How to find and manage subscriptions

Are recurring payments and subscriptions taking up more and more of your budget? You’re not alone. Set-it-and-forget-it payment plans can be an easy, convenient and affordable way to pay for your subscriptions. 

But sometimes, it can seem hard to keep track of what you’re subscribed to, what you’re still using and when free trials end. Fortunately, staying on top of all those recurring charges doesn’t have to be a big hassle. This guide will help you learn how to better manage your subscriptions and keep your budget in check.

What you’ll learn:

• Subscriptions can be a convenient way to access various products and services. But over time, subscription costs can add up.

• It’s helpful to regularly monitor your subscriptions to check for price increases and cancel subscriptions you no longer use.

• If you’re a Capital One credit card holder, you have access to built-in subscription management tools right within the Capital One Mobile app. These tools let you view and block or cancel eligible subscription payments in one convenient place.

Here are some tips for managing your subscriptions to help ensure you’re only paying for the products and services you’re actively using.

Take some time to review all the subscriptions you’re currently paying for. One way to do this is to check your bank statements or view your past transactions online. Look for recurring charges that take place on a regular basis. You may also be able to check your mobile device to see what subscriptions you’re paying for through its associated store—Google Play™ or App Store®, for instance. 

It might help to calculate the annual cost of each service and then add all those costs together. That way, you’ll have a clearer picture of how much you’re spending on subscriptions per year and where you may want to save money.

Take stock of how often you’re using each subscription service you pay for. If you find you’re not using some subscriptions enough to justify the cost, it might be time to cancel. Or if there’s a free version of the service, consider downgrading your membership to that free tier. You may have to listen to or watch advertisements, but you’ll save money over time.

Before you sign up for any service, it’s helpful to read the fine print so you know what you’re agreeing to. That way, you’ll better understand things like the service’s cancellation policy, how you’ll be billed and how much you’re agreeing to pay.

When scrolling through a subscription service’s terms and conditions, look out for any boxes that are prechecked. You might want to opt out of additional features that have been automatically selected for you. These features could include things like ad-free viewing or listening, additional streaming services through a company’s partners or even free trials for premium channels that you may not want.

Some subscriptions that offer a free trial might have the trial preset to auto-renew once the trial period ends. So it’s helpful to understand how a free trial works before you sign up. If you sign up for a free trial and don’t want to continue subscribing after it ends, consider adding a reminder to your calendar to cancel before the trial ends.

For usage-based subscriptions or apps that allow in-app purchases, you may be able to set restrictions on how much you can spend so that you—or anyone else using your subscription, such as a child—doesn’t accidentally spend more than you mean to.

Regularly check your debit and credit card statements for changes to recurring subscription charges. You can also look back at your statements after unsubscribing to make sure you aren’t still being charged.

Companies may send renewal notices or information about price increases. So keep an eye on things like your email, mail and in-app notifications to be informed of any changes in subscription pricing.

Some streaming services occasionally offer discounts either for new subscribers or subscribers who are considering leaving. Others offer bundle deals that let you get multiple subscriptions at a lower price than you’d pay individually. You may need to contact the streaming service to get the discount, but doing so could save you money. 

That said, those discounts rarely last forever. It can help to track how long you’ve had a subscription and, if prices go up, consider canceling it.

Some providers, like certain streaming services, let you share a plan with friends or members of your household. That can help keep subscriptions more affordable. 

Take note that some subscription services may charge an extra fee to share plans with friends or family members. These fees are typically lower than what you’d pay for an individual plan, but they can still add up over time.

Charging all your subscriptions to one payment method might help you keep better track of recurring charges. For example, using one card for your subscriptions may make it easier to budget with your credit card.

Using a subscription management app or service can help you stay on top of your recurring charges. Plus, it can help you trim services you’re not using from your budget and alert you to price increases. 

Luckily, if you’re a Capital One credit card holder, you can skip third-party apps and access free subscription management tools in the Capital One Mobile app.

Capital One offers some digital tools that may make finding and managing subscriptions even easier.

Subscription payments made with your Capital One credit card can be managed through the Capital One Mobile app. Within the app, you can find subscription management features that will allow you to view your expected subscription payments all in one convenient place and block or cancel unwanted subscriptions.

To check your recurring subscription charges in the app, look for the Expected Transactions section after selecting your credit card. From there, you can cancel or block charges at certain merchants right within the app.

Virtual cards allow you to make purchases online without using your physical credit card number, offering added security, convenience and financial control for subscription payments. Here’s a closer look at the benefits of using virtual cards to pay for subscriptions:

• Security: You can use virtual cards to pay for subscription services without sharing your physical credit card number with merchants. If a merchant experiences a data breach, your physical card number won’t be exposed. You can also easily delete or lock the virtual card that may have been exposed and generate a new one in seconds as a replacement.
• Convenience: Because you can generate virtual cards digitally in seconds through the Capital One Mobile app, you never need to have your physical card on hand to sign up for a service. Plus, if your physical card is ever lost, stolen or expired and its number changes, your virtual cards will continue to work until their own expiration dates. So you won’t need to spend time manually updating your payment information across multiple subscription services.
• Financial control: With certain virtual cards from Capital One, you can set up auto-lock, which means you can set the card to lock automatically on a specific date. This means you can instantly block accidental charges after a free trial ends. However, it’s always a good idea to cancel your subscription directly with the merchant to avoid any potential issues.

Subscription services are becoming more and more popular. And while $5 here or $15 there may not seem like much at first, these charges can add up quickly. 

But by monitoring recurring charges and managing your subscriptions, you can keep track of the subscriptions you actually use. Download the Capital One Mobile app today to view recurring payments and cancel or block unwanted subscriptions that you pay for with your Capital One credit card and access your virtual cards.