Visa is introducing a new policy for free trials starting April 18th, 2020. When a cardholder signs up for a free trial they will be provided the following via an e-mail or text:
- immediate confirmation of the terms of the agreement
- proactive notification of any future payments at the end of the trial period
- instructions on how to initiate a cancellation
Visa’s new policy covers both physical and digital goods. Mastercard introduced a policy requiring companies to get approval for charges after a free trial period ends, but unfortunately that only covered physical goods and not digital. Visa’s policy is less useful but covers digital products as well (most free trials are for digital products in my experience).
What would be useful for consumers is a way to cancel a subscription easily and online. This is something that California law requires, but it would be great to see a payment network introduce it as well.
