Cancelled a subscription but still being charged? How to stop it

If a company keeps charging you after you cancelled - or you have spotted a subscription you never knowingly agreed to - you do not have to win an argument with the merchant first. You have the right to cancel a recurring card payment (a continuous payment authority) directly with your bank, and any charge taken after that cancellation should be treated as unauthorised and refunded.

This guide explains how recurring card payments actually work, the cancellation right many bank staff still get wrong, and how to recover charges that should never have been taken.

Key takeaways

• A continuous payment authority (CPA) is a recurring payment set up with your card details - gym memberships, streaming, apps, insurance renewals, "free trials" that convert.
• You can cancel a CPA directly with your bank or card provider. You do not need the merchant's agreement.
• Payments taken after you cancel with the bank are unauthorised and should be refunded.
• "You have to cancel with the merchant" is wrong as a reason for the bank to refuse - and worth complaining about.
• Cancelling the payment does not always cancel any underlying contract debt - deal with both.
• If the bank mishandles it, the Financial Ombudsman Service is free and independent.

Which kind of recurring payment is taking your money?

Type	How it is set up	How to stop it
Continuous payment authority	Your card number (long number on the card)	Cancel with the merchant and your bank - the bank must act on your instruction
Direct debit	Your account number and sort code	Cancel at the bank or in your banking app; protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee
Standing order	You set it up yourself at your bank	Cancel it yourself at the bank instantly

If you are not sure which you have, check the statement wording or ask the bank - it can see how the payment is authorised. CPAs are the ones that cause most trouble, because merchants control when they collect and many people are told, wrongly, that the bank cannot help.

Your cancellation right, plainly

Under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, you can withdraw your consent to future payments in a series at any time before the end of the business day before the next payment is due. Once you have told your bank, that consent is gone: any later payment under that authority is an unauthorised transaction, and the unauthorised-payment refund rules apply - the bank should refund it promptly.

The FCA has been explicit for years that firms must act on a customer's CPA cancellation and must not send people back to the merchant as a condition of stopping payments.

Sources: Payment Services Regulations 2017, regulation 67 (consent and withdrawal of consent) and regulation 76 (refunds for unauthorised payments), plus FCA guidance for consumers on recurring payments. Last checked: 04.07.2026.

How to stop the charges - the exact sequence

1. Cancel with the merchant in whatever way its process allows, and screenshot the confirmation. This deals with the contract side.
2. Cancel the CPA with your bank the same day. Use secure messaging or the app so there is a written record: "I withdraw consent for future payments to [merchant] under any continuous payment authority. Please confirm."
3. Keep the date. Everything after this point is unauthorised.
4. Check the next statement. If a payment goes through anyway, tell the bank it was taken after cancellation and ask for an immediate refund under the unauthorised-payment rules.
5. Watch for re-attempts under slightly different merchant names - flag those too.

One honest caveat: cancelling the payment does not erase a genuine contractual commitment. If you are mid-way through a 12-month gym contract, the gym may still pursue the remaining fees - dispute that with the gym on its own merits. What the merchant cannot do is keep helping itself to your card after your consent is withdrawn.

Getting money back that was already taken

Charges after you cancelled with the bank: unauthorised - the bank should refund them, quickly.

Charges after you cancelled with the merchant but before you told the bank: dispute with the merchant first, and if it stonewalls, ask your bank to raise a chargeback for payments after your documented cancellation. Card-scheme time limits are often around 120 days per charge, so do not sit on it - see chargeback vs Section 75 for how that route works.

A free trial that quietly converted: the questions become what you actually agreed to and how clearly the conversion terms were presented. Screenshot the sign-up flow if you still can. Chargeback for "misrepresented" or unrecognised recurring charges is common, and banks handle these disputes routinely.

The bank refused to cancel, or told you to go to the merchant: every payment taken after your cancellation instruction is the bank's problem. Complain: refund of those payments, associated charges, and something for the runaround if it dragged on.

What evidence helps most

• the cancellation confirmation from the merchant, with the date
• your written CPA cancellation to the bank, with the date
• statements highlighting every charge after each cancellation
• the sign-up or free-trial terms as you saw them, if the dispute is about consent
• notes of any calls: date, who you spoke to, what was said

When and how to escalate

If the bank rejects your complaint or eight weeks pass without a final response, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The Financial Ombudsman Service is free, independent, and you keep any compensation it awards. The usual six-month window from the final response applies - check the current time limits.

For context, our analysis of published Ombudsman decisions shows payment complaints usually turn on the record of what the customer told the firm and when.

How HeyRefund can help

Subscription-trap disputes are all about the two cancellation dates - merchant and bank - and what was charged around them. HeyRefund helps you build that dated record, work out which charges fall under which rule, and prepare a complaint that is hard to fob off.

Stopping a CPA, disputing charges and going to the Ombudsman are all free. HeyRefund just gets the file straight first.