An “RDA TMB Books” charge on your card is a payment to Trusted Media Brands, the publisher behind Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home, Family Handyman, and related titles, almost always tied to a book shipment, book series enrollment, or a subscription that auto-renewed. The descriptor often includes the phone number 800-344-2560 and “NY” for the company’s New York headquarters. To stop it, cancel directly with Trusted Media Brands and ask for a refund on the recent charge; if the company won’t help or you never authorized the purchase, dispute the charge with your bank before the legal deadline runs.
What the Descriptor Actually Means
RDA is short for Reader’s Digest Association, the legacy name of a publisher that has been mailing books and magazines to American households since 1922. TMB is Trusted Media Brands, the parent company that now operates Reader’s Digest and its sister publications, including Taste of Home, Family Handyman, Birds & Blooms, and The Healthy.1Trusted Media Brands. Audience Reach – Trusted Media Brands The “Books” portion tells you the charge is tied to a hardcover title or book series rather than a standalone magazine, though magazine renewals from the same brands sometimes post under similar descriptors. Individual book titles typically run between $13 and $27.
If anyone in your household has ever ordered from one of those brands, that is almost certainly where this charge came from. Check your email for order confirmations, shipping notices, or renewal reminders from any TMB title. Even a signup from several years ago can still be live.
Why It Is Billing You Now
The usual trigger is a trial or introductory book offer that converted into a paid subscription. These offers often use a negative option plan: the company keeps shipping and billing on a schedule unless you actively decline. Under the FTC’s Negative Option Rule, sellers have to disclose those terms clearly and get your informed consent before charging you,2Federal Trade Commission. 16 CFR Part 425 – Rule Concerning Recurring Subscriptions and Other Negative Option Programs but in practice the consent is often buried in checkout fine print.
Annual magazine renewals from Reader’s Digest or Taste of Home are another common source. Subscriptions keep renewing at whatever rate the company sets until you explicitly cancel. Book series work the same way: each new installment ships, and a new charge posts to the card on file.
Canceling and Getting a Refund
Go to the merchant first. Pull up your statement and note the exact amount, the posting date, and the full descriptor text. If you still have an order confirmation, packing slip, or account login from any Reader’s Digest or Taste of Home purchase, keep that handy. Representatives can look you up by name and address, but an account number is faster.
Trusted Media Brands runs a general customer service line at 1-877-732-4438.3Trusted Media Brands. Contact Us For book-related charges, you can also email bookcustomerservice@rd.com, and Reader’s Digest subscription questions go to customercare@rd.com. You can also log into your account on the Reader’s Digest site and use the “Cancel My Subscription” link to end the subscription or book series directly.4Trusted Media Brands. FAQs
Be explicit when you call or write: cancel the subscription, stop all future shipments, and remove the card from the account. For a recent charge, ask whether the company will refund it, particularly if the book is unopened. Many representatives will process a refund on the spot. Save the cancellation confirmation number, or screenshot the online confirmation page.
Refunds typically take between three and fourteen business days to appear, depending on your card issuer and the merchant’s processing speed. Watch your next statement to confirm the credit posted and no new charges followed.
If You Never Ordered the Books
If books arrived that you never requested and never agreed to receive, federal law treats them as a free gift. Under 39 U.S.C. § 3009, merchandise mailed without your prior request or consent is unordered merchandise, and you have no obligation to pay for it, return it, or contact the sender.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 39 U.S. Code 3009 – Mailing of Unordered Merchandise The sender is also barred from billing you or sending collection notices for those items. The FTC confirms you can keep the merchandise without paying.6Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You’re Billed for Things You Never Got, or You Get Unordered Products
One boundary matters here. If you originally signed up for a book series and simply forgot, the shipments are not legally “unordered” because you gave consent at some point. Section 3009 covers products you genuinely never asked for.
Disputing the Charge With Your Bank
If the merchant will not refund you, or the charge is genuinely unauthorized, your next step depends on whether it hit a credit card or a debit card. The protections and deadlines are different.
Credit Cards and the Fair Credit Billing Act
The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute billing errors on a credit card statement.7Federal Trade Commission. Fair Credit Billing Act You must send written notice to your card issuer within 60 days of the statement date that first showed the charge. Include your name, account number, the dollar amount in question, and why you believe it’s an error.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors
The issuer must acknowledge your notice in writing within 30 days and then has two complete billing cycles, but no more than 90 days, to investigate and either correct the charge or explain why it believes the bill was accurate.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors During the investigation, the issuer cannot try to collect on the disputed amount or report it as delinquent. Most issuers also take disputes by phone or through their app, but written notice preserves your full statutory rights.
Debit Cards and Regulation E
Debit charges do not fall under the Fair Credit Billing Act. They are governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, and the stakes are higher because the money has already left your account. Report an unauthorized transfer within two business days of learning about it, and your maximum liability is $50. Wait longer than two business days and your exposure rises to $500. Fail to report the problem within 60 days of receiving the statement, and you can be liable for the full amount of any unauthorized transfers that occur after that 60-day window.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1005.6 – Liability of Consumer for Unauthorized Transfers
So if you spot an unauthorized RDA TMB Books charge on a debit card, call your bank the same day. Every day of delay increases what you could end up owing.
Preventing Future Charges
Canceling with Trusted Media Brands directly is the most reliable fix. Keep the confirmation and watch your statements for at least two billing cycles afterward. Automated shipping systems occasionally send one more order after cancellation when the next shipment was already in the pipeline.
You can also ask your bank to place a stop payment on the merchant’s billing descriptor. Banks generally need at least three business days’ notice before the next expected charge, and the block only applies to future transactions, not anything pending. Stop payments are not foolproof: if the merchant’s processor routes the charge through a different descriptor, it can still get through. Removing the card from the merchant’s own system is more dependable.
Review your statements monthly rather than waiting for a surprise. Old subscription signups are one of the most common sources of billing confusion, and the sooner you catch one, the easier it is to reverse.