THE RULES
If you agree to make a payment or series of payments on your debit or credit card you can cancel future payments by
telling your bank or card provider which must stop them at once. You do not have to tell the firm that takes the payments though it is sensible to do so if you can.
In the past just about every bank and credit card provider in the UK has told customers they cannot do that and given them false information about their rights to cancel payments on credit and
debit cards.
Those rights have existed since 1 November 2009 but in 2025 some banks are still getting them wrong.
As long ago as 28 June 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority confirmed the advice which has been given in this blog since April 2012. The FCA says:
"high street banks and mutuals...have agreed that they will ensure that when a customer asks for a recurring payment to end - that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement. They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately."
CONTINUOUS PAYMENTS
These payments are called ‘continuous payment authorities’ or ‘recurring
payments’. I will call them CPAs. They are NOT direct debits or standing orders
which are regular payments from your current account and are covered by
separate rules. You have always been able to stop a direct debit or standing
order just by telling your bank. And nowadays CPAs can be stopped that way too.
A CPA is an agreement you make with a retailer, hotel, gym, insurance
company, lender or other firm providing you with a service (they are all called
‘merchants’ in the bank jargon). You give the merchant permission to take money
from a credit card or a debit card. Even though the debit card money comes out
of your current account it is NOT a direct debit – it is a CPA.
The agreement can be made over the phone or online and it allows the merchant to take
money in the future off your card. You normally have no control over the amount
that is taken or when – it can be any amount at any time.
In some cases these CPAs are a scam – you think you are buying one item
online only to find that you are committed to paying monthly for years. In
other cases payday loan companies will store your details and recover future
debts using the original card details. Even subscriptions to gyms, publications
or insurance premiums are taken through a CPA because the merchant believes it
puts them in control of when the payment is cancelled.
In the past it was very difficult to stop these payments. Originally CPAs could only be stopped by the merchant. If you went to
your bank or card company it would say that it could do nothing and advise you
to contact the merchant to stop the payment. If the merchant refused the bank
or card provider would continue to allow the merchant to take your money.
That changed more than 15 years ago on 1 November 2009 when a new law came into force. They were called the Payment Services Regulations 2009 and are now the Payments Services Regulations 2017. Regulation 67 makes it clear that your bank or
card provider has to stop the payments if you ask it to do so regardless of whether you have told the merchant.
If the bank or card provider does not obey your instructions then it
has to refund any subsequent payment it allows to be taken from your account.
And if a subsequent payment causes you to incur any fees – such as an overdraft
charge or a late payment fee – or to lose any interest, then those losses have
to be refunded too.
Despite that change in the law many years ago listeners and readers still tell me that their bank has wrongly told
them that they can only cancel the payment through the merchant. In the past that has included all the major bank and credit cardproviders. But it is not true and has not been true for years.
Some banks have even advised in the past that the only way to stop the payment is
to close the account and cut up the card. Not only is that advice wrong it may not
work. Visa and Mastercard can let merchants track you and move the agreement to
a card you take out in the future. It has also been known for a bank or credit
card provider to try to recover the money – and penalty charges – from customers
who have cancelled a card.
Some banks have admitted to me in the past that they have given customers the wrong information. If yours does that, refer them to Regulation 67!
Cancelling a CPA
Tell your bank or card provider that you have a CPA, name the merchant and give any other details you can such as how the payment appears on your
statement and, if you know, the dates and times when the payment is normally
taken. Tell the bank that you cancel that payment authority with immediate
effect. Quote regulation 67 of the Payment Services Regulations 2017. And if necessary mention that
useful guide I referred to earlier.
You can give this instruction on the phone, through an online message, by email, by letter, or at a personal visit to a branch. It is best to do it in writing but
always make a note of the time and date when you give the instruction.
If a payment from that merchant is taken in future, contact the bank
again and say you want that money (and any penalties or losses it may have
caused you to incur) refunded immediately under regulation 76.
If the bank or card provider refuses to do so, or fails to do so after eight
weeks, you can take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
or call 0800 023 4567. The FOS will almost certainly take your side in the dispute.
If you have told your bank to
cancel a CPA in the past
If your bank or card provider has failed to act on your instructions to
cancel a CPA at any time since 1 November 2009 you should be able to get back all
the payments taken from your account since you gave that instruction. The bank
or card provider has to refund them to you. You should also get back any
penalties that the transaction led you to incur such as an overdraft charge or
a late payment fee and any loss of interest.
The FCA confirmed this in a previous statement
"the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct."
The rules depend on when you gave the instruction – it must always be
on or after 1 November 2009 – and when the payment was made.
Payments made in the last 13
months.
Tell the bank or card provider
·
That you gave a clear instruction to cancel the
payment on a particular date
·
That the payment made was after that date and was
therefore unauthorised under reg.67(3) and 67(4)of the Payment Services
Regulations 2017
·
That you are entitled to an immediate refund of
the amount and any penalties under reg. 61
·
That the event occurred less than 13 months ago as
specified in reg.59(a)
Payments taken earlier than 13 months ago
Tell the bank or card provider
·
That you gave a clear instruction to cancel the
payment on a particular date (which must be 1 November 2009 or later).
·
That the payment was unauthorised under reg.67(3)
and 67(4) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017
·
That you are entitled to redress under reg. 76
·
That under reg. 74 the thirteen month time
limit does not apply because the bank or card provider failed to give you adequate
information under Part 6 of the Regulations.
You should also add that the bank or card provider has a duty to treat
you fairly and to give information which is clear, fair and not misleading. Remind it too of its Custommre Duty. When
you asked it to cancel the payment it failed to explain your rights correctly thus
preventing you from taking the correct action at the right time.
If the bank refuses take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service –
details above.
The law
Regulation 67 (3) "The payer may withdraw its consent to a payment transaction
at any time before the point at which the payment order can no longer be
revoked … (4) …the payer may withdraw
its consent to the execution of a series of payment transactions at any time
with the effect that any future payment transactions are not regarded as
authorised for the purposes of this Part."
Regulation 76(1) makes it clear that where a payment was not authorised
the provider must "immediately— (a) refund the amount of the unauthorised
payment transaction to the payer;
And must also (b)… restore the debited payment account to the state it
would have been in had the unauthorised payment transaction not taken place.”
In other words it has to refund any penalties that have been incurred.
The time limit for a refund is set down in regulation 74 which says the
customer
74(1) ...is entitled to redress…only if [they] notif[y] the payment service provider without undue delay, and in any event no later
than 13 months after the debit date, on becoming aware of any unauthorised or
incorrectly executed payment transaction.
However 74(2) states that the 13 month limit may be waived if the
provider has not given the relevant information to the customer. That
information is set down in Part 6 of the Regulations.
FCA guidance
The Financial Conduct Authority and its predecessor the Financial Services Authority issued guidance on how the Regulations
should be implemented. This is from 2012.
“However, it is best practice for the customer to be advised that notice of the withdrawal of consent should also be given to the payee, because the PSRs. [Payment Services Regulations] do not address the payer’s underlying liability under the terms of any contract they have signed. For the avoidance of doubt, it is not acceptable for the payment service provider to make withdrawal of consent dependent on notice having been given to the merchant.”
It also clarifies that consent can be withdrawn up to the day before the payment is due
"For future dated payments, the latest point at which the payer can revoke the payment
instruction is the close of business on the day before the payment is due to be made, or if the payment transaction is to be made when funds are available, close of business on the day before those funds become available."
It also warns "Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible
for paying any money that you owe."
Conclusion
Despite what a bank or credit card provider may tell you you can cancel a continuous payment authority on a debit or credit card simply by telling your bank or card provider. And it must act on your instruction at once.
28 July 2025
Version 2.0
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