{"id":47632,"date":"2026-10-01T17:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=47632"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T17:11:28","slug":"new-york-city-click-to-cancel-subscription-rule-in-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=47632","title":{"rendered":"New York City ‘click to cancel’ subscription rule in effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Milan_jovic | E+ | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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New York City has become the latest jurisdiction to crack down on hard-to-cancel subscriptions.<\/p>\n

The city’s new “click to cancel” rule, which took effect Thursday, requires businesses to make it easier for customers to end subscriptions that renew automatically. While New York state<\/a> already requires a cancellation method as easy as sign-up, this gives the city authority to enforce similar protections locally and is providing a website portal<\/a> for consumers to complain about violations.<\/p>\n

“If a company can take your money with one click, you should be able to get your money back with one click,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani in a news release Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more CNBC personal finance coverage<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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New York City is the first municipality to adopt a click-to-cancel rule, according to city officials, joining a growing number of states that have enacted or strengthened laws governing automatic subscription renewals and cancellations as the possibility of a nationwide standard remains unsettled.<\/p>\n

“Automatic renewals have been a pain point for consumers<\/a>, and this is a popular topic with regulators, especially now given the increased focus on affordability, so I expect we’ll continue to see more of these laws on the state level,” said Gonzalo Mon, a partner with the law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Complaints about ‘negative option’ subscriptions grow<\/h2>\n
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So-called “negative option” subscription contracts \u2014 those that automatically renew unless consumers cancel them \u2014 have generated a growing number of complaints as their prevalence and use have increased, according to experts. While these subscriptions are easy to sign up for, they can be difficult to cancel.<\/p>\n

Each year, U.S. adults spend an average of $1,080 on subscriptions, according to a survey by CNET<\/a>, a media website focused on consumer technology. By generation, millennials spend the most annually, at an average $1,215. The survey was conducted online in April 2025 by YouGov and involved 2,440 adults. <\/p>\n

The survey found that consumers spend an average of $205 annually on subscriptions they no longer use.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, the FTC received an average of nearly 70 consumer complaints per day about hard-to-cancel subscriptions, up from 42 daily in 2021, according to the agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Artificial intelligence may also be giving consumers a new way to deal with unwanted subscriptions. For example, Meta<\/a>