How to cancel all your subscriptions at once

Cancelling all your subscriptions does not mean deleting every app on your phone. It means ending every recurring charge, and charges come from billers, not from apps. One company can bill you for several plans, and one app can be paid through a store that bills you under a different name.

So the unit you work with is the biller. Read your card and bank statements for the last twelve months and note every line that repeats, whether monthly, quarterly or yearly. The yearly ones are the easiest to miss, and they often cost the most in a single hit. The FTC advises people to review their statements regularly and to keep records of what they cancel (FTC).

Then add the plans that never show up on a statement under their own name: the ones billed through your app store accounts and through your phone or TV provider. Your email receipts will catch the rest. When you are done, you have one line per biller, with the plan name, the cost and the renewal date.

Each biller then gets one of two treatments. Plans sold through an app store end in the store settings, with no letter, and our guides on Apple and Google Play show how. Everything else needs a request to the company itself, and a letter is the one method that works for all of them. Our cancellation letter template gives you the wording to reuse each time.

When everything has to go, the order matters, because letters take days to arrive and a renewal that lands first is a charge you pay. Two rules decide the order.

1. 1

   Biggest outlay first

   Rank the billers by what they cost over a year, not by what they cost per month. A modest monthly charge can add up to more than a yearly one. Stopping the largest one first protects the most money if you run out of time.

2. 2

   Then the nearest renewal dates

   Within each group, put the plans that renew soonest at the top. Use the cancellation deadline calculator to find the last safe day to post each letter, given the notice period and the time the post takes.

3. 3

   End the store plans in the same session

   They are quick and take effect straight away, or at the end of the period you already paid for. Do them while you have your phone in your hand.

4. 4

   Post the letters on one trip

   Sign and date every letter, put each one in its own envelope with its own address and take them all to the counter together. Ask for the receipt for each.

Some agreements set a notice period, and some plans run to the end of the term you paid for. Our guide on cancelling a contract with a notice period explains how to count the days, which is useful for gyms and phone contracts. See our gym and phone and internet pages for the companies where a notice period is most common.

It is tempting to write one letter and send copies to everyone. Do not. Each plan has its own addressee, its own account number and its own mailing address for cancellations, and a letter that reaches the wrong department can sit unread. Write a separate letter for every company and put in it only what that company needs: your name, the account or customer number, the plan, the date it should end, a request that all future charges stop, and a request for written confirmation.

The model article for this is our guide on cancelling subscriptions by mail. It shows how to find the right address and how to send each letter by Certified Mail, so that you have a mailing receipt and a delivery record. USPS describes the extra services on its page for insurance and extra services (USPS). Keep a copy of each letter and its receipt together in one folder, labelled with the company name.

If the list is long, the writing is the slow part. Our company guides hold the mailing address for many well-known companies, and how it works explains how we can send the letters for you.

Never combine two companies in one envelope or one letter. If either of them loses the letter, you will not know which one it was.

Cancelling everything is a good reset, but it is not always the goal. Some plans are worth their price, and ending them only to buy them again later costs you time. Before you send a single letter, mark the plans you used in the last month and would notice missing.

The cost calculator for your subscriptions helps here. Enter every plan and it shows what you pay each month and each year in total. Seeing the yearly total next to a plan you rarely open usually settles the question. Keep the plans you use weekly, and cancel the ones you use less often than once a month unless they have a real reason to stay.

If you are unsure, cancel it. Most companies take you back when you ask, and you have lost nothing but a few minutes. If you want a gentler start, read our step-by-step guide on how to cancel your subscriptions, then come back here for the bulk run.

Watch the next two statements for every biller on your list. If a charge appears after the end date you gave, write back with the delivery record and the dates, and ask for the money back. For automatic debits from a bank account, federal rules let you tell your bank to stop a payment if you notify it at least three business days before the scheduled date (CFPB).

Our guide on what to do if a company keeps charging you explains how to dispute card charges and where to complain if the company will not respond. Our help center answers common questions about the letters themselves.