There are two situations where you need to stop a company from charging your card: you've canceled a subscription and they keep billing you anyway, or you never authorized the charge in the first place. Both are solvable - usually without much difficulty - but the right approach depends on the situation and your card type.
This guide covers every tool available, in order of how commonly they're needed.
A chargeback is the most powerful tool for stopping and recovering unauthorized charges. When you dispute a charge, your bank reverses the transaction and demands that the merchant prove the charge was legitimate. If they can't, you keep the refund permanently.
Collect your cancellation confirmation, the dates you attempted to cancel, and your bank statement showing the charges. The more documentation you have, the stronger the case.
Most banks show a "Dispute this transaction" button next to each charge. Click it, select your reason, and upload your documentation. You can also call the number on the back of your card.
Use "Subscription canceled, still charged" or "Unauthorized transaction" - not "dissatisfied with purchase" which implies you received the service. The reason code affects how the dispute is adjudicated.
Most issuers credit your account within 1–5 business days while investigating. The merchant then has 30–45 days to respond. Most post-cancellation chargebacks resolve in the cardholder's favor.
Full step-by-step process and timeline by card network in the chargeback guide.
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the statement date on which an unauthorized charge appeared to dispute it. Most card networks give 120 days from the transaction date. Don't wait - act within 60 days of seeing the charge on your statement.
When you provided your card to a company for recurring billing, you gave them a billing authorization. That authorization can be revoked - in writing. This is a legal right under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (for bank accounts) and is recognized practice for credit card billing agreements.
A billing authorization revocation letter should:
Use the dispute letter generator to create a ready-to-send version. Send by email (for a time-stamped record) and by certified mail if the company has a billing or correspondence address.
Send a copy of the revocation letter to your bank alongside any chargeback dispute. Banks that see a written revocation on file are more likely to block subsequent charges from the same merchant rather than requiring you to dispute each one separately.
If a company continues charging you despite a chargeback, a cancellation, and a revocation letter, the most reliable solution is to request a new card number from your bank. A merchant cannot charge a card number that no longer exists.
Call the number on the back of your card and ask for a "card replacement due to unauthorized charges." The bank will issue a new card number within 5–10 business days (or immediately via a digital card in your banking app with some issuers). Your old card number is deactivated. Any merchant that tries to charge the old number will receive a decline.
Some banks allow you to block charges from a specific merchant entirely, without requiring a card replacement. This feature varies significantly by bank and isn't universally available, but it's worth asking about.
Call your bank and ask: "Can you place a block on charges from [merchant name]?" Some banks can flag specific merchant IDs so that any future charges from that merchant are automatically declined. This is particularly useful for merchants known to charge despite cancellation requests.
If your bank doesn't offer per-merchant blocking, request the new card number as described in Method 3 - it achieves the same outcome.
For subscriptions you're not sure you'll keep - or for any company with a poor reputation for billing practices - using a virtual card number from the start eliminates the problem entirely.
A virtual card number is a temporary credit card number linked to your real account. You set a spending limit, an expiration date, or restrict it to a single merchant. When you want to stop charges from a merchant, you delete the virtual card - the merchant's attempt to charge simply fails.
Noom, SiriusXM, Adobe Creative Cloud (annual billed monthly), Match.com, and any company with frequent auto-renewal complaints are ideal candidates for virtual cards. Use a real card for companies you trust and plan to keep subscribing to.
If you're being charged through PayPal, the merchant doesn't have your card number - they have a PayPal billing agreement. Disputing the charge and getting a new card won't stop a PayPal billing agreement.
paypal.com → Settings → Payments → Manage automatic payments → find the merchant → Cancel.
This immediately revokes the merchant's authority to charge your PayPal account. After canceling the agreement, also dispute any unauthorized charges through PayPal's Resolution Center.
If you've been using a debit card for subscriptions, the protections described in this guide are weaker or unavailable. This is important to understand:
The practical takeaway: for any recurring subscription, use a credit card rather than a debit card. The chargeback and dispute protections are substantially stronger, and the financial risk of an unauthorized charge is much lower.
Get a professional billing authorization revocation letter - state your card information, effective date, and send via certified mail and email.