How to cancel a contract in writing
Most subscriptions are designed to be easy to start and quietly hard to stop. The letter that ends one is short; what makes it work is naming the contract precisely, sending it in time, and being able to prove both.
Write who you are, which contract you are ending and its reference number, the date you want the cancellation to take effect, and the date you are writing. Send it so that you can prove it arrived, and keep the proof until the last payment has stopped.
Fill in the free templateStep by step
- Identify yourself as the company files you
Your name, your address, and the customer or contract number. Companies find accounts by reference number far more reliably than by name.
- Name the contract exactly
The service, the plan, the branch or the policy — whatever distinguishes it from the other things you might buy from the same company.
- Give the effective date
The date you want it to end. Work it back from the notice your contract requires, and put the calculation in your own records rather than in the letter.
- Send it with proof and keep watching
Recorded delivery, or email with a request to acknowledge. Then check the next two statements: a cancellation that nobody processed looks exactly like one you never sent.
Find the notice period before you write
The notice period is in the contract you signed, and it is the single figure that decides whether this letter ends the contract next month or a year from now. One month is common; three is not rare; some contracts only allow cancellation at an anniversary date.
Many countries also give a legal right to leave certain contracts early — after a move, after a price rise, after the first fixed year. Where such a right applies it usually has to be invoked in the letter, so check before you send rather than after.
Say what you are ending, not why
A reason is optional in most cases and rarely helps. The exception is when you are relying on a legal right to cancel early: there the reason is the whole point, and it should be stated plainly along with anything that evidences it.
Otherwise a short factual letter is harder to argue with than a long unhappy one, and it reaches a person whose job is to process cancellations, not to fix your complaint.
The proof matters more than the wording
Companies lose cancellation letters with remarkable consistency, and the burden of showing you sent one falls on you. Recorded delivery costs a few euros and settles the question permanently.
Keep the proof of posting, your copy of the letter and any acknowledgement together, and keep them until you have seen a statement showing the payments have actually stopped.
Frequently asked questions
Can I cancel by email instead of by post?
Often yes, and many companies now require it. Where the contract names a postal address for notices, send it both ways — the email for speed, the letter for proof.
What if they keep taking payments after the end date?
Send a formal notice demanding a refund of the payments taken after the cancellation took effect, and attach your proof of posting. Cancelling the mandate at your bank stops the payments but does not end the contract.
Do I have to use a specific form of words?
No. A letter that identifies you, the contract and the date is legally sufficient. Only a contract that explicitly requires a particular form — rare, but it exists — changes that.