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Comment by __derek__ | Hacker News Reader

I fix this by using a one-time card number for any subscription or recurring purchase. Citi and Capital One offer them for free (the latter has a much better UI), or a lot of people use Privacy.com. Even a Visa/MC gift card works well if you happen to get one for a rebate or something. It would be great if merchants all abided by #2 and gave notice of impending charges, but ultimately I prefer to shut off the taps on my timeline rather than theirs.

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I used this tactic to break up with WSJ. However, I think they technically reserve the right to try to collect fees if you don't cancel through their system.

Another time, I had a service continue to try to bill me monthly for 2 years. I just let it keep saying "your order is about to ship" and "there was a problem with your card". Eventually, they found a way to charge me (I'm really not sure how) and had an order go through, after which I cancelled through an option buried in their website.

This is great. We're actually considering building a product like this at OneText.

1. You get a virtual card number to use for subscriptions

2. We detect recurring charges

3. We send you a text 24h before any refills

4. If you reply 'skip' we block the next charge, if you reply 'cancel' we cancel the card entirely

I’ve heard that even if the charge doesn’t go through, some companies don’t cancel your plan. They keep the plan active with an outstanding balance that keeps growing.

Yup. I've heard of gyms trying to send people through hoops to cancel, so they just call their bank and tell them to block charges in the future from the gym.

So the gym just lets them collect a balance and then threatens to send the bill to collections if it's unpaid.

Gyms figured this out long ago and now many require EFT.

Interesting. My climbing gym accepts credit cards. It also allows me to cancel or freeze my membership online, though.

If I were in that situation, I suppose I would open a new account just for that purpose, turn off overdraft, and transfer money into the account as needed.

Guess I'll never be joining a gym then. No one gets to pull money from my checking account.

EFT?

Electronic Funds Transfer — an electronic transfer from a bank account.

Electronic Funds Transfer, also known as... credit card payment?

No, it's a debit account payment, like a check.

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