Repeat Charges on a Business Card: Check What You're Still Paying For

It starts small. Someone at the shop sets up what they think is a free listing. A software tool you tried once keeps billing. A service you've used for years quietly goes from $60 a year to $90, then $140.

Nobody notices, because nobody reads the card statement line by line. Months later, the total is real money, and it is worth asking your card issuer promptly about any charge you do not recognize.

This guide shows how to review repeating charges, find the earliest entry in the statements you have, and check changes in the amounts charged.

Repeat charges are easy to miss for three reasons:

• They are small next to rent, payroll and inventory.
• The name on the statement isn't the name you know. A billing company's name or a short code shows instead.
• Price increases come quietly. The charge still has the same name. Only the amount changes.

The fix is to look at each repeating charge as its own history, not as one line on one statement.

Download the last 12 months of statements for every business card and bank account. A year gives you a useful starting point. To compare annual renewals, gather enough older statements to include more than one annual charge.

By hand: sort a spreadsheet of all your charges by name, and look for names that show up again and again. It works, but it takes time, and slightly different names slip past.

With LedgerLens: upload the statements (PDF, CSV, Excel, OFX, QFX or QBO). You don't connect your bank. Then open the Subscriptions page.

LedgerLens looks for charges from the same merchant that repeat on a steady schedule, such as weekly, monthly or every three months, in the last 12 months. For each one it shows how often it comes, how many charges it found, and the average amount. You confirm the ones that are real subscriptions and dismiss the rest. Confirmed subscriptions show the latest amount and what each costs per month.

One honest limit: it needs at least three charges from the same merchant to see a pattern. A charge that started last month won't show up here yet. Step 4 covers those.

Open Statement list and choose Subscriptions. You get every charge you confirmed over the last 12 months, one row per charge, in date order, with the date, the description from your statement and the amount.

To see one merchant's history, search for its name on the Transactions page. The earliest charge in the statements you have is the first one you can document there; the service may have started earlier. Read down the amounts. If an amount increased, compare the invoices and plan terms to find out why. A higher charge does not by itself prove the price changed or the charge was unauthorized.

LedgerLens can also point out a charge that went up. Open Statement Analysis from the side menu, add the statements you want to check, and type in the totals printed on each one. Choose Check & save reconciliation. When every statement matches, choose Run verified analysis. Under Recurring-charge review, a Price increased tag can show next to a repeating charge when its latest amount is more than 10% higher than the first one. Small rises and brand-new charges don't get a tag, so still read the amounts yourself.

Reading one merchant at a time is quick once the list is in front of you.

New charges are the most important to catch early, and the hardest to spot, because they haven't repeated yet.

Open Statement list, choose Custom, set Show to Money out, and set the dates to the last three months. Read the descriptions. Anything you don't recognize, look up. A name that shows up once or twice and looks like a service is worth a question.

If you find one, open the charge on the Transactions page and tick Recurring, so it goes on your list. LedgerLens doesn't add later charges from that merchant for you, so tick Recurring on those too.

For a charge you do not recognize, contact your card issuer promptly. Ask how to report it, what deadlines apply and what records to keep. For a service you agreed to buy but no longer want, follow the company's cancellation process and keep the confirmation. Add a dated note to your records. Cancellation does not by itself guarantee a refund or resolve an earlier disputed charge.

Review statements when they arrive, and contact your issuer promptly about a charge you do not recognize.

Uploading statements, finding repeat charges and making the list are free on the Starter plan. Downloading a list as an Excel file needs Plus: $12 a month or $120 a year.