Are forgotten subscriptions draining your bank account?

Millions of Australians are paying for subscriptions they rarely or never use, with some losing more than $600 a year. Here’s how to find those forgotten charges and stop the money disappearing.

There’s a little charge on your bank statement, maybe it’s $12.99, or possibly $19.95. You vaguely recognise the name, but can’t quite remember what you’re paying for.

Was it that streaming service you signed up to watch one television series? An online magazine you haven’t read in months? A free trial you meant to cancel before the payments started? Something you have actually been scammed into paying unknowingly?

Whatever it was, the money is still coming out and it bloody well adds up.

New research from Finder suggests millions of us could be in the same boat, paying for subscriptions we barely use or have forgotten about altogether.

Finder’s 2026 Household Report found 34 per cent of Australians, equivalent to an estimated 7.4 million people, are paying for at least one subscription they rarely or never use. Among those with unused subscriptions, the median monthly wastage falls between $26 and $50. Almost one in four are spending $51 or more a month on services they don’t use, equivalent to more than $600 a year.

When every dollar counts in a time the world’s gone mad with interest rates, crazy utillity bills and cost of living crisis, that’s money most households would rather keep.

Baby Boomers less likely to waste money on subscriptions

Older Australians appear far less likely to be caught paying for services they don’t use with just 11 per cent of Baby Boomers reported having an unused subscription, compared with 25 per cent of Generation X, 42 per cent of Millennials and 51 per cent of Generation Z.

More than a third of Baby Boomers (35 per cent) said they didn’t have any paid subscriptions at all.

Having fewer subscriptions doesn’t necessarily mean every payment is being watched, however. An old membership or forgotten annual renewal can easily slip through, particularly when payments are deducted automatically.

Mariam Gabaji, utilities expert at Finder and author of the report, said small recurring charges could add up without people noticing.

“Subscriptions are easy to forget about, especially when you’ve signed up for a free trial with plans to cancel it later. Before you know it, you’re paying for something you barely use or don’t use at all,” Gabaji says.

“A few dollars here and there might not feel like much, but once you add everything up, it can easily run into hundreds of dollars a year.”

How to find subscriptions you may have forgotten

The simplest place to start is your bank statement.

Go through the past three months of transactions and look for payments that appear regularly. Some may be obvious, while others could be listed under a company name you don’t recognise.

It’s worth checking further back, too, as annual subscriptions can be easy to overlook because the payment only appears once a year.

If you use an iPhone, open Settings, tap your name and select Subscriptions. Android users can open Google Play, tap their profile picture and look under Payments and subscriptions, then Subscriptions.

These menus show subscriptions billed through Apple or Google, but they won’t necessarily include services you’ve signed up for directly through a company’s website.

Also check PayPal or any other payment accounts you use.

Six ways to stop the money slipping away

1. Cancel what you’re not using. That old fitness membership, magazine subscription or streaming service might have seemed like a good idea at the time. If you’re no longer using it, check the cancellation terms and consider letting it go.

2. Don’t pay for every streaming service at once. If there’s only one program you want to watch, consider subscribing for a month, watching it and cancelling before the next billing period. You can always rejoin later.

3. Make the most of free television. ABC iview, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now and 10 offer plenty of programs without an ongoing subscription fee.

4. Check whether you’re on the right plan. Some services offer cheaper options with advertising, while others discount annual memberships. Just be wary of paying a year in advance for something you might stop using after a few weeks.

5. Put renewal dates in your calendar. This is particularly useful for free trials and annual memberships. And remember, deleting an app from your phone doesn’t automatically cancel the subscription.

6. Get the kids or grandkids to help with the clean up! If you’re a bit confused, overwhelmed by technology, call the kids or grandkids in – for them, it’s like a duck to water, and they can easily navigate through technology bumps that many over 60s think are unpassable mountains.

Gabaji recommends reviewing subscriptions every few months.

“If you haven’t used something in the last month, cancel it – you can always sign up again later,” she said.

What could you save?

Consider three forgotten subscriptions costing $15 a month each.

That’s $45 disappearing from your account every month, or $540 over a year. Even cancelling just one $20 monthly subscription puts $240 back in your pocket annually, which just might pay for the family Christmas presents this year.

It might be worth spending 10 minutes with your bank statements today as you could find a little extra money sitting right under your nose.

Source: Finder’s 2026 Household Report, based on a nationally representative survey of 1,004 Australian adults conducted in September 2026.