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Join Which? MoneyHow your banking app can help you find unwanted subscriptions
New rules will make subscriptions easier to cancel from January, but your banking app could help you find them now
Gabriella is an award-winning financial education campaigner who writes across a range of personal finance topics, mostly focusing on saving money and she has written for multiple student-led publications.
The Prime Minister has announced new rules to tackle ‘subscription traps’ from January 2027. But you don't have to wait until then to get on top of subscriptions you no longer use.
Some banking apps and specialist fintech providers offer free ways to track your subscriptions, and some can also help you cancel them. This means you can take charge of your subscriptions before the government's changes come into effect.
Here, Which? explains how your banking app can help you find subscriptions, and we compare the fintech apps that make managing your payments easier.
How do subscription payments work?
Many modern subscriptions, such as streaming, music or meal-delivery services, can be paid for using recurring card payments, also known as 'continuous payment authorities', rather than a traditional direct debit.
Direct debits are protected by the direct debit guarantee. This means you can cancel direct debits with your bank or building society and have the right for any payments taken in error to be immediately refunded. You must also be notified of any changes to your payment terms.
Recurring card payments work differently. A company uses the long number on your debit or credit card to take payments, meaning that you don’t have the same protections as you would with a direct debit.
Recurring payments can also be easy to overlook, particularly if you've signed up for a free trial and forgotten to cancel before it becomes a paid subscription.
How are subscription rules changing?
From January 2027, new rules will make it easier for you to cancel subscriptions, require companies to give you clearer information when you sign up, and introduce a 14-day cooling-off period after a trial or certain longer-term contracts renew.
The changes will exclude some charitable memberships offered by cultural and heritage organisations.
The government will also ban deceptive pricing practices, such as misleading discounts that don't represent a genuine saving – something that Which? has long been campaigning for. In fact, Andy Burnham publicly acknowledged our work.
- Find out more: How government cost of living measures can help you
How can my banking app help me?
One of the main issues with ‘subscription traps’ is that they appear in banking apps or your statement like any other card transaction, making them difficult to spot among other payments.
The government is planning to fix this by requiring subscription providers to send regular reminders. However, your banking app may be able to help you identify subscriptions before these changes come in.
Barclays, Monzo, NatWest, Revolut, Santander and Starling Bank all have tools in their mobile apps that can help you identify recurring or subscription payments.
Monzo and Barclays list recurring payments in the 'scheduled payments' section of their apps. In Revolut , you can find them by selecting 'payments' and then the calendar icon.
Starling Bank lets you stop recurring payments within its app, while NatWest and Santander provide links to subscription providers to make it easier to cancel.
If you're struggling to cancel a recurring card payment, you can ask your card provider to stop it. However, this won't necessarily cancel your subscription or any money you still owe, so you should also contact the subscription provider to cancel your contract.
My bank doesn’t list subscriptions, what can I do?
There are still ways to identify your subscriptions and make it easier to cancel.
There are several open banking tools that can help you find your subscriptions. Some are free, while others charge for some or all of their features.
Open banking lets you give authorised apps permission to securely access information from eligible financial accounts. This means an app can analyse your transactions and help you spot regular payments and subscriptions. Some authorised apps can also make payments on your behalf. You can check whether an app is authorised using the Financial Conduct Authority's Firm Checker.
We've looked at some of the apps available below, but there are others to choose from. These apps also offer other budgeting and money-management tools, but we've focused on the features that can help you find and manage your subscriptions. To see what else they can do, read our guide to the best budgeting apps 2026.
Little Birdie
With the free version of Little Birdie, you can manually add subscriptions such as Netflix and Disney+. You'll need to select the provider and enter details including the cost, payment dates and when any free trial or contract ends. This means you'll need to know which subscriptions you're already paying for.
Little Birdie will then send you reminders, based on the information you've entered, including when a free trial or contract is due to end. It also provides advice on how to cancel subscriptions.
With Little Birdie Plus, the app uses open banking data to automatically identify your subscriptions and alerts you to upcoming payments and price changes.
Price: Free; Little Birdie Plus costs £2.99 per month or £24 a year
Emma
Emma uses open banking to list your recurring payments from up to two connected bank accounts. To connect more than two, you'll need to upgrade.
With Emma Plus, it can list subscriptions from four connected accounts. The Plus subscription also includes exclusive cashback offers and access to Emma's savings accounts.
With Emma Pro, it will list subscriptions from all connected accounts. The Pro subscription also includes customisation options within the app, such as splitting transaction listings and renaming transactions.
Price: Basic is free; Emma Plus costs £41.99 a year; Emma Pro £83.99 a year
Snoop
With Snoop's free account, you can connect your accounts using open banking, identify your subscriptions and get daily money-saving tips.
Snoop Plus doesn't offer any additional subscription-tracking features, but it does include spending alerts, refund tracking and customisation options.
Price: Snoop is free; Snoop Plus costs £5.99 per month.
What else to watch out for
Recurring payments can be taken from credit cards as well as debit cards. So, if you're looking for subscriptions you may have forgotten about, don't just check your current account. It's worth checking your credit card statements too.
If you pay for a budgeting app to help manage your subscriptions, make sure you're using enough of its features to justify the cost. After all, you don't want to end up paying for another subscription you don't use.
