A company that keeps charging your card after you canceled, and stops answering you, is not the only place you can take the problem. If a company won't stop charging your account after you told it to cancel, you can file a dispute, also called a chargeback, with your credit or debit card company, which is the bank or credit union that issued the card. With your proof of canceling and the first statement that shows a charge after you canceled, you can open that dispute yourself and check how much time you have left.
Why proof matters when you already canceled
Keep every letter, note and email about the cancellation, because if your credit or debit card company has any questions, they could help prove you are entitled to a refund. Start with a copy of your cancellation request, along with notes about any conversations you had about canceling. If you canceled on a website and saved nothing, search your email for a confirmation, and write the notes now, while you still remember: when each conversation took place, who you reached, and what you were told.
Before a business gets your credit card information, it has to tell you how to cancel, and it must make canceling simple for you. So if you canceled the way the company told you to, say so in your dispute, and if it made canceling hard, describe what it made you do.
Who else can stop the charge when the company will not answer
Ask your card company. If you can't cancel, you can call your credit card company, at the number on the back of the card, and ask it to stop the payments, and on a credit or debit card you can dispute the charges already taken, online or by phone and then in writing:
- Online: sign in to your credit or debit card account and go through its dispute process. If you have no online account with the card company, look on its website for how to file.
- By phone: call the number on the back of your card and say why you are filing a dispute.
- In writing: to protect any rights you might have, send a letter to the address the card company lists for billing disputes or errors, not the one for payments. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of what the card company received.
Which card the charge is on changes what you are protected against. Federal law limits what you pay when your card is not lost or stolen and only its number is used for a charge you did not authorize, and if a charge taken after you canceled counts as one you did not authorize, the limits are these:
- On a credit card, you are not responsible for any charges you did not authorize.
- On a debit card, you are not responsible for any transactions you did not authorize if you report them within 60 calendar days after your statement is sent to you.
Send copies of your proof of canceling with the dispute. On a debit card, tell the card company about the charge as soon as you see it, because debit card transactions take money from your account right away.
How long you have to dispute the charge
On a credit card, to use the law's protections for billing errors, your letter has to reach the card company within 60 days after the first bill showing the charge was sent to you, counted from when that bill was sent, not from when you first saw the charge. Send it to the address for billing disputes or errors with your name, address, account number and a description of the mistake. Add copies, not originals, of whatever supports you, such as your cancellation request, and keep a copy of the letter.
On a debit card, the 60 calendar days that limit what you owe for transactions you did not authorize also count from a statement being sent to you. So for either card, find the first statement that shows a charge after you canceled and the date it was sent. A charge that repeats every month first appears on a new statement each time, so even if the oldest charges are past those 60 days, the most recent ones may still be inside them. Contact the card company right away, before you run out of time to use your legal protections.
On a credit card, once your letter arrives, the card company has deadlines of its own:
| What the card company must do | By when |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge your complaint in writing, unless the problem has been resolved | Within 30 days of getting your complaint |
| Resolve the dispute | Within 90 days of getting your complaint |
Resolving the dispute can go either way. If the card company decides you owe some of the disputed amount, it must tell you promptly and in writing how much you owe and why, and you may ask for copies of the documents it says prove you owe the money.
While a credit card dispute is open, the card company is not allowed to take action against you for using your rights. You can hold back payment on the disputed amount and any finance and related charges, and you are expected to pay the rest of the bill, including finance charges on the part you are not disputing. The card company is allowed to tell the three nationwide credit bureaus that you are challenging your bill, but the things it is not allowed to do include:
- take legal action to collect the amount you disputed, or finance charges on it
- close or restrict your account, though it can apply the disputed amount against your credit limit
- threaten your credit rating or report you as delinquent
- require you to pay your full balance immediately
Who to report it to, and whether reporting gets your money back
If you had problems canceling a subscription, or were charged for one you did not agree to, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to your state attorney general. The report goes to those two offices, not to your card company. The dispute goes to your card company, and on a credit card, if your bill has a mistake, the card company must explain in writing the corrections it will make to your account and remove all finance or other charges related to the error. Open the dispute first, and file the report as well.
On a credit card, if the card company's investigation finds the bill correct and you disagree, appeal within the time it gives you to pay or within 10 days of getting its explanation, whichever is later, by writing to it that you refuse to pay because you still dispute the billing error. It can then begin collection procedures, and it can report you to a credit bureau as delinquent, though the report must also say that you still dispute the error. If you pay within the time it gives you instead, you cannot be reported as delinquent. If you still disagree, you can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If a renewal notice asks for your card number
If a renewal notice that arrives after you canceled asks for your card number, stop and read it carefully before you answer, because the company might be trying to get you to renew an old subscription you already canceled, or a scammer may be lying about a renewal to get your credit card information. Keep your card number out of any reply, and to check whether a notice is real, contact the company at a number you know is correct, never the one on the notice.
The steps, in the order to take them
- Gather your proof of canceling: a copy of the request and your notes on each conversation about it.
- Find the first statement that shows a charge after you canceled, and the date it was sent to you.
- Open a dispute with the card company, online in your card account or at the number on the back of the card.
- Send the follow-up letter to the address for billing disputes or errors, by certified mail with a return receipt, with copies of your proof, and keep a copy for yourself.
- On a credit card, keep paying the part of the bill you are not disputing.
- File your report with the FTC through ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and with your state attorney general.
If the subscription paid for a prescription weight medicine, talk with the doctor who prescribed it or with your pharmacist before you stop taking the medicine, and if you have already stopped, tell your pharmacist now (see Who to tell and where the leftover box goes when you stop a weight medicine).
If the medicine was prescribed through NicoCares, let your care team know you have stopped it, and why, in a Spruce message; Spruce is the secure app NicoCares patients use to write to their care team. To cancel a NicoCares plan, email [email protected] from the email address your account uses; canceling stops future charges, though it does not refund a billing period that has already started or medication already dispensed. If you believe NicoCares charged you in error, write to the same address and the charge will be reviewed with you.
Shopping for the same medicine somewhere cheaper after canceling? Deep discounts or prices that seem too good to believe are among the warning signs that an online pharmacy may be an unsafe website (see Is a cheap injection from a private seller safe to buy?).
