Cancellation Letter

What a cancellation letter must include

A cancellation letter has one job: make it impossible to argue you didn't ask to cancel. Keep it to one page and include these details.

• Your full name exactly as it appears on the account.
• Your account, member, contract or policy number. If you can't find it, the address and phone number on file help them match you.
• A plain statement that you are cancelling. Use the word cancel, not pause, freeze or downgrade.
• The date you want the cancellation to take effect.
• A request to stop all billing after that date.
• A request for written confirmation, with the email and mailing address where you want it sent.
• Your signature and the date you signed.

Leave out your reasons unless the contract asks for them. A reason gives the company something to argue with or a retention offer to make, and you don't owe one.

Address the letter to the place the contract names for notices. That can be a corporate office, a third-party administrator or your home location, and it is not always the address on your bill. Payment addresses often go to a processing center that never reads mail.

How to write a cancellation letter

1. Find your contract, membership agreement or terms of service, and read the section on cancellation, termination or notice.
2. Note how the company accepts notice, the address it names for notices, how much notice it needs and any fee for ending early.
3. Copy the template below and fill in every bracket. Use your name exactly as it appears on the account.
4. Pick an effective date that respects the notice period. If you're not sure, use the earliest date the contract allows.
5. Print it, sign it and date it. Make a copy for yourself.
6. Mail it to the notice address by USPS Certified Mail and keep the receipt.
7. Track it until it's delivered, then watch your next two statements.

Membership cancellation letter or contract cancellation letter

The same letter works for both. What changes is the detail you include so the company can find your account and can't claim the notice was incomplete.

For a membership cancellation letter, such as a gym, club or class, include your member number and your home location. Many memberships take notice at the location where you joined, so the address may be your home club rather than a corporate office.

For a contract cancellation letter, such as a service contract, warranty or monitoring plan, include the contract or policy number and the contract date. If the contract names an administrator, write to the administrator. If it asks for extra items, like a current odometer reading or proof that you sold the item, enclose them.

Why send your cancellation letter certified

USPS Certified Mail gives you a mailing receipt and a tracking number, and the Postal Service records when the letter is delivered. That record is what you point to if the company says it never got your notice.

Some contracts require certified mail. Others only ask for written notice, and certified mail is still the safest way to send it. Some contracts count notice from the day the letter arrives and others from the postmark date. The USPS record shows both.

Regular mail leaves you with nothing to show. A letter can sit in a mailroom, get misrouted or get thrown away, and you have no way to prove when, or whether, it arrived.

When we mail a letter for you, it goes USPS Certified within one business day of your order, and we email you the tracking number. You can follow it on the USPS site until it's delivered. The price is $29, paid when you order.

Mistakes that get a cancellation letter ignored

• Sending it to the payment address. Payment centers often only process checks.
• Leaving out the account or member number when you have it.
• Asking to pause, freeze or downgrade instead of saying you're cancelling.
• Missing the notice period by a few days, which can mean one more billing cycle.
• Sending it by regular mail and keeping no record.
• Not signing it, when the contract asks for a signed request.

If they keep charging you after you cancel

Check the dates first. A charge that covers your notice period or the last billing cycle may be allowed by your contract. A charge for a period after your cancellation date usually isn't.

1. Contact the company in writing. Say when you cancelled and how, and ask them to refund every charge after your cancellation date. Include your proof.
2. If they don't fix it, dispute the charge with your bank or card issuer. Give the cancellation date and send the proof: a copy of your letter and the USPS delivery record, or the confirmation number from your call.
3. If charges keep coming, ask your bank whether it can block future payments to that company.
4. File a complaint with your state attorney general's consumer protection office. It creates a record, and some companies respond faster once one is filed.

Banks and card issuers set deadlines for disputes, usually counted from the statement date. Don't wait for several months of charges to pile up before you act.