If you've given a business the long number across your debit or credit card and authorise it to take money out of your account, you probably have a "continuous payment authority" (CPA).
CPAs don't show up on online banking like direct debits or standing orders. You can cancel a direct debit or standing order easily through online banking or by contacting your bank - if you do cancel make sure you discuss future payment options with the business.
With CPAs - also called "recurring payments" - the company will ask for the long number across your debit or credit card rather than your bank account number and sort code. CPAs are often used for payday loans, subscriptions and memberships.
CPAs enable a business to try and take money due to them from your account on multiple occasions if there are no funds available; or collect arrears. This can cause havoc with other monthly bills due to come out of your account.
In most cases, you should be able to cancel a CPA by contacting the company taking the payment and asking it to stop.
You also have a legal right to cancel a CPA directly with your card issuer.
Once you've done this, it must stop payments immediately – it cannot require you to contact the company taking the payment first.
It's a good idea to inform both the company taking the payment and your card issuer when cancelling a CPA. You should check your next monthly statement to make sure the payment has been cancelled.
Remember you are still responsible for paying any money that you owe and if you're struggling financially you can chat to one of our money advisors.
Any payments taken from your bank account after you've asked for a CPA to be stopped are treated in law as "unauthorised transactions". Banks and card issuers must refund these payments and any related charges immediately.
If cancelled CPA payments continue to be taken from your account, contact your card issuer to arrange a refund. If it fails to do so, you should make a complaint to the card issuer and, then, if you are not satisfied with its response, you can pursue a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.