Cancel a WSJ Subscription With Ease—A Comprehensive Guide
Published by Dow Jones & Company, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is a popular and trusted source of news for business, financial, and economic matters. The publication has won 38 Pulitzer Prizes for its in-depth reporting, analysis, and commentary on global events.
Despite the publication’s high reputation, there may come a time when you want to cancel your WSJ subscription for reasons such as financial constraints or a change in reading habits.
If this ever happens to you, read this guide to discover how to discontinue your subscription to the Wall Street Journal. You’ll learn what steps you need to take to cancel online or by phone and how to avoid excessive charges when terminating any subscription.
The information in this guide is current as of December 2023. Please visit the official Wall Street Journal website or get in touch with customer support for updates.
How To Cancel a Wall Street Journal Subscription via the Website
If you’re a California resident and have an online WSJ subscription, you can cancel as follows:
- Head to the WSJ Customer Center and sign in.
- Select My Account on the left side menu of the page.
- Find your WSJ subscription on the list.
- Select Cancel Subscription.
- Click Confirm and complete the on-screen prompts to finalize the cancellation process.
Once you cancel, automatic payments will cease starting the next billing period. If you are on a monthly or quarterly plan, you’ll be able to access the WSJ’s content and enjoy your subscriber benefits until the end of the current billing cycle.
If you’re an annual or semi-annual subscriber, you will lose access to WSJ’s content and benefits immediately following the cancellation. You’ll also get a refund prorated to the effective date of cancellation. However, if you cancel within the last 30 days of your subscription, the cancellation will not take effect until the end of your current billing cycle, and you won’t receive a refund.
Cancel a Wall Street Journal Subscription by Calling Customer Service
International subscribers and those who don’t live in California will have to call the WSJ’s customer service to cancel their subscription. The phone number for cancellation differs depending on your location—find out more in the table below:
You can access the full list of toll-free numbers for each country on the website.
If you want to cancel the Barron’s Magazine, you can call 1-800-544-0422 (toll-free) or 1-609-520-4800.
To cancel your subscription over the phone, take these steps:
- Dial the appropriate number for your region.
- Explain that you want to cancel your membership.
- Provide all the necessary information as requested by the representative. This may include your name, address, subscription details, and a reason for cancellation.
- Request an email or other proof of cancellation for your records.
If you’ve purchased your subscription through a third-party vendor such as Amazon or Google Play, you should refer to that company’s specific cancellation instructions.
What To Do if You Run Into Issues While Canceling a WSJ Subscription
If you are having trouble canceling your WSJ subscription, you can contact customer support by filling out the contact form on the website or via X (formerly Twitter).
You can encounter cancellation problems with any company, and most of the issues are the result of miscommunication or a technical glitch. However, some merchants may intentionally make it difficult for you to cancel your subscription so you would continue paying for their services for longer.
Such merchants may require you to cancel in person or make you navigate an endless loop of instructions when canceling online. To make matters worse, you can get charged even after completing all the required cancellation steps.
The good news is that you can avoid overcharging by using a Privacy Virtual Card to register for a subscription service, be it another publication like the New York Times, a gym membership such as LA Fitness and Planet Fitness, or a networking platform like LinkedIn Premium.
Connected to a real funding source, a virtual card substitutes your financial information with random card numbers at checkout, protecting it from potential misuse. A dedicated virtual card provider like Privacy also offers advanced card settings to give you more control over your online spending and help you avoid excessive charges.
Avoid Unwelcome Charges With Privacy Cards
After linking your bank account or debit card, you can generate multiple Privacy Virtual Cards and use them to shop on various websites and purchase subscriptions, such as Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, and Tinder Gold.
Privacy allows you to generate two types of virtual cards—you can learn more about them in the following table:
Privacy Cards also come with features that can help you manage your subscription expenses more effectively and without affecting the linked debit card or bank account:
- Pausing/closing—You can pause or close your Merchant-Locked Card when you want to stop a subscription, and Privacy will block all transactions on the paused or closed card. While you would still have to go through the subscription cancellation procedure, Privacy can protect you from unwanted billing during or after the process.
- Spending limit—You can set a spending limit on your Merchant-Locked Card, and Privacy will decline all charges that go over the limit, including double charges or additional fees you didn’t agree to.
Additional Privacy Features
Privacy also makes online transactions fast and seamless. The Privacy Browser Extension autofills your virtual card details at checkout so you never have to memorize them. You can get the extension for Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. The Safari iOS extension brings the autofill experience to iPhone and iPad users.
To create and manage your virtual cards on the go, you can install the Privacy mobile app for iOS and Android.
Get Your Privacy Virtual Cards Today
Complete the following four steps to get started with Privacy:
- Sign up
- Provide the information needed to verify your identity
- Link a funding source (debit card or bank account)
- Request Privacy Virtual Cards
Privacy's Personal plan is free for domestic transactions and includes 12 virtual cards per month. The plan also gives you access to:
- Card pausing/closing feature
- Spending limits
- The browser extension and mobile app
The paid plans, Pro ($10/month) and Premium ($25/month), come with additional benefits, including:
- Up to 60 virtual cards per month
- Fee-free foreign transactions
- Priority support
- Ability to mask transaction information on your bank statements
