A RestoreRoute charge on your credit card is a recurring fee, typically $14.99 to $29.99 per month, for an identity theft restoration membership. Most people find it after a free or low-cost trial quietly converted into a paid subscription, often accepted as a secondary offer during an unrelated purchase or phone call. To stop it, cancel with RestoreRoute directly and, if the charges weren’t authorized, dispute them in writing with your card issuer.
What You’re Being Billed For
RestoreRoute is marketed as an identity theft recovery service. The core benefit is access to a caseworker who handles paperwork if your personal information is compromised: replacing a stolen driver’s license, contacting credit bureaus, and disputing fraudulent accounts on your behalf. Some plans bundle credit monitoring and document replacement assistance.
The enrollment usually happens alongside something else. You’re buying a product or calling about your credit card, and a trial membership gets pitched during the transaction. The trial then auto-converts to paid billing when the window closes, which is why the line item feels unfamiliar when it finally lands on a statement.
How to Cancel RestoreRoute
Contact RestoreRoute directly at 1-844-630-2199 or by email at support@restoreroute.com. You can also visit restoreroute.com to manage your account online. Before you reach out, pull together a few details so verification goes quickly:
- Your membership ID, assigned when the trial started and included in the welcome email or welcome kit.
- The email address and zip code you used to enroll, which the representative uses to locate your account.
- The date and amount of the most recent charge from your bank or card statement.
- The last four digits of the card being charged, useful if you no longer have your login.
State clearly that you want the subscription canceled immediately. Retention scripts are common, and the agent may offer a discounted rate or a billing pause. You don’t have to accept anything. Ask for a cancellation confirmation number before you hang up, and note the date and time of the call. If you cancel through the website, save the confirmation email that should arrive within 24 hours. That confirmation is your proof if charges continue.
Don’t Just Cancel the Card
A common instinct is to close the card or bank account being charged and be done with it. That’s a mistake. Closing the payment method does not cancel the membership. RestoreRoute may still treat you as an active subscriber who owes money, and failed payments can accumulate.
Unpaid subscription fees follow a predictable escalation. After a couple of months of failed charges, the account is suspended but the balance keeps accruing. A few months later, a collections warning may arrive. If ignored, the debt can be sold to a collections agency, which reports it to the credit bureaus. A collections entry can drop your credit score significantly and stay on your report for seven years. Formally canceling first, with proof, avoids all of that.
Getting a Refund
Ask for a refund on the same call where you cancel. Representatives can sometimes reverse the most recent charges on the spot. Be direct about what you want refunded and why. If you never knowingly signed up, say so.
If the company refuses or offers less than you believe you’re owed, the next step is a formal billing dispute with your card issuer under the Fair Credit Billing Act.
Filing a Billing Dispute in Writing
The Fair Credit Billing Act lets you dispute charges you believe are billing errors, including charges for services you didn’t agree to. The dispute has to be in writing, and it must reach your card issuer within 60 days after the statement containing the error was sent to you.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors A phone call to your bank is a fine starting point, but it doesn’t satisfy the statute. Send a letter, or use your issuer’s online dispute portal if it produces a written record.
Your notice needs three things: your name and account number, a statement that you believe the charge is a billing error along with the dollar amount, and the reason you think it’s an error. Send it to the billing inquiries address on your statement, not the payment address.
Once your issuer receives the notice, it must acknowledge it within 30 days. The issuer then has two full billing cycles, and no more than 90 days, to investigate and either correct the charge or explain why it believes the charge is valid.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors During the investigation, the issuer cannot try to collect the disputed amount from you or close your account for nonpayment of that amount. Include a copy of your RestoreRoute cancellation confirmation with your dispute letter; it strengthens your case considerably.
One catch worth knowing: the 60-day clock runs from each individual statement. If RestoreRoute has been charging you for six months and you just noticed, only charges on statements sent within the last 60 days fall inside the statute. Older charges are outside the window, though some issuers voluntarily go further on unauthorized transactions, so it’s worth asking.
When RestoreRoute Won’t Cooperate
If the company won’t cancel, won’t refund, or keeps billing after you’ve canceled, two federal agencies take these complaints.
The FTC accepts reports about deceptive subscription practices at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Filing a report won’t return your money directly, but the FTC uses complaint data to build enforcement cases. The agency has pursued multiple actions against companies that violate the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, including cases that produced tens of millions of dollars in settlements.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 8403 – Negative Option Marketing on the Internet
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau handles complaints about financial products and services, including unauthorized billing. Submit a complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or call (855) 411-2372.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Complaint Database The CFPB forwards your complaint to the company, which is expected to respond, and your complaint becomes part of the bureau’s public database. Companies tend to respond faster to a CFPB complaint than to an individual customer service call.