Check Your Bank Statement

• Before you contact your bank or the insurance company, pull out a copy of your most recent bank statement. Note the date that the payment is taken out of your bank account and sent to the insurance company. If the payment takes place at the end of the month and the current month just started, you might have enough time to prevent the payment from being made. But if the payment is in just a week or two, you will probably not be able to stop that current payment. You can, however, make sure that future monthly payments do not take place.
  
  

Contact the Insurance Company

• Contact the insurance company as soon as possible to stop the automatic monthly payments from your bank account. If you are retaining the insurance, you will need to make alternative payment arrangements, such as billing the payment to a credit card or taking the money out of another account. You can also ask that the insurance company bill you so that you can write a check.
  
  When you talk to your insurance company, ask whether there is an extra charge for any of these options. Some insurance companies provide a discount for automatic payments from a checking account, so you could end up paying more if you discontinue those monthly transfers.
  
  

Contact Your Bank

• It is a good idea to contact your bank as well and let it know that you have requested a suspension of automatic payments from your checking account to the insurance company. This gives the bank a heads-up and allows the bank to contact you if there are any problems. Keep in mind that there might not be enough time to stop the payment scheduled for the current month, but you should see future payments to the insurance company end.
  
  

Check Your Statement

• Keep a close watch for your next bank statement, and review it carefully. If the payment to the insurance company still went through, you should contact the insurance company and the bank. It could simply be that there was not sufficient time for the changes to take effect before the next scheduled payment. If so, wait for the next statement to arrive and make sure the payments have been properly discontinued.