CFPB Targets Companies’ ‘Negative Option’ Subscription Services

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned that companies face potential enforcement actions if they make it difficult for customers to cancel subscription services.

Credit card, credit reporting, and credit repair firms, among others, frequently deploy so-called “negative option” trial periods, where consumers try out a subscription service for a short period of time for free, or at a discount, but get bumped up to pricier full subscriptions unless they cancel first.

“Negative option” refers to any term or condition of sale where a consumer’s silence, or failure to take an affirmative action to reject or cancel a good or service, ...