Customers tightening their belts with over a million subscriptions stopped in households

The lending giant, which owns Yorkshire’s Halifax bank, said it has seen 1.2 million subscriptions contracts cancelled over the past six months, with customers spending more on energy and food as inflation soars.

Popular TV, film and music streaming services made up almost half (47.1%) of regular payments cancelled, with households taking further stock of their discretionary spending, as the cost of living climbs. Marketplace subscriptions – where people buy or sell goods online - also got the chop, with 17.6% of cancellations, since June last year.

Regular payments for weight management clubs and gym memberships made up 7.6% of contracts ditched.

These new findings follow an earlier spike in people taking out subscriptions during the pandemic, where new regular subscription payments increased by 70% between January 2020 and March 2021. The data suggests people are now doing a ‘subscription audit’ following the lifting of pandemic restrictions, and a rise in day to day costs.

The insight also shows that Monday is the busiest day for subscription management, with those aged between 30 and 39 the most likely to be using the mobile app to manage payments.

Philip Robinson, Director, Payments, Lloyds Bank, said: “People are looking to take control and budget household spend. The subscription management service within our mobile app makes it easy for customers to see what they are making regular payments on, with cancellation just a few clicks away. Our customers have stopped over a million subscription payments to date, with streaming services by far the most popular stop.”

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