Beware of Gray Charges: How Americans Can Save an Extra $14B This Year

New Year, New You, how about a new New Year's resolution that could help Americans save $14 billion per year? The secret to a healthier looking bank account for 2015 could be cutting your gray charges. If you haven't heard of gray charges you're not alone, they're the recurring fees of payments you've either forgotten about or didn't realize you were paying. They're small enough to be overlooked month-to-month. But over time they add up to needless waste. So what's the strategy? First step, review your bank account monthly. That's the standard billing cycle for most services. This also lets you see if you've used everything you've paid for. There are five types of gray charge to look out for on your bank statement. Stale memberships - like a website you never look at. Unintended subscriptions - those one-offs you didn't realize would be ongoing. Free to paid - free trials that morph into a monthly commitment. Echoes - getting charged for a follow up product or service after just buying one. Zombies - you cancelled the service but the charge hasn't ended. Free trials turning into paid subscriptions alone counts for $6 billion of the $14 billion that Americans over paid in 2012. So read the terms and conditions before signing up to any service that requires your credit card details. If calling to cancel the charges doesn't work, request a follow up confirmation by letter or email. You can then dispute charges if they show up again. When you're talking to sales reps, give a non negotiable reason why you need to cancel the charges. 'I can't pay' generally works better than 'I don't want to.' If the company won't back down and you want to dispute the charges do it quickly. Most cards only give you 60 days to file a dispute. Cutting the gray charges can add a surprisingly large amount to your bank account so make it your resolution this month.