Finding every subscription on your card statement

Subscriptions are designed to be easy to start and easy to forget. On a statement they hide in three ways: app stores bundle them under one name, free trials turn into charges weeks later, and some are billed by someone other than the service you signed up for. Here is how they really appear, and a checklist to find all of yours.

How recurring charges show up

Billed directly

Services that bill your card themselves usually show their own name, often with a website or "help" address: "NETFLIX.COM", "Spotify P1A2B3C4D5", "OPENAI *CHATGPT SUBSCR". These are the easy ones. Netflix, Spotify and most streaming and software services work this way.

Billed through an app store

Subscriptions started inside an iPhone app are billed by Apple and appear as APPLE.COM/BILL, with no hint of which app. On Android, Google Play subscriptions appear as GOOGLE * followed by the service, which is a little more helpful. One app store line can bundle several subscriptions into a single charge.

APPLE.COM/BILL CORK IE

APPLE.COM/BILL

Apple: an app store purchase, iCloud storage, Apple Music or any subscription started in an app.

CORK IE

Apple's billing location in Ireland, for many countries outside the US.

Billed by someone else

Telecom bundles (a streaming service included in your mobile plan), bank card benefits and resellers can bill a subscription under their own name. If you are paying for a service but cannot find its name on your statement, look at your phone bill.

Patterns that give a subscription away

• The same amount on the same day each month. Allow a day or two either side for weekends and billing runs.
• Small round amounts in a foreign currency: 9.99, 4.99, 19.00.
• A once-a-year charge you do not remember. Annual plans renew quietly and are the easiest to miss: search twelve months back.
• A first charge about a week or a month after a sign-up, typically a free trial ending.
• A tiny charge, then a refund: card verification when you added the card, not a subscription on its own.

A checklist that finds them all

1. Go back at least twelve months of statements, so annual plans show up.
2. List every line that repeats, and every app store line.
3. Open the subscription settings on your phone: Settings, your name, Subscriptions on iPhone; Play Store, Payments and subscriptions on Android. These list everything the store bills, even when the statement does not.
4. Check PayPal's automatic payments if you use PayPal; services billed there appear as PayPal on your card.
5. Check your mobile bill for add-on services.
6. Cancel from the place you subscribed. Deleting an app does not cancel its subscription.

Let software do it

Our statement analyzer reads a PDF statement and lists the subscriptions it finds, with what each costs you. If you build a product that shows subscriptions, DescriptorAPI marks subscription merchants with is_subscription on each result, so you can combine it with your own repeat detection. See the enrich reference.