Free Trials: The Trick to Never Paying After They End

Free Trials: The Trick to Never Paying After They End

Virtual cards will become your new best friend.

ยท

3 min read

Most of us have fallen into the "Subscription Trap" where a service will offer a free trial over some time - 7 days, 30 days, etc., but we forget and start paying for a service after the free trial ends.

After reading this article, this should never happen to you ever again.

Here's how to never pay after a free trial ends:

  1. Sign up for Privacy.com. Privacy.com is a free service that allows you to create virtual payment cards that connect to your bank.

  2. Create a virtual card. You can set a lifetime limit of $2 to validate an initial check by the service you're signing up for.

  3. Use that virtual card information when you sign up for free trials. After the trial period ends and it tries to charge you, Privacy.com will alert you via email and you can close the account or card.

For someone as cheap as me, this has worked wonders. I've used this method for years and haven't fallen into the subscription trap even one time since I started using it.

Step-By-Step Guide

Begin by signing up for Privacy.com.

Privacy.com homepage

Add your email and create a password.

Privacy.com sign up page

Confirm your account through the email you receive.

Privacy.com email confirmation

Once confirmed, select "New Card."

Privacy.com create a new card

Skip the suggestions and create a custom card with a $2 lifetime spend limit:

Privacy.com card spend lifetime limit ($2 selected)

In this example, I've created a card called "Free Trial."

Privacy.com "Free Trial" card created

Select "Finish Signing Up" and say you're using it for "Myself" rather than your business.

Privacy.com selecting "Myself" from the "I'm going to use this for..." option.

Add your personal details, including your name, DOB, address, and phone number.

Privacy.com adding personal information to your account, like name and date of birth

It will also ask you for your SSN - I understand if this is a deal-breaker for you, but this service has served me well so I think it's worth it.

From here you'll connect your bank account.

Privacy.com bank account connector page

Once you connect your bank account, you can start using your cards. Here are some of the ones I've used:

Privacy.com list of virtual cards, including Hootsuite, Twitter, ChatGPT, LinkedIn, Hulu, GameStop, Adobe, and others.

Enjoy saving money?

You might enjoy my video course, CheapMarketing.io. It's for content creators who want the cheapest possible way to grow their brand and reach their audience.

Or you can check out my guide on setting up a custom website with zero hosting costs.

What ways have you found to save money? Please share them in the comments below. ๐Ÿ™

Did you find this article valuable?

Support David V. Kimball by becoming a sponsor. Any amount is appreciated!

ย