Moving recurring payments on credit cards is the worst. Here鈥檚 how to deal.
Right now, there鈥檚 no quick and easy way to move recurring charges from one card to another, and that鈥檚 a problem.
A chip-embedded credit card.
Matt Rourke/AP/File
When Costco听听to a new issuer, members鈥� accounts were converted听from the old TrueEarnings庐 Card from Costco and American Express to the new Costco Anywhere Visa庐Card by Citi. One of those cardholders,听Bill Halpin, was surprised to learn that the recurring payments he鈥檇 set up on his old AmEx would not be transferred along with his account.
He鈥檇 have to move all those charges to the new card himself. More than听40 of them.
鈥淚鈥檝e built up all these recurring charges over 16 years. I really just couldn鈥檛 believe that they鈥檙e asking me to unwind that over a period of six or eight weeks,鈥� says Halpin, an engineer and father of four who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. It鈥檚 ironic, he says, that the charges he set up to听save him time on paying bills took him hours to undo.
Right now, there鈥檚 no quick and easy way to move recurring charges from one card to another, and that鈥檚 a problem. If you forget one, you might be听charged a late fee. Or worse, you might have important services cut off.
鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 your medicine, and your medicine doesn鈥檛 come, and the email goes into your spam,鈥� Halpin says. 鈥淥r maybe it鈥檚 for a website [you host], and you lose your website.鈥�
These complicated switches don鈥檛 just affect Costco cardholders. You might have to navigate this process if听one of your credit cards is affected by a security breach, lost, stolen or hacked.
Here鈥檚听how you can deal.
Review听your credit card statements
鈥淐urrently, there is no comprehensive way for any credit card company to automatically move all recurring payments to a new credit card or credit card number,鈥� says听Bev Akada, a Costco spokeswoman. She suggests that Costco cardholders review their old American Express statements and highlight recurring charges.
For Halpin, this was a big task. Customer service representatives at AmEx said they couldn鈥檛 give him a list of all his recurring payments. (An AmEx spokesperson has not responded to a request for comment.) This isn鈥檛 unusual, though: None of听largest credit card issuers in the U.S. appear to provide this information to consumers.
That鈥檚 why, if you鈥檙e moving charges, you鈥檒l probably have to comb through your past statements.听Halpin did this by exporting his from budgeting app听Mint to a spreadsheet. It took him听about an hour to ferret out around 40 recurring charges.
An app like听, which texts you a list of repeating monthly charges and helps you cancel the ones you don鈥檛 want,听might also be handy during听this tedious step.
Now review听your statements again
Annual 鈥渟et-it-and-forget-it鈥� payments听can easily听disappear in a sea of one-time charges. These include subscriptions such as Amazon Prime, which听auto-renews once a year, as well as听Consumer Reports and Angie鈥檚 List. Other examples include media and software听subscriptions; membership听fees or dues; insurance plans; and contracts such as home security services or storage facilities. So make another pass through your statements, this time keeping听an eye out for听these once-a-year charges.
If you鈥檝e saved your card as a preferred payment method on an app or website 鈥� say, Uber, Amazon or iTunes 鈥� update your payment preferences there, too. These aren鈥檛 exactly 鈥渞ecurring charges,鈥� but if you don鈥檛 change them, your card will be declined later on.
Know that some merchants will be one step ahead of you
Getting a new credit card number听isn鈥檛 just a nightmare for you 鈥� it鈥檚 also a nightmare for听all the merchants who receive your recurring payments. Some deal with this problem by working with payment networks to automatically update your information.
Say you lost your Visa card and your issuer sent you a new one. Netflix, which uses听, can听automatically access your new card information, as can some internet and phone service providers. Apple Pay and other mobile wallets generally update account information automatically as well.
But not all merchants use these updating services. And they won鈥檛 work in the case of cross-network changes 鈥� such as Costco鈥檚 shift听from AmEx to Visa.
Cancel your unwanted subscriptions
Looking at a laundry list of recurring charges might make you think, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need all these.鈥� When that happens, don鈥檛 just let your accounts go.
If you ignore the merchant鈥檚 messages about updating your payment information, you could be charged听late fees. Some merchants might even send your account to collections after enough missed payments. That could hurt your credit.
So do it the right way: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions. When you do, ask for confirmation via receipt, email or snail mail, so you can file a dispute if the charges don鈥檛 stop.
Centralize听your听recurring charges
When you鈥檙e trying to transfer听a bunch of听recurring charges, like Halpin, there鈥檚 no simple听fix. Until merchants make it easier to update payment preferences or issuers start providing lists of recurring charges to consumers, we鈥檒l have to rely on听unsatisfying stopgap solutions.
But there are a few ways听you can manage these recurring charges centrally and avoid going through the arduous process in the future:
USE听AN APP
The money management app听听lets you control听all your recurring payments from one dashboard. After you set it up and disable autopay through the billers鈥� websites,听you can use any of your cards to pay through the app.
In effect, the app makes听recurring payments follow you, not a听card. And if one of your cards is听compromised, you can easily pay your听bills with a听different one. The downside:听It takes a lot of time to set up the app, add all your billers and choose听your payment preferences.
MAKE A LIST
Keep a spreadsheet with information about which subscriptions and recurring payments are linked to which cards. This isn鈥檛 a perfect solution. If any of your cards are hacked, lost or discontinued, updating each payment preference听will still take a lot of time. But at least听you won鈥檛 have to review old statements.
KEEP IT ALL ON ONE CARD
Perhaps the easiest way to centralize your recurring payments is to designate one card听. Leave it听at home, well-protected, and use other cards for everyday purchases to limit the possibility听that it will be stolen or compromised.
If something听does听happen to your designated card, as was the case for Halpin, moving all the charges will still take a lot of time. But if you鈥檙e choosing from several imperfect solutions, this might be the simplest.
Who鈥檚 got the time?
For now, moving payments听is complicated and time-consuming.
鈥淔inding the time to call 40 or 50 different vendors and be on customer service, on hold, or on menu trees all the time, is just not something that works for me,鈥� Halpin says. He鈥檇 rather be spending time with his kids, who are ages 2 to 9. When he鈥檚 not working, he coaches his son鈥檚 baseball team and helps听his wife coach their听daughter鈥檚 softball team.
He says he still thinks that companies 鈥� maybe even AmEx and Costco 鈥� might be able to come up with a solution to this problem.
鈥淭ime is really, really precious,鈥� he says.
Claire Tsosie听is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email:听claire@nerdwallet.com. Twitter:听.
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