On our money skills courses, we talk about the importance of checking our regular payments and subscriptions, so we can be sure we aren’t paying for services or products we aren’t actually using. The easy way to do this is to look at our direct debits and standing orders on our bank account or app.
But not all regular payments show up there! Some payments are ‘recurring’, or what is sometimes called a ‘continuous payment authority’, which means that they were set up using the long card number of a credit or debit card, rather than via your bank (as per a standing order or direct debit).
Money Saving Expert has full details to help you identify these kinds of payments, and cancel them where necessary.
You can also try to track them down via your smartphone if you use it to make payments - here are the steps to take:
Android:
Open Google Play Store
Tap profile picture
Go to ‘payments & subscriptions’
Then choose ‘budget & history’ or ‘payment methods’ for recurring payments, and ‘subscriptions’ for subscrptions
Iphone:
Go to Settings
Press your name at the top
Select 'Subscriptions' to see your current and previous subscriptions bought on Apple devices - you can also manage billing or cancel them from this menu