A charge labeled “PublicRecords.info” on your bank or credit card statement is a recurring subscription fee from a people-search and background-check website. Someone using your card, usually you or a household member, ran a lookup on the site and, in doing so, enrolled in a subscription that renews automatically. You can shut it down through the company, request a refund, and, if that fails, dispute the publicrecords.info charge with your bank under federal law.
Why the Charge Keeps Coming Back
The site uses negative option billing. You pay what looks like a one-time fee to see a report, and the account renews on a set cycle unless you cancel. Charges typically appear a couple of weeks apart, which is the subscription cycle at work rather than duplicate billing. The renewals continue until you close the account or contact support.
How to Cancel
You have four ways to cancel:
- Log into your account at publicrecords.info and click the “Close Account” button at the bottom of the page.
- Call 1-877-381-8701, available 24/7.
- Email support@publicrecords.info with your name and the email address you registered with.
- Use the live chat on the site’s contact page.
Whichever route you take, keep proof. Screenshot the confirmation page if you cancel online. Note the date, time, and representative’s name or ID if you call. Save the reply if you email. That record matters if charges keep posting after cancellation, because it turns a billing dispute into documented evidence.
Getting a Refund From the Company
The site’s refund policy says you can request a refund “for any reason” through the same phone number, email, or chat. There is no published deadline, but acting quickly tends to make the process smoother. When you contact them, name the specific charges and dates you want reversed, and say plainly if you never used the service after the initial search. Approved refunds generally post in three to five business days. Save any confirmation email or reference number in case you need to follow up.
Disputing the Charge With Your Bank
If the company will not refund you, or if you did not authorize the charge in the first place, you can dispute it with your card issuer or bank. The rules differ by card type, but the deadline is the same: 60 days from the statement date.
Credit Cards
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days from the date your statement was sent to dispute a billing error in writing. Send the letter to the address your issuer designates for billing disputes, not the payment address. Include your name and account number, identify the charge, and explain why you believe it is wrong. The issuer must acknowledge within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, capped at 90 days. During the investigation, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount or report it as delinquent.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
Most issuers also let you open a dispute online or by phone, which is faster. Following up in writing preserves your statutory rights.
Debit Cards
Debit transactions fall under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act. You have 60 days from the statement date to report an unauthorized transfer. If you report within two business days of learning about it, your maximum liability is $50. Between two and 60 days, exposure rises to $500. Miss 60 days entirely and you can be liable for the full amount of any transfers occurring after that deadline.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Regulation E 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
Once you report, the bank must investigate and respond within 10 business days. It can instead issue a provisional credit within 10 business days and take up to 45 days to finish investigating. You have full use of the provisional funds during that period.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1693f – Error Resolution
Whichever card you used, the 60-day statement deadline is the one that controls. Set a reminder if you need to.
The Federal Law on Hidden Subscriptions
The Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act makes it illegal for a website to bill you through a negative option feature unless it clearly discloses all material terms before taking your payment information, obtains your express informed consent, and gives you a simple way to stop recurring charges.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet
If the subscription terms were buried, hidden behind a pre-checked box, or never meaningfully shown to you, the company may have violated this statute. Citing it in your dispute letter reframes the matter from a billing disagreement into a potential legal violation, which banks and issuers tend to weigh differently.
Filing a Complaint
Report the charge at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Individual complaints rarely produce direct refunds, but the FTC uses volume to identify patterns and build enforcement actions. You can also file with your state attorney general’s consumer protection office.5Federal Trade Commission. How to Stop Subscriptions You Never Ordered
Removing Your Information From the Site
Canceling stops the billing, but your personal data may still appear in the site’s search results. To remove it, go to publicrecords.info, scroll to the bottom, and click “Remove my info.” Search for your profile by name, address, or phone number, then submit the removal request on the correct listing. You do not need to provide an email or phone number to finish. An on-screen confirmation appears when the request goes through.
Check back after a few days to confirm the listing is gone. Data brokers sometimes repopulate records from source databases, so recheck periodically. If self-service removal fails, contact support@publicrecords.info or call 1-877-381-8701.
Preventing This Next Time
Disclosures on data-broker sites are often easy to miss by design. Before entering payment information on any people-search site, read the text right around the purchase button for subscription language. Use a virtual card number with a spending limit if your issuer offers one. Review statements weekly instead of monthly so recurring charges do not stack up. And watch for the confirmation email after signup, since it sometimes spells out the subscription terms more clearly than the checkout page did.