TULSA, Okla. — Forgetting to pay a bill, missing a coupon, or failing to cancel a subscription you no longer use may seem like small oversights — but a new survey shows those little lapses are quietly draining our wallets.
Elisabella Ricca, a personal finance and consumer analyst at TopCashback, said the findings were eye-opening — but not surprising.
"We just ran a new survey at TopCashback around forgetfulness spending, and we actually found that 91% of Americans said they have lost money due to forgetfulness, which is sad, but relatable," Ricca said.
Missed savings add up fast
The most commonly forgotten savings opportunity was coupons and rewards.
"We found 82% lost money due to a forgotten coupon or missed rewards," Ricca said. "71% said that they forgot to cancel a free trial of a subscription. So, it's things like that. Small mistakes or missed savings that can kind of quietly add up over time."
Ricca said cashback browser extensions are one of the easiest ways to avoid missing savings opportunities.
"Taking advantage of coupons or cashback browser extensions — that is something that can just help you either save or earn cash back on everyday purchases," Ricca said. "A lot of people don't know about browser extensions. For example, TopCashback has one, and it will remind you in the corner (of your open brower) if you can earn cash back, or if there's coupon codes sometimes, on your purchase."
Tulsa resident Brian Billings said he has used similar tools while shopping online.
"I have, especially like on Amazon, sometimes there's a little button you can click to get a coupon," Billings said.
Subscriptions you forgot you had
More than half of survey respondents — 55% — said they discovered they were paying for a subscription they no longer used. And 71% said they forgot to cancel a free trial.
Ricca said subscription services are designed to make canceling feel inconvenient.
"They don't make it easy on you, that's kind of the system that's in place, but we definitely want to help you avoid getting money taken out of your pocket if you're not getting the benefit out of it," Ricca said.
She said 31% of respondents admitted they did not cancel a subscription simply because it felt like too much effort — even though they were no longer using it.
"I try to avoid all free trials for that reason because that's the point of it," Billings said.
Buying things you already own
The survey also found 76% of people said they bought something they already had at home.
"It is hard," Ricca said. "I would recommend just kind of — when you're more organized, and you can kind of see all of your items, whether it be toiletries or groceries — that can be easier, or keeping a running list, or an Excel spreadsheet, even, can kind of help mitigate that, but it is something that can be hard to avoid. I've definitely been there, too."
Late bills and what to do about them
Nearly half of respondents — 48% — said they forgot to pay a bill on time, resulting in late fees or interest charges. Ricca said one of the simplest fixes is automating payments.
"An easy tip to mitigate this is to turn on automatic payments on credit cards," Ricca said. "That's one of my favorite ways. It's kind of a set-it-and-forget-it mentality, so you don't forget it, and you don't get hit with the interest or late fees."
Billings said he and his family already try to stay on top of their accounts.
"Occasionally you'll see something on the credit card that you forgot about, so we try to reconcile our credit cards and just catch that," Billings said.
If automatic payments are not an option, Ricca recommends using a calendar reminder.
"Setting calendar reminders to either cancel subscription free trials, cancel subscriptions in general, or get your bills paid on time — it's an easy way, it takes a couple seconds, and it can end up saving you on those late fees or those subscriptions that you didn't mean to be paying for," Ricca said.
One important note on automatic credit card payments: the strategy works best when the full balance is paid off each billing cycle to avoid carrying a balance and paying high interest charges.
Ricca said using credit cards responsibly can also work in consumers' favor.
"When you use them responsibly, you can get a lot of benefits — you can get points or miles, you can get cash back, so your bill ends up being lower than what it is," Ricca said.
Her bottom line: small habits can make a meaningful difference.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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