Financial wellness expert Clare Seal, founder of the Instagram community @myfrugalyear (photo provided)
The “subscription economy” is huge and is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion globally, according to UBS – and most of us have a few online subscriptions that we no longer need, but still have to pay for.
Figures from C+R Research showed that 42 percent of us have stopped using a subscription service, but forgot that they are still paying for it.
DailyMail.com spoke to financial wellness expert Clare Seal, founder of the My Frugal Year Instagram community, who said you should be careful when signing up for subscription services — and use clever tech hacks to cancel the ones you don’t need.
Seal said, “If you sign up for a free trial, check that you can cancel online and just as easily as you signed up.
“If there’s a long process or you need to call or email someone, you might forget or be too busy and end up paying for a plan you don’t use.
“Also, once you sign up for a free trial, set a calendar reminder the day before the renewal to cancel or renegotiate.”
Seal recommends “soft stop” as a way to save money on your subscriptions.
She said, “If you still want to use a service but don’t want to pay full price, try ‘soft stop’.”
“Here you go through all the motions to cancel but accept an offer to stay. That works well with some streaming subscriptions, especially now.’
Seal says there are also some steps to take to spot fraudulent subscriptions that you may have forgotten about.
Automatically find subscriptions on iPhone
Seal says, “Your phone’s operating system also allows you to keep track of subscriptions you may have created in apps.”
On Apple devices, you can automatically track down and cancel subscriptions you may have signed up for through iOS apps — you can even get refunds for recently billed subscriptions.
You can track down and cancel subscriptions via the App Store app (Apple).
Just go to the App Store app, tap your profile picture, and on your account page you’ll see a list of your current subscriptions plus their billing (or expiration) dates.
You can easily cancel by tapping on one of the subscriptions and selecting Cancel.
Automatically find subscriptions on Android
On Android, open the Google Play Store, tap your profile picture in the top right, then select “Payments & Subscriptions,” then “Subscriptions.”
You can cancel subscriptions automatically on Android (Google)
You can see all your current subscriptions here, including their next billing date.
You can cancel directly from the Play Store app, without having to visit the respective app.
Use your banking app – or a specialized app
Setting a time each month to think about subscriptions can help, Seal says, as can using apps to spot rogue subscriptions.
She says, “Set a monthly time to review all your subscriptions by looking at your bank statement or an app that tracks your expenses.
Many modern banking apps offer automatic ways to track recurring expenses — Bank of America’s virtual assistant Erica, for example, can find recurring payments (and alert you when they rise).
She says, “Using banking apps or subscription apps you can calculate what you spend monthly/year in total on subscriptions, which can be a wake-up call. After reviewing, think about what you value and what you don’t, and cancel or pause the latter.”
The AskTrim app helps you with unwanted subscriptions (AskTrim)
Apps like Mint and AskTrim provide automatic ways to find subscriptions, log into your online bank account with your information, and spot recurring payments (except utility bills and rent).
Services like TrackMySubs take a more manual approach, requiring you to add subscriptions yourself, but offer a handy reminder when payments go down.
Find your email
If you signed up with your email address as your username, chances are you’re getting regular emails letting you know you’ve been billed.
Even if you have a lot of email subscriptions, it’s pretty easy to track down the paid ones – just search “subscription billed” or “subscription receipt” in your email app.
Within some services there will be an option to unsubscribe directly from the email – if not, go to the provider’s website or app and unsubscribe manually.