You have authorized a merchant to make pre-authorized debits (weekly, monthly or other) from your bank account or your credit card to pay for various services, such as a subscription or a membership. The following questions may be of interest to you.

If I want a merchant to stop collecting payments by pre-authorized debits, what are my rights? i

When you authorize a merchant to collect pre-authorized debits in payment for an item or a service, you may, at your sole discretion, withdraw this authorization by notifying the merchant. The obligations of the merchant and the financial institution vary depending on whether the pre-authorized payments are debited from your credit card or bank account.

How can I stop pre-authorized payments on a credit card? i

Notify the merchant that it is no longer authorized to collect payments from your credit card, and send a copy of this notice to the issuer of your credit card (your financial institution). Under section 124 of the Consumer Protection Act, the merchant must cease collecting pre-authorized payments on receipt of the notice, and the credit card issuer must cease debiting your account to make payments to the merchant upon receipt of a copy of the notice.

How can I stop pre-authorized payments from a bank account? i

Notify the merchant that it is no longer authorized to collect payments from your bank account. Pursuant to Payments Canada Rule H1, merchants are required to cease collecting pre-authorized payments no later than 30 days following receipt of the notice. If, despite the above, a merchant continues to collect pre-authorized payments, you have 90 days as of the date on which the payment was debited from your account to claim a reimbursement from your financial institution.