres my proof.

Use your credit card as your backup plan

Think of this as your safety net.

If youve tried to cancel and they keep billing you, dispute the charge with your card or bank and tell them its an unauthorized recurring payment.

Amazingly, banks see this all the time. You can also use a virtual card (Privacy, Capital One Eno, some bank apps) which have spending limits attached so a subscription cant suddenly double on you.

Set a reminder the day you start a free trial

Most ugh, I forgot to cancel charges happen 730 days after you start a new subscription.

So, when you start a trial, set a calendar reminder on your phone for 2-3 days before it renews. Literally name it: Cancel Paramount+ or whatever.

If the service wont tell you the renewal date clearly, thats a big red flag in my book. I recommend cancelling right away and resubscribe later if you still want it.

Make it harder for subscriptions to get you

Ive discovered two easy habits to make sure I dont overspend on subscriptions I never use.

• Keep all subscriptions on one credit card so you can scan one statement quickly.
• Before you cancel, drop to the cheapest version. A lot of services will surface the real cancel button only after you downgrade, and if you end up needing it again, youre paying less in the meantime.

Dont actually cancel and save money in the process

A lot subscriptions will offer you a discount when you first hit the "cancel" button. They don't want to lose your business and will often throw you a bone to keep you paying.

So if you pay for a subscription that you actually use, but it's a little more than you want to pay, give this a shot. The good part is they'll typically tell you about the discount before you have to hit the "finalizeyour cancellation" button giving you time to back out.

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