“Click to Cancel” Subscription Rule Finalized by FTC : NPR

Health clubs requesting membership cancellations by certified mail or in person. Cable subscriptions that require long calls to customer service prevent agents from aggressively canceling.

Federal regulators say they receive about 70 complaints a day from people about fees for subscriptions that are difficult to cancel or people don’t realize they agreed to in the first place.

Now, the new US rule requires retailers, gyms and other businesses to cancel subscriptions as easily as signing up, and make the subscription process more transparent.

Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday Issued final rule Called “click to cancel,” it says online subscriptions require the same number of clicks to end.

The new rule instructs companies to provide a clear idea of ​​the exact terms before they sign up, so they don’t feel “cheated or locked into subscriptions,” as FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan told NPR.

“Too often, businesses make people go through endless hoops to unsubscribe,” Khan said in a statement on Wednesday.

Several trade groups and the FTC’s Republican commissioner oppose the rule, arguing the agency overstepped its legal authority to pass the new burdensome requirements — just days before the election. American Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday The regulators did A “power grab … to micromanage business decisions.”

The Biden administration has promoted a “click to cancel” initiative as part of its campaign against junk tariffs. Vice President Kamala Harris Added it On his economic platform as a presidential candidate. The White House praised the rules finalized Wednesday.

Most of the new requirements will take effect in about six months. It would also give the FTC more power to help consumers get their money back from infringing companies. However, the final version of the rule did not include a previously proposed requirement for companies to periodically remind people about recurring fees.

The FTC previously sued Amazon in a related matter, alleging that the company “tricked” people into buying Prime memberships that were intentionally difficult to cancel.