The “HAC Hooked and Co” charge on your bank statement comes from Hooked and Company, the educational media business behind Hooked on Phonics and several related children’s learning brands. In almost every case, the charge is a recurring subscription payment, often the first automatic renewal after a free or low-cost trial ended. If you want it to stop, you have three levers: cancel through the account, ask for a refund under the 30-day guarantee, or dispute the charge with your card issuer.
What the Charge Is For
Hooked and Company runs a portfolio of children’s educational products, including Hooked on Phonics, Hooked on Math, and Hooked on Spelling, plus licensed content from brands like Dr. Seuss and Baby Einstein. Any of them can post to your statement as “HAC,” so the line item may not match the product name you remember seeing at signup.
The Hooked on Phonics app, the company’s most popular product, currently costs $12.99 per month, $49.99 for six months, or $79.99 for twelve months. Physical workbook bundles run separately, often around $19.99 per set. Introductory trials usually cost a few dollars for the first month and then roll into the standard rate. Per the company’s terms, subscriptions renew automatically for the same term you originally selected unless you cancel before the renewal date.1Hooked on Phonics. Subscribe and Save on Your Hooked on Phonics App If you picked the 12-month plan, that first renewal arrives as a single charge near $80 rather than a monthly amount, which is often what prompts people to search for the “HAC” line in the first place.
How to Cancel the Subscription
Log in to your account at the Hooked and Company member portal and open the subscription management or account settings page. The company’s terms direct you to the “My Account” section to cancel before the next renewal date.1Hooked on Phonics. Subscribe and Save on Your Hooked on Phonics App Click through every confirmation screen until the status actually changes, and take a screenshot of the final cancellation confirmation. That screenshot is the evidence you’ll need if another charge posts later.
If you can’t get into the portal or don’t remember which email you used, call customer support at 1-888-605-5055. Have the last four digits of the card that was charged, the exact charge amount, and the posting date ready before you call. Ask for a cancellation confirmation number or an email confirming the cancellation. Without that paper trail, a future billing dispute gets harder to win.
Getting Your Money Back
Hooked on Phonics offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you don’t see significant improvement within the first 30 days, you can contact customer care before the trial period ends for a full refund of what you paid at signup.2Hooked on Phonics Help Center. Money-back Guarantee The company expects “consistent use” during that first month, and you must request the refund before the 30-day window closes.
After that window, the company’s published terms don’t describe a general refund policy. Your remaining options are to cancel future renewals and, if the charge was unauthorized or the merchant won’t help, dispute the charge with your card issuer.
Disputing a Credit Card Charge
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you the right to dispute billing errors on a credit card, but only if you follow its procedure. Send a written notice to your card issuer’s billing inquiry address within 60 days of the statement date showing the charge.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 Correction of Billing Errors That address is specifically designated for billing inquiries and is usually different from the payment address. A phone call to the fraud line is a reasonable first step, but it does not satisfy the FCBA’s written-notice requirement on its own.
Your written notice needs three things: your name and account number, a statement that the bill contains an error along with the dollar amount, and a brief explanation of why.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 Correction of Billing Errors Keep it short. “I did not authorize this charge” or “I canceled this subscription on [date] and should not have been billed” is enough.
Once your issuer receives the notice, the law requires acknowledgment within 30 days and resolution within two complete billing cycles, which can’t exceed 90 days. During the investigation, your issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or report it as delinquent to the credit bureaus. Many issuers also post a temporary credit while they investigate, though the statute doesn’t require one. If your issuer ignores the procedure, they forfeit the right to collect the disputed amount and any related finance charges.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 Correction of Billing Errors
Disputing a Debit Card Charge
Debit card charges fall under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, which work differently from credit card rules. You can notify your bank orally or in writing within 60 days of the statement date. The bank then has 10 business days to investigate, or up to 45 calendar days if it provisionally credits your account within that initial 10-day window.
Timing matters more here than with a credit card, because your liability for unauthorized debit charges rises the longer you wait. Report within two business days of discovering the problem and your maximum liability is $50. Report within 60 days and it’s $500. Wait longer than 60 days and liability can be unlimited.
If You Never Signed Up
Before concluding the charge is fraudulent, check with everyone in your household, especially anyone who might have signed up on a shared tablet or phone or entered payment details for a child’s app. App-store signups are the single most common source of charges people don’t recognize. Searching your email accounts for “Hooked” or “hookedonphonics” usually surfaces a welcome or receipt message that identifies the signer and the plan.
If you’ve genuinely ruled out everyone, treat it as an unauthorized transaction. The FTC recommends reviewing statements regularly and keeping receipts to tell legitimate charges apart from unauthorized ones.4Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges Call your bank, report the charge as unauthorized, request a new card number to block further charges, and then follow up with the written dispute above. For credit cards, your liability for unauthorized use is capped at $50 under federal law, and most issuers waive even that.
A Quick Action Order
- Search every household email account for “Hooked” or “hookedonphonics” to find the signup confirmation and identify who subscribed.
- Log in to the Hooked and Company member portal. If you’re still within 30 days of signup, request a refund under the money-back guarantee before that window closes.2Hooked on Phonics Help Center. Money-back Guarantee
- Cancel through the account dashboard or by calling 1-888-605-5055, and save a confirmation number or screenshot.
- If the company won’t help or the charge is unauthorized, send a written dispute to your card issuer’s billing inquiry address within 60 days of the statement date.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 Correction of Billing Errors
The 60-day written-notice deadline is the one that matters most. Miss it and your federal protections shrink, whether the charge was legitimate or not.