Cancel unused subscriptions: a one-hour audit that saves hundreds

Most households pay for at least one thing they do not use. Streaming, apps, gym, cloud storage, delivery passes and magazines add up quietly because each payment is small. This guide walks through a one-hour audit, the traps that catch people, and the legal rights that make cancelling easier than companies suggest.

The audit

1. Open online banking for every current account and credit card. Filter or scroll for 3 months of transactions.
2. Write down every payment that repeats. Include annual ones; look back 12 months for those.
3. Check the subscriptions page of your phone's app store. App subscriptions often do not show a recognisable name on the statement.
4. Check PayPal and any other wallet for recurring agreements.
5. Next to each, write the monthly cost and the last time you used it.

Anything not used in the past month goes on the cancel list unless it is seasonal. Anything used by only one person in a family plan gets checked for a cheaper individual tier.

Free trial traps

The trial is not the product. The product is your card details and the assumption you will forget.

• Set a reminder the day you sign up, for 2 days before the trial ends.
• Cancel straight away if the service lets you keep access until the trial ends. Many do.
• Watch for trials that convert to an annual plan, not a monthly one.
• A trial that needs card details for a "free" product is a subscription. Treat it as one.

If you are charged after a trial you thought you had cancelled, contact the company with your cancellation evidence, then your card provider. Chargeback covers payments taken after a cancellation.

Annual or monthly

Annual plans are usually cheaper per month, often by a sixth or more. They only save money if you keep the service for the full year. The rule of thumb:

Rotate rather than stack. Subscribe to one streaming service at a time, watch what you want, cancel, move to the next. The catalogues do not go anywhere.

Sharing plans

Family and household tiers can be far cheaper per person. Check the terms: some services now enforce a single household by address or network and charge extra for anyone outside it. Splitting costs with friends who live elsewhere may breach the terms and end with the account blocked.

Where sharing is allowed, one person pays and the others transfer their share on a standing order. Keep it boring and automatic.

Your cancellation rights

• 14-day cooling-off. Anything bought online, by phone or at your door can be cancelled within 14 days for a refund under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. For digital content you may lose the right once you start streaming or downloading, if you agreed to that at sign-up.
• The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 introduces rules on subscription contracts: clear pre-contract information, reminders before a free trial or introductory period ends and before renewal, and a cancellation route that is as easy as signing up. The government has said these provisions will apply from 2027; check gov.uk for the commencement date.
• Cancelling a direct debit or continuous payment authority with your bank stops the money. Tell the company too, or you may still owe under the contract.
• Gym contracts with minimum terms can often be ended early for a change in circumstances such as moving or injury. Check the terms and put it in writing.

Watch out for

• Cancellation flows designed to wear you down. Note the date you started, take screenshots, and if it cannot be done online, phone and ask for a reference number.
• Retention offers. A discount for staying is fine if you would have kept it anyway. It is not a reason to keep something you do not use.
• Price rises mid-term. Read the notice. Many services let you leave without penalty when the price changes.
• Bundles. A phone or broadband deal that includes a streaming service you never use is not free; it is priced in.

One hour, once a quarter, keeps the list honest.