Time to cancel costly recurring fees

Atlanta - Many times when we pay for something it's a one-time deal. But sometimes it's not. Frequently, we agree to recurring payments and then forget about it. That's a win for the retailer, but a loss for you. The fix is easy: start canceling subscriptions.

There are a few reasons why a retailer would have, with your permission, your credit card on file and they keep charging you. You've signed up for free trial but then forgot to cancel at the end. You might have a streaming service that you signed up for to watch one game. I do this all of the time. We like soccer, but sometimes we can only get it with one outlet. I sign up just to watch a game then forget to cancel. There are automatic renewals like a cloud subscription for music that you've forgotten you have.

It's probably not a lot of money here or there, but add those up annually, and you can pay hundreds of dollars a year in what is called "gray credit card fees."

Here's how to get rid of those. First, go over your credit card statements each month and see what's on there. I know that I get sloppy and don't do it either. Try a free app that I use called Truebill. You do have to connect your accounts to it, but it'll let you know each month what is recurring. I caught an annual fee for $194. That was quickly canceled and I got my money back from the vendor. Or take a monthly fee I did approve for $5. Annually, that's $60. Truebill showed me how it was adding up for a service I wasn't using, so I canceled.

Avoid this altogether by setting up calendar reminders. See if your credit card has a tool to catch these things. Maybe it's a transaction alert.