How to find hidden subscriptions (auto payments) in your bank account

₹99 here, ₹299 there, ₹149 somewhere else. On their own they are invisible; together they are over a thousand rupees a month walking out of your account. These are hidden subscriptions — UPI AutoPay mandates you approved once during a free trial and never thought about again.

Step 1: Open the mandate list, not the statement

A bank statement tells you money left. The mandate list tells you money will leave again. That list is where hidden auto payments actually live:

1. PhonePe — profile icon (top-left) → Manage AutoPay.
2. Google Pay — profile picture (top-right) → Autopay.
3. Paytm — profile icon → UPI Automatic Payments → Manage.
4. BHIM — Mandate → My Mandates.

Any UPI app linked to that bank account shows every mandate on that account, whichever app created it. If you have two bank accounts, switch the linked account and repeat.

Step 2: Mine your notifications

Before each debit you get a pre-debit notification, and after it a post-transaction notification carrying the merchant name, the amount, the date and time, the transaction reference number, the e-mandate reference number, the reason for the debit, and your bank's grievance redressal details. Search your SMS inbox for these — they name merchants you may not recognise from the mandate list alone.

Step 3: Cancel the ones you do not use

Open the mandate, tap Cancel AutoPay or Revoke, and confirm. Keep the confirmation. Then do the second half of the job: cancel the subscription with the merchant as well, because stopping the debit does not close the account or wipe pending dues.

While you are there, check the variable-amount mandates. Each one carries a maximum ceiling you set per debit, and the merchant cannot exceed it. If a ceiling looks far too generous, cancel and re-approve at a sensible limit.

One important note

Cancelling a mandate does not touch your CIBIL score. The only exception is a loan EMI mandate — there, a missed EMI genuinely damages your score, so arrange another way to pay before you revoke it.

FAQ

Will an unused subscription stop by itself? No. Mandates run until their end date; they do not expire early.

Something large got debited silently. Is that normal? Above ₹15,000 a debit must pause for your UPI PIN, except insurance, mutual fund SIPs and credit card bills, which go up to ₹1,00,000.

Conclusion

Hidden subscriptions survive on forgetfulness, not on your consent. Spend five minutes on the mandate list today and you will very likely find money you have been paying for nothing.