Making Cents: Read the small print when you subscribe online

MANY Irish consumers will be familiar with that sinking feeling when you spot an unfamiliar charge on your credit card, writes Gráinne McGuinness. 

Initially convinced it must be an error, you then take a second look at the business name and a bell rings in the back of your mind. That free trial you signed up for online ages ago and then promptly forgot about has come back to cost you financially.

Businesses will do everything they can to get you signed up for subscription offers. With more and more of us heading online for everything from music to the latest TV show, what should you do to make sure you don’t get roped into unwanted and costly subscriptions?