how to stop a regular payment by credit card?

An obscure credit card payment appears each month on your account statement? You may have subscribed without knowing it. How to react?

Where do these recurring payments come from?

Smartphone 1 euro! Or free sample: Attracted by an attractive offer, you finalize the order by card in order to pay for the purchase of the low-cost telephone or to pay the shipping costs. Surprise: a few weeks or months later, you notice on your account statement a payment by bank card, of 4, 5 or 10 euros, which is repeated at regular intervals. As the questions and testimonials above show, this unpleasant surprise is commonplace.

In a dedicated practical sheet, the Fraud prevention also cites espresso coffee machines or drones that have been advertised with hidden subscriptions. Beyond the free trial, recurring payments may follow a purchase on a clairvoyance, dating, lottery or other financial game siteor even following a request by SMS or via telephone canvassing.

Each time, the same scenario is repeated: the consumer thinks of paying for a single and unique purchase, but finds himself subscribing to a given service against his will. Sometimes the subscription is totally disguised. More often, direct debit, subscription or recurring payment by bank card is mentioned but sufficiently well concealed for the Internet user to pay no attention to it.

Opposing, effective as a last resort

How to react? First reflex: identify the site or service provider concerned as soon as possible, connect to your personal space and unsubscribe. So much for the ideal scenario.

Problem: the wording of the regular payment is often very vague on the account statement, which does not help to identify the origin of the payment. Worse: sometimes it is not possible to unsubscribe or even contact the company concerned.

When you pay by card, you give your authorization: it’s irrevocable

If it is impossible to stop this recurring payment, you must contact your bank as soon as possible. Problem: When you pay by card, you give your authorization: it is irrevocable, and whether the payment is made in one installment or several installments, underlines Jrme Raguns, director of the digital department, systems and means of payment of the Banking Federation French (FBF). In this situation, with a recurring payment by card, the only possibility for the customer is to oppose. This then prevents the card from being used until the news has been received… And involves costs for replacing the card. On this point, the bank can possibly make a commercial gesture, slips Ralph Roggenbuck, lawyer at the European Consumer Center (CEC) France.

Get a refund? A hypothetical success

Based in Kehl, a few kilometers from Strasbourg on the German side, ECC France specializes in cross-border consumer issues. This network has been solicited by hundreds of French people who feel confused by sites based in another European country. When it is not real fraudsters, we manage to obtain reimbursement from the site, specifies Ralph Roggenbuck. a becomes more complicated when the company concerned is malicious.

We are not in a case of payment fraud

Because the hidden or disguised subscription is not a fraud in the strict sense of the term: We are not in a case of fraud by means of payment: fraud is, for example, when someone makes purchases your place, explains Jrme Raguns, of the banking federation. There, there is a payment authorization, despite the initial misunderstanding… According to the FBF, this type of inconvenience is above all a commercial dispute between the customer and the site concerned. This does not make it possible to be compensated and taken care of as easily as in the case of classic fraud.

Credit card fraud: a platform for filing a complaint

In the case of hidden subscriptions, the client will find it much more difficult to deny his negligence. In this regard, French law judges the acceptance of conditions of sale on the Internet through the double click rule: a first click to check the details of the order, a second to confirm it after having been able to read it fully.

Worst: Ralph Roggenbuck, of CEC France, admits that case law is almost unheard of in France on the issue of hidden card subscriptions, because fraud often involves small amounts and victims rarely initiate proceedings for such sums. He encourages them all the same, when possible, to request a refund from their bank or the credit card issuer by activating the procedure of chargeback. This procedure is provided for by the conditions in English of Visa and Mastercard and covers the case of online orders resulting in a service that does not comply with what was announced, or in an absence of delivery: The chargeback has existed for a long time but often the banks refuse, either because the law does not oblige them, or because they are wrongly unaware of this procedure, develops the lawyer from CEC France.

Prefer the direct debit mandate for subscriptions

Obtaining a refund, from the site, the bank or the card issuer, is like an obstacle course. Pending a more protective framework for the consumer, caution remains the key word: beware when you give your bank details! advises Ralph Roggenbuck. Always take the time to understand what you are paying for.

You always have to take the time to understand what you are paying

Jrme Raguns, of the FBF, advises in passing to hunt for additional services by carefully reading the concepts written at the bottom of the page or at the end of the document before any online payment.

And to be wary depending on the method of payment claimed: Direct debit by credit card is a convenience used by creditors for their customers who find it more practical, points out Jrme Raguns. For a subscription or a regular payment, direct debit seems more suitable. With a traditional direct debit, to put an end to an unwanted payment, simply revoke the mandate. Without having to oppose, or ask for a new card…

Credit card: 3 tips to avoid hidden subscription scams