Subscription charges after cancellation

Legal position:

A subscription is a contract. If you cancelled it properly, the trader has no legal right to keep charging you, and any payments taken after a valid cancellation are money taken without a legal basis. You are potentially entitled to a refund of anything charged after the cancellation took effect.

The current statutory backdrop is a mix of contract law, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (which deals with unfair terms and quality of services), and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Until the new subscriptions regime comes into force, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 continue to apply. For most online or distance sign-ups these give you an initial 14-day cooling-off right when you first enter the contract. Under current law the general 14-day cooling-off right applies when you first enter a subscription contract, which is typical for distance and online contracts.

There is also a new regime on the way. The UK Government has published its plans for implementing the new subscription contracts regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The new regime will introduce cooling-off periods at the end of free trials and upon auto-renewal, alongside new obligations designed to make it straightforward for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions. Importantly for you, this is not yet in force. Implementation is targeted for Spring 2027. So while it signals the direction of travel, it will not usually be the basis of a claim about charges happening now.

The reason it still matters is that regulators are already active on this issue. The Act gives the Competition and Markets Authority tough new powers to enforce consumer law, which it has recently begun to use.

Key missing facts that change the answer:

Whether you have proof that you actually cancelled, and the date it took effect. This is the single most important point.

Whether the contract had a fixed term or a notice period. If you were mid-term or the terms required, say, 30 days’ notice, some post-cancellation charges may in fact be contractually due, though any notice term must itself be fair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

How you tried to cancel, and whether the trader made cancellation unreasonably difficult or ignored a valid cancellation.

How the payments are being taken. This matters a great deal for the fastest practical remedy, explained below. Continuous payment authorities on a debit or credit card are treated differently from direct debits.

Practical next steps:

1. Gather your evidence. Find the cancellation confirmation, screenshots, emails, chat logs, cancellation reference numbers, the date you cancelled, the original terms and conditions, and your bank or card statements showing each charge. If you cancelled by phone, note the date, time and any reference. Without evidence of a valid cancellation, disputes become much harder.

2. Stop further payments through your bank. If payments are taken by a continuous payment authority on your debit or credit card, you have a legal right to instruct your bank or card provider to cancel it, and they must stop the payments once you ask, even if the trader objects. If it is a direct debit, you can cancel it directly with your bank, and the Direct Debit Guarantee entitles you to an immediate refund from your bank of payments taken in error. Cancelling the payment method does not by itself end the contract, so still deal with step 3, but it prevents further money leaving your account.

3. Write a clear complaint to the trader. Set out the date you cancelled, attach your proof, list every payment taken after that date, and demand a refund of those payments and confirmation the subscription is closed. Keep it factual and give a short deadline, for example 14 days. State clearly that you cancelled and that any further charges are unauthorised.

4. Claim a chargeback or use section 75. If you paid by debit card you can ask your bank for a chargeback for payments taken after cancellation. If you paid by credit card, you may also have rights under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 depending on the amounts. This is often the quickest route to getting money back.

5. Escalate to the relevant body. Report the trader to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice consumer service, which is the usual public reporting route in England and Wales and can feed intelligence to enforcement. If the subscription is in a regulated sector, for example insurance or a telecoms or broadband service, there is often a dedicated ombudsman such as the Financial Ombudsman Service or the relevant communications ombudsman that can order redress for free.

6. Court as a last resort. If the trader refuses to refund clearly unauthorised charges, you can bring a small claim in the County Court for the money wrongly taken. This is designed to be used without a lawyer for lower-value claims, but weigh the time, effort and the fact that a chargeback or ombudsman route is usually faster and cheaper.

Where you may be on weaker ground:

If the terms genuinely required a notice period and you did not give it, or if you were in a committed fixed term, some charges may be legitimately owed. Even then, a term that makes cancellation disproportionately difficult, or that locks you in unfairly, can be challenged as an unfair term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and the direction of the new regime is firmly against traders frustrating cancellation. Consumers must be able to exit subscription contracts without unnecessary hurdles; traders may make retention offers or seek feedback during cancellation, but must not frustrate or unreasonably prolong the process.

A note on the incoming rules:

Once the new regime is live it will strengthen your position on refunds and cancellation, including a principle that consumers should not be paying for periods after they have properly cancelled a rolling contract. Upcoming legislation will seek to prevent terms that make it disproportionately difficult to cancel contracts that auto-renew, and to ensure consumers are not liable for payment before a rolling contract renews for a new period. For a problem happening today, though, rely on your existing contract, the 2013 Regulations, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and your bank or card chargeback and direct debit rights, which are your most effective immediate tools.

If you tell me how you cancelled, the date, whether there was a notice period or fixed term, and how the payments are being taken (card or direct debit), I can tailor the fastest route and help you draft the complaint.