Rebecca Seeley Harris has been trying to cancel her mum Susan’s subscription (Image: Rebecca Seeley Harris)
A devoted daughter who is caring for her elderly mother has warned other carers to keep an eye on their relative’s transactions over fears they may be paying for subscriptions they no longer use.
Rebecca Seeley Harris, 58, lives in Exeter, Devon and has been looking after the finances of her 86-year-old mother Susan Glasper since she went into a care home six months ago.
“My mum has dementia and needs round the clock care,” explained Ms Seeley Harris.
But last month when going through her mother’s bank statements, she saw a card payment for £119.
“My mother is not able to make card payments so I realised this must have been a subscription or regular payment set up by her.
“I also have access to my mum’s emails and there was no warning of this payment. It’s a lot of money.”
The payment had been taken by Ancestry.com and appeared to be a regular payment made every year.
These types of card payments are known as recurring payments and are used by subscription services including and Disney+.
“My mum cannot use this service any more. She had been researching our family but is not able to now.”
Ms Seeley Harris, who is the founder of MyPowerofAttorney.co.uk contacted Ancestry.com, but claimed hey told her she needed to contact her mother’s bank to stop the payment.
“The bank told me they cannot cancel the payment unless the subscription is cancelled. I cannot cancel the subscription because I was told my mother needed to do that. Of course she cannot.”
“It’s a nightmare.”
Ms Seeley Harris went back to Ancestry.com and they repeated the information.
“Because it is a card payment rather than a direct debit, I now face having to cancel the card.”
Unlike direct debits, which come under the direct debit guarantee, a card payment cannot be cancelled in the same way.
“Even if I cancel the card, we will have Ancestry.com saying we owe them money because obviously we need to give them notice of cancelling.”
Don’t miss… [REPORT]
Despite having a Power of Attorney, Ms Seely-Harris does not have the authority to cancel the card payment
She said: “A lot of subscription services will take a card payment. I got caught out myself once from a meal subscription service. A direct debit is easier.”
Ms Seely- Harris said she keeps an eye on her mum’s bank statements and claimed she had no warning of the Ancestry paymeint
A spokesperson for Ancestry.com said it was aware of Ms Seely-Harris’ request and insisted it did send renewal notices, particularly when customers took out an annual subscription.
The spokesperson said it had cancelled Susan’s membership and also issued a refund for £239.89 to recognise she hasn’t been using her subscription over the last year.
They added: “We hope this puts Rebecca’s mind at rest.”
What is a recurring card payment
A recurring card payments companies take money from your debit or credit card. It’s also known as a Continuous Payment Authority (CPA) or future card payment.
It’s often used for subscriptions and insurance policies, such as:
- streaming services (like Amazon Prime, Disney+ and )
- gym memberships
- magazines
- car insurance
- car breakdown cover.
How to set up a recurring card payment
A company will ask for your long debit or credit card number rather than your sort code and account number. You often don’t have a choice of payment options.
If you later cancel your card as lost, damaged or stolen, you might have to provide your new card details.
How to cancel a recurring card payment
Cancelling the service or subscription will also stop the payment. You can usually do this via your online account with the company.
If you’re still within a contract, such as a 12-month gym membership, you might need to pay a penalty to leave early or arrange a different way to pay for the remainder. If you forget to cancel a contract and it automatically renews, check for a cooling off period. If there is one, you can ask for a full refund.
If you have trouble contacting the company, you can ask your bank to cancel it for you. Provided you do this by 5pm on the weekday before the payment is due, your bank must refund the payment if it’s taken.
If you’re looking to stop a payment to repay a short-term loan, speak to your lender to tell them you’re struggling.