How to cancel a recurring card payment in the UK
A recurring card payment (sometimes called a continuous payment authority) is money taken from your debit or credit card on a repeating basis. Subscriptions use them, but so do some insurance premiums, memberships and instalment plans. You can ask for the payment to be stopped, and you don't have to wait for the company to agree first.
First, work out what kind of payment it is
Recurring card payments are easy to confuse with two other ways of paying regularly. The difference matters, because they are cancelled in different ways.
- Recurring card payment: a charge on your debit or credit card, often on varying dates, set up with the business when you signed up.
- Direct Debit: taken straight from your bank account, usually on set dates, with the business able to change the amount.
- Standing order: a fixed amount you told your bank to send on fixed dates. Only you can change or cancel it, through your bank.
Who you can ask
The FCA says you can ask either the business taking the payment or your card issuer to stop a recurring card payment. Your card issuer cannot insist that you contact the business first.
Telling the business is often the quickest way to cancel the subscription itself, but if you want the payment stopped, you don't need their permission first.
Timing matters
To stop the next payment, make the request by the end of the business day before that payment is due. Later than that and the next payment may still go through.
If you know a payment is due tomorrow, phone your card issuer today rather than waiting for the business to reply to an email.
A short checklist before you cancel
A few minutes of preparation makes the request easier to make and easier to prove later.
- Find the payment in your card statement and note the amount, the dates it has been taken and how it is described.
- Check whether you are still inside a minimum term or notice period, because stopping the payment does not change what the contract says.
- Have your account details and any cancellation reference to hand.
- Note the date and the route you use to cancel, so you can prove when you asked.
Stopping the payment doesn't end the contract
Stopping a recurring card payment does not necessarily end the underlying contract, and it does not cancel money you still owe. Any contractual obligation you have under the agreement can remain even after the payment authority is stopped. If you want the subscription itself to end, cancel with the provider too and keep the confirmation.
Evidence worth keeping
If a payment is taken after you cancelled, records are what turn a disagreement into a straightforward refund request.
- When and how you asked for the cancellation, and when and how you asked for the payment to be stopped.
- Confirmations, reference numbers, chat transcripts, emails and screenshots.
- The statement entries for any payments taken afterwards, including how the payment was described.
If payments continue after you cancelled
The FCA says that if you asked the business or your card issuer to stop the payment in time, further card payments are treated as unauthorised. The card issuer must refund those payments, along with any related charges.
Contact your card issuer, explain what happened and give the date you asked for the payment to stop. If you are unhappy with how they handle it, ask for their complaints procedure, which sets out how to take it further.
Official sources
Last reviewed: September 2026
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