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I spent about 30 minutes using one app to cancel a bunch of subscriptions I no longer use. I'll save about $1,235 this year.
If you're like me, you might sign up for lots of subscriptions using different credit cards and then forget to cancel them when you no longer use them.
I used the Rocket Money app to see all of my subscriptions. It let me cancel the ones I don't need without opening a bunch of other apps or websites and then figuring out how to unsubscribe.
I canceled the meal-prep subscription service Hello Fresh, saving me $980 for the year right off the bat. I also nixed a subscription to a $180 workout app and cut my $75 Instacart membership. Rocket Money might also help you discover and cancel subscriptions to streaming services you no longer use or other recurring bills you've long forgotten about.
The app offers new users a 7-day free trial, enough time for you to cancel your subscriptions, but otherwise costs $3 to $12 per month, billed annually, depending on what you need. There are other features of Rocket Money, such as budget tracking and savings tools that may make a monthly fee worth it for you. I just needed it to aggregate all of my subscriptions in one place so I could cancel the ones I haven't been using.
Here's what I did.
How to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions
It's easy to create an account and navigate Rocket Money as long as you remember the passwords to your many accounts. Here's what to do:
- Sign up for aRocket Moneyaccount online. You can also download the app for iPhone or Android.
- Link your checking accounts, savings accounts and credit cards. Sometimes this will require two-factor authentication, meaning you'll receive an email or text with a code to help you log on to your bank or credit card account so you can link it to Rocket Money.
- You'll see your recent transactions once your accounts are linked. Recurring charges appear as a small icon that looks like an arrow traveling around the perimeter of a circle on the website. On the app, you'll see a tab for recurring charges at the bottom of your screen.
- Click the subscription you'd like to cancel.
- Once you see the subscription transaction, tap the drop-down menu button in the upper right-hand corner of the website. If you're using the Rockey Money app, tap the three-dot icon next to the charge.
- Select "Cancel This For Me."
- Enter your username and password and give Rocket Money permission to access the account.
- Repeat that to cancel other subscriptions.
- Rocket Money said it couldn't cancel one of my subscriptions but it gave me the information I needed to cancel the service, including the website's cancellation link, the customer service phone number and a support email address for the company.
Pro tip: If you're having trouble remembering all of your accounts, go to annualcreditreport.com to obtain your free credit report, which will include all of your open accounts. Every year, you can download a copy of your annual credit report for free, without dinging your credit score. This will allow you to see some of those random credit accounts you may have opened and forgotten about that you may want to link to Rocket Money.
