You could be spending more on subscriptions than you realize. The average consumer handles five retail subscriptions for items like makeup, clothing, or wine, and almost five paid streaming subscriptions, spanning from Amazon Prime to Spotify.
Despite this, when asked, consumers tend to underestimate their monthly subscription expenses by $133 on average, totaling $1,596 annually, based on research by C+R Research. Additionally, 42% of individuals surveyed had discontinued a subscription but were still being charged. To help manage and cancel such payments, a subscription management app can be a practical solution.
What Are Subscription Management Apps?
Subscription management apps track your financial transactions, recognizing and alerting you about recurring fees. While often free, they offer basic features like budget tracking. However, users must grant access to sensitive data and may need to pay to unlock features like canceling subscriptions.
To set up a subscription management app:
- Download the app: Some can be accessed via web browsers.
- Link your accounts: Typically starting with a checking account, you can add more for better subscription detection.
- Authenticate your accounts: Enter login details and follow authentication steps.
PocketGuard
PocketGuard offers complimentary subscription management within its budgeting app.
Users need to register using a LinkedIn, Google, or Apple account, possibly allowing data sharing.
They can then connect financial accounts for access to various financial utilities or manually input subscription details.
While free accounts suggest methods to trim subscription and bill expenses, if PocketGuard effectively negotiates a lower rate, it charges 40% of the savings.
For $7.99 per month (or a discounted yearly rate), users can access PocketGuard Plus, providing extra financial features like debt repayment tracking. However, this upgrade doesn’t include additional subscription management services.
Hiatus
Users can access the platform through a web browser or on the Hiatus app. Subscription monitoring is free, and there’s no cost to use the app’s budgeting tool, which tracks spending based on categories the user picks.
For $10 a month, premium subscribers get access to an agent who will negotiate certain monthly bills on their behalf and can cancel subscriptions. Hiatus does disclose, however, that negotiations may result in changes that don’t improve your current payment arrangement.
You can choose to pay more for the premium service, but this part can be a bit confusing. You can select your own price point for premium subscriptions, from $7-$21 or a flat fee of $36 per year. But similar to TrueBill, paying more doesn’t mean getting additional features.
TrackMySubs
TrackMySubs offers a unique approach to subscription management. The Australian company allows users to track up to 10 subscriptions for free, customizing notification preferences for impending charges.
While providing guides for canceling subscriptions, users must manually input each subscription and payment date, regardless of their subscription tier.
For managing over 10 subscriptions, a fee is required, with prices listed in Australian dollars. Approximate USD costs for upgrades include:
- $3.37 for 20 subscriptions with unlimited alerts
- $6.74 for 50 subscriptions with unlimited alerts
- $10.11 for unlimited subscriptions with unlimited alerts
Account setup can be done through the website or possibly via Chrome extension, though the latter might not be operational presently.
TrackMySubs prioritizes user security by keeping financial information private and refraining from selling or sharing personal data. However, the setup process might prompt users to reassess their subscriptions, leading to immediate cancellations.
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