And just this week, a group of Democratic senators on Capitol Hill called on the FTC Chair to find a way to bring back "Click to Cancel." 

But 4in the meantime, consumer advocates say households can take some steps on their own to protect their money. 

 "Click to Cancel" is cancelled for now. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Appeals Court blocked the Federal Trade Commission rule that would have required businesses to make it just as easy to cancel subscriptions and memberships as it is to sign up for them. 

The rule, passed by the FTC under the Biden administration, was set to cover everything from gym memberships to streaming services to free trials. 

"Companies shouldn't be able to engineer a website to trap you in a 5doomed 6loop simply so that they can keep taking money out of your account every single month when you don't want them to anymore." 

Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had 7criticized the rule as 8micromanaging businesses. 

The court 9nixed the rule because they said the FTC failed to 10conduct a 11preliminary 12analysis of the costs and benefits. 

"They 13dismissed the rule based on a technicality with the FTC's 14rulemaking process. We were certainly disappointed to see that result, but the good news is that it's not the end of the story." 

Erin Witte of the Consumer Federation of America says some state and federal lawmakers have possible legislative protections 15in the works.  

But for now, consumers should be 16vigilant when signing up for a subscription service, maybe by setting a calendar reminder for the end of a free trial or the next billing date. 

"Try to look before you sign up at what the cancellation process really looks like so that you understand going into it what it's going to take for you to cancel when you don't want that product or subscription anymore."