If a company offers you a free trial or an introductory subscription, federal law gives you three core consumer rights: a clear disclosure of what you’ll be charged and when, a real chance to consent (or not) before any money moves, and a simple way to cancel. More than 20 states add stronger protections on top of that federal floor. Your free trial consumer rights come mainly from the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, known as ROSCA, and from state automatic renewal laws that apply wherever the company does business.
What the Company Has to Tell You Before You’re Charged
ROSCA makes it illegal to charge you through an internet negative option feature — where your silence is treated as agreement to pay — unless the seller clearly discloses the material terms up front, gets your express informed consent, and gives you a simple way to stop the recurring charges.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet
Material terms are specific. The company has to tell you the exact dollar amount you’ll be charged once the trial or promotional period ends, the deadline for cancelling to avoid that charge, the fact that billing will renew automatically, and how to find the cancellation mechanism. Under FTC guidance, these disclosures must be easy to notice, easy to read, and stand out from surrounding text through size, contrast, and location. Fine print at the bottom of a terms-of-service page does not qualify. The disclosure should sit right next to where you enter your payment details or click to submit.2Federal Trade Commission. Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Negative Option Marketing
What Counts as You Agreeing to Be Charged
“Express informed consent” means a deliberate action showing you understood what you were agreeing to. Ticking a clearly labeled checkbox that says something like “I agree to be charged $14.99/month after my 7-day trial” counts. A box that was already checked for you does not.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet
Your agreement to automatic billing cannot be folded into a general terms-of-service acceptance or hidden alongside other checkout acknowledgments. The FTC’s position is that consent to the negative option feature has to be its own standalone action. If the checkout screen doesn’t make clear exactly what recurring charge you authorized, the company hasn’t met its obligation.2Federal Trade Commission. Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Negative Option Marketing
After you sign up, the company should send a written or electronic confirmation documenting the terms and the upcoming billing cycle. Save it. That confirmation is your record of what was promised.
Your Right to Cancel
This part of the law is in flux, and a lot of the guidance you’ll find online is out of date.
In October 2024 the FTC finalized a “Click-to-Cancel” rule that would have required every subscription seller to make cancellation at least as easy as sign-up. In July 2025 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the entire amended Negative Option Rule, finding that the FTC had failed to follow required procedural steps.3U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Custom Communications Inc v Federal Trade Commission
You’re not left without protection. ROSCA itself was not challenged, and it independently requires sellers to provide “simple mechanisms for a consumer to stop recurring charges.”1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet The FTC interprets that to mean cancellation must be “at least as easy to use as the method the consumer used to initiate the negative option feature,” and that reading still guides its enforcement actions.2Federal Trade Commission. Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Negative Option Marketing The agency is also working on a replacement rule; it published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in March 2026.4Federal Trade Commission. Negative Option Rule
If a company makes you jump through hoops that weren’t required to sign up — a phone-only cancellation line after an online sign-up, for instance — you have a solid basis to dispute the charges, complain to the FTC, and cite ROSCA directly.
Extra Protections in Certain States
More than 20 states and the District of Columbia have their own automatic renewal laws. Many go further than federal requirements, and the stricter standard applies to any company doing business in those states.
California
California’s Automatic Renewal Law requires businesses to send an acknowledgment after enrollment that includes the renewal terms, the full cancellation policy, and instructions on how to cancel. If the offer involves a free trial, the company must also tell you how to cancel before the first charge.5California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 17602
Advance notice is also required. For a subscription with an initial term of a year or longer, the business must notify you at least 15 but no more than 45 days before renewal. For free or discounted trials lasting more than 31 days, notice must come at least 3 but no more than 21 days before the trial expires. If the company fails to comply, the goods or services may be treated as an unconditional gift you can keep without paying.
California also requires that if you enrolled online, you can cancel online, without obstruction. That means a prominently placed link or button in your account, or an immediately accessible pre-formatted cancellation email.5California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 17602 For anyone dealing with a company that serves California residents, this rule fills much of the gap left by the vacated federal click-to-cancel rule.
New York
New York requires notice at least 15 but no more than 45 days before renewal of any subscription with a paid initial term of one year or longer that renews for six months or more. The notice must arrive through a channel you selected — text, email, or app notification — and must include cancellation instructions. For free trials longer than a month, notice must come at least 3 but no more than 21 days before the first charge.6New York State Senate. New York General Business Law 527-A – Unlawful Practices
Vermont
Vermont applies a broader rule: for any consumer contract with an automatic renewal provision, the company must send written or electronic notice at least 30 but no more than 60 days before the renewal date, the termination date, or the cancellation deadline, whichever comes first.7Vermont General Assembly. Vermont Statutes Title 9, Chapter 63, Section 2454a – Consumer Contracts; Automatic Renewal
What to Do If You’re Charged Without Consent
You have several options, and combining them tends to work better than picking one.
Dispute the Charge With Your Card Issuer
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date a billing statement is sent to dispute an error in writing with your credit card issuer. Send a written notice, not a phone call and not a scribble on your payment stub, to the billing inquiry address on your statement. Include your name, account number, and a description of the charge. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you proof of delivery.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
Once the issuer gets your dispute, it must acknowledge it in writing within 30 days and resolve it within 90 days. While it investigates, you can withhold payment on the disputed amount, and the issuer cannot report you as delinquent, close your account, or sue to collect the amount you challenged.9Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
File a Complaint With the FTC
The FTC doesn’t resolve individual complaints, but it collects them to spot patterns. File a report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your complaint enters a database shared with over 2,000 law enforcement agencies, and enough complaints against one company are what triggers major investigations.10Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov
Contact the CFPB for Bank Account Charges
If the recurring charge came out of a checking or savings account rather than a credit card, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints about unauthorized bank withdrawals. Submit at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB forwards your complaint to the company, which usually responds within 15 days, and recommends trying to resolve the issue directly with the company first.11Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Small Claims Court
For unauthorized charges the company won’t refund, small claims court is realistic. Filing fees run roughly $30 to $100 in most jurisdictions, with some as low as $5 and others above $200 depending on the claim amount. Fee waivers are available for low-income filers in every state. You don’t need a lawyer, and many state automatic renewal statutes let you recover statutory damages on top of your actual losses.
What Violators Face
The rules have teeth. ROSCA violations are treated like violations of an FTC trade regulation rule, which means the agency can pursue civil penalties, injunctions, and consumer restitution.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8404 – Enforcement of ROSCA The maximum civil penalty per violation was $53,088 as of the most recent inflation adjustment in early 2025.13Federal Trade Commission. FTC Publishes Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalty Amounts In September 2025, the FTC secured a $2.5 billion settlement against Amazon over its Prime enrollment and cancellation practices, with $1.5 billion set aside for consumer refunds.14Federal Trade Commission. FTC Secures Historic $2.5 Billion Settlement Against Amazon
State penalties vary. New York allows civil penalties of up to $100 for a single violation and $500 for multiple violations from one incident, doubled for knowing violations, plus restitution. If a business sends goods under an automatic renewal without proper consent, those goods are legally an unconditional gift the consumer owes nothing for.6New York State Senate. New York General Business Law 527-A – Unlawful Practices California’s civil penalties reach up to $2,500 per violation under its unfair competition law. Multiplied across thousands of affected subscribers, the exposure adds up quickly, which is exactly why companies eventually settle.