To cancel Privacy Assist, call the dedicated cancellation line at 1-800-516-9561, ask the agent to close the account, and get a confirmation number before you hang up. That is the fastest route. The harder part is making sure the charges actually stop, because customers have reported fees continuing after they believed the account was closed. Federal law gives you specific tools to force the issue if that happens, and using them works best when you have documented the cancellation properly from the start.
What to Have Ready Before You Call
Pull these together before dialing. The call goes faster and the agent has fewer reasons to delay:
- Your member or account ID, from a billing statement or enrollment email.
- The account holder’s full legal name, matching what is on file.
- The last four digits of your Social Security number for identity verification.
- Your most recent statement, so you know the date and amount of the last charge and the renewal date.
If you cannot find a member ID, check your online banking portal. The merchant description on the recurring charge often includes a reference number that customer service can use to locate the account.
Making the Cancellation Call
Dial 1-800-516-9561 and work through the automated menu to account management or cancellation. If neither option appears, choose billing disputes; that path usually routes to an agent who can close accounts. Expect to reach a retention specialist trained to keep you enrolled. Common offers include a temporary discount or a free month.
State plainly that you want to cancel. Decline the offers. Do not hang up until you have a cancellation confirmation number in hand. Ask the agent to send a confirmation email while you are still on the line, and write down the agent’s name, the date, the time of the call, and the confirmation number. If charges reappear later, this is the documentation that settles the dispute in your favor.
Follow Up in Writing
The phone call is faster, but a written follow-up creates a paper trail the company cannot walk back. Send a short letter by certified mail with return receipt requested to the mailing address in your service agreement. Include your full name, member ID, account number, and a clear statement that you are canceling all services and revoking authorization for future charges.
The certified mail receipt proves the company received your notice on a specific date. Any charge after that date is the evidence you will use with your bank, your card issuer, or a regulator.
If Charges Keep Appearing
This is where Privacy Assist cancellations have historically gone sideways. You have three separate levers, and they work in parallel, not in sequence.
Stop the Payment at Your Bank
If Privacy Assist debits a checking or savings account, federal law lets you stop any preauthorized electronic transfer by notifying your bank at least three business days before the next scheduled charge. Call your bank, request a stop-payment order on the Privacy Assist charge, and ask whether they need a written confirmation within 14 days and where to send it.
1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693e – Preauthorized Transfers
If the bank fails to stop the transfer after receiving proper notice, the bank itself becomes liable for the unauthorized charge. That gives them a strong reason to get it right.
2eCFR. 12 CFR 1005.10 – Preauthorized Transfers
Dispute the Charge With Your Credit Card Issuer
If the charge hits a credit card instead, the Fair Credit Billing Act is the tool. Write to your card issuer at the address designated for billing inquiries, not the payment address, within 60 days of the statement showing the disputed charge. Include your name, account number, the charge amount, and why it is wrong. The issuer must acknowledge your dispute within 30 days and resolve it within two billing cycles or 90 days, whichever comes first. You can withhold payment on the disputed amount during the investigation without damage to your credit.
3Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Federal law caps your total liability for unauthorized credit card charges at $50, and most issuers waive that amount for customers who report promptly.
File Regulatory Complaints
If the company keeps billing you and your bank or card issuer has not resolved it, escalate. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints online at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB forwards your complaint to the company, which is required to respond.
4Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
You can also report the company to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, especially if you believe you were enrolled without your consent. The FTC does not resolve individual complaints, but reports feed into enforcement actions against companies with patterns of abuse.
5Federal Trade Commission. How to Stop Subscriptions You Never Ordered
Your Rights Behind These Steps
The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act makes it illegal for a company selling a subscription online through automatic renewal to charge your account unless it clearly disclosed all material terms before you enrolled, obtained your express consent, and gave you a straightforward cancellation method.
6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet
A cancellation flow that hides behind phone menus, long holds, or aggressive retention scripts may violate ROSCA’s requirement for simple mechanisms. The FTC has signaled that obstructive cancellation is a regulatory priority, even as rulemaking on the specifics continues.
What to Watch for After You Cancel
After the agent confirms cancellation, a confirmation email usually arrives within a day or two. Access to the credit monitoring dashboard typically stays active until the end of the current billing cycle, since you have already paid for that period. Watch your bank or card statements for at least three billing cycles after that to confirm no further charges post.
Most service agreements state that monthly fees are non-refundable. If you are charged for a period after your cancellation took effect, dispute that specific charge using the methods above. Keep the confirmation number, any emails, and your certified mail receipt in one place. Those records are what protect you if the company later claims no cancellation was requested.
Free Alternatives to Paid Credit Monitoring
Before signing up for a replacement service, know that federal law already provides strong free protection.
All three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — permanently extended a program that lets you pull your credit report from each bureau once a week at no cost through AnnualCreditReport.com. Equifax offers six additional free reports per year through 2026 on the same site.
7Federal Trade Commission. Free Credit Reports Checking your own reports weekly catches unauthorized accounts or inquiries as effectively as a paid service, provided you remember to do it.
A credit freeze is the strongest free protection available. It blocks lenders from pulling your credit file, which prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. Placing and lifting a freeze is free at all three bureaus by federal law. Online freezes take effect within one business day, and bureaus must process a temporary lift within one hour when requested by phone or online.
8Federal Trade Commission. New Federal Law Allows Consumers to Place Free Credit Freezes
Between free weekly reports and a credit freeze, you have more protection than most paid monitoring services offer. The main thing a paid service adds is automated alerts, and if your files are frozen and you check reports regularly, there is little left for a monitoring service to flag.