A recurring payment invoice is a billing instrument that notifies a customer about a charge, usually on a monthly basis, via email or by postal mail. A recurring payment invoice should detail the type of charge (credit/debit/checking), total amount charged, and details of the item(s) or service(s) bought.

Table of Contents

• What is Recurring Payment?
• How to Stop (cancel) Recurring Payments

What is Recurring Payment?

A recurring payment is a perpetual charge that is pre-authorized by a buyer to automatically be submitted for processing without having to ask the buyer for permission. Recurring payments are beneficial to both businesses and consumers as it negates the time consuming process of renewing a payment over again and allows for businesses to better streamline profits. When a buyer/user accepts a recurring payment, typically on a monthly basis, it’s what is known as a subscription. Now, it seems as if every company and service is trying to get their customers/users to agree to a recurring payment.

How to Stop (cancel) Recurring Payments

The easiest way to stop a recurring payment is by contacting the business that is charging your account with a recurring payment. If a recurring payment is due to an annual contract (many gym memberships are this way), it will be impossible to stop being charged a recurring payment unless the credit card on file is cancelled.

Helpful Tip: If you cancel a credit card that’s processing a recurring payment from an annual contract, the business will file your account to a collections agency which will hurt your credit score in return. It’s always best to work out a deal with the merchant to prevent a debt from going to collections.

If a recurring payment can’t be stopped by contacting the company that is making the charge, the next best option is to contact your bank. Your bank will either block the merchant charging recurring payments or they will cancel and order you a new credit/debit card. Many payment systems, which act in similar fashion to banks, allow their users to track recurring payments which makes it very easy to cancel if that decision comes.

Paypal

PayPal, the most popular online payment system, allows their users to closely track and monitor recurring payments with businesses that they subscribe to, such as sites like Netflix and HBO. Many other online payment systems such as Venmo and Square offer the same services.

• To cancel a recurring payment within PayPal, go to Settings > My Money > then click Set Automatic Payments. There you can see a list of all merchants and cancel those that are no longer wanted.

Stripe

Stripe is an online payment processor that offers a powerful API for online businesses to accept payments. Stripe also allows online businesses to offer recurring payments (subscriptions) to their users with the ability to easily cancel user subscriptions when needed.