Delete This Payment Habit Before It Costs You Real Money

Online shopping has become more seamless over the years. You can now easily save your payment method, removing the need to pull out your credit card and enter your information into a retailer’s website.

As convenient as that is, frictionless purchasing can lead to impulse purchases and even credit card debt if you’re not careful. Deleting saved payment methods may be a good step if you want to get your spending under control.

Why saved payments make spending too easy

Saved payment methods remove the speed bump between wanting something and buying it. With less time to think, it’s easier to act on impulses and make unnecessary purchases. If you remove saved payments, you must manually enter your credit card information before making each purchase, which gives you more time to assess if it is the right decision.

One-click checkout also makes small purchases feel less consequential since you don’t have to see the money leave your account or type in a card number. A $5 purchase doesn’t seem too costly, but many of them add up over time.

You can save preferred payment methods on your phone or laptop for retail apps, food delivery, ride-sharing, app-store purchases and online marketplaces. Forcing yourself to input payment details can give you enough time to question a purchase and avoid it entirely.

Impulse buys, subscriptions and BNPL debt

Making a purchase here and there with your saved payment information may not seem too harmful on the surface, but it can quietly fuel credit card and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) debt. Impulse purchases can seamlessly transition into recurring charges that start out as free trials. You can end up with many monthly payments that make it more difficult to keep up with living expenses.

BNPL services can make it even harder to keep your finances under control if your spending already gets in the way of your savings. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has tracked major growth in BNPL loans as more people partially pay for orders and stretch the remaining payments over time.

While BNPL has some perks, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of this option. Making too many unnecessary purchases can add up and can cost meaningful money in the long run.

What to delete and what to keep

You don’t have to delete your saved payment methods across every app. Focus on the shopping apps and online marketplaces you use the most to avoid impulse spending. If you barely use a shopping site or never do impulse purchases on it, you can likely keep your information saved there.

Turning off one-click checkout when possible is also advantageous and gives you more time to think about a purchase. Turning off autopay accomplishes the same purpose, but you may want to keep it on for essential, predictable bills to avoid late fees.

While you can use a debit card to limit your purchases to how much you have in your checking account, you should proceed with caution. Debit cards do not have the same level of fraud protection that credit cards provide.

Removing saved payment methods may not fix your budget overnight, but it can put you in a stronger financial position. It encourages you to think more carefully about each purchase you make.