Albert Genius Took Money From My Account: How to Get a Refund

If you see an unexpected charge from Albert on your bank statement, you’re almost certainly looking at Genius, Albert’s paid subscription tier, rather than fraud. The direct answer: Genius costs $14.99 per month (or $149.99 annually), and Albert charges it automatically once your free trial ends or your account stays active. You can cancel it yourself in the Albert app under Settings, and you can request a refund directly from Albert’s support team — typically within a short window after the charge.

Why Albert Genius Charged You

Albert is a financial app that offers banking, saving, and investing tools. Genius is its premium subscription, which unlocks higher-yield savings, cash advances, and access to human financial advisors. When you sign up, you enter a free trial period that requires your card details up front. If you don’t cancel before the trial ends, the subscription converts to a paid plan and renews automatically.

That automatic renewal is the source of most complaints. It’s a common, legal practice — but only if the company clearly disclosed the terms and made cancellation reasonably easy. The Federal Trade Commission has repeatedly warned companies about trapping customers in subscriptions through hidden terms. If you never realized you’d be charged, the disclosure you saw may be worth questioning.

There’s also a partial-charge scenario: if you used a Genius cash advance or transferred money while subscribed, part of what you’re seeing may be a repayment, not just the subscription fee. Check whether the amounts line up with $14.99 or $149.99 before assuming it’s a single fee.

Common reasons the charge appears:

• A free trial you forgot to cancel lapsed into a paid month.
• You canceled, but the cancellation didn’t process (common if you only deleted the app).
• Reactivation after you updated a payment method or restarted an account.
• A duplicate account created with a different email.

How to Cancel Genius and Stop Future Charges

The fastest fix is in the app, not your bank. Open Albert, go to Settings, find Genius Subscription (sometimes under your profile), and select Cancel Subscription. Do this even if you think you already canceled — almost everyone who is charged repeatedly thought the same thing.

Here’s the trap: deleting the app does not cancel a subscription. The charge lives on your payment method, not your phone. To cancel, you generally need to log back in through the app or web portal, or contact support.

If you can’t find the cancel option, try two workarounds. First, cancel through your card issuer: call the number on the back of your card, tell them to block future charges from that merchant, and flag them as unauthorized moving forward. This stops the bleeding but doesn’t refund past charges — you still need to request that separately. Second, email Albert support through the in-app help center or their website and state you want to cancel and be refunded. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau notes that subscription services must give you a straightforward way to stop recurring payments; if they don’t, that’s a point in your favor.

Once you’ve canceled, ask for a confirmation email and screenshot it. That document matters if the charge reappears.

Chasing Down Your Refund

Canceling stops future billing. A refund is a separate request, and it’s granted case by case.

Contact the merchant first. Start with Albert’s support, and give the date of the charge, the amount, and the reason. If you caught it quickly — ideally within a few days — you have a much better shot at a full refund. Be specific and factual: “I was charged $14.99 on a date I didn’t authorize; please cancel and refund” is stronger than a vague complaint. If the first agent says no, ask for a supervisor and reference the Albert terms of service and the FTC’s stance on negative-option billing.

A short worked example

Suppose you started a trial in January, forgot about it, and saw several $14.99 monthly charges. You’d ask Albert to cancel and refund all of them, arguing you didn’t use Genius features after the trial. If Albert refunds only the most recent month, the remaining charges aren’t a dead end — you can dispute them with your card issuer or escalate.

Filing a dispute through your bank

If Albert refuses, request a chargeback through your card issuer. You generally have up to 60 days from the statement date to dispute a charge (verify your exact window with your bank). A chargeback is your strongest lever, but only file one if you genuinely believe the charge was unauthorized or the service wasn’t clearly disclosed — repeated abuse of the process can backfire.

For consumer-protection help, you can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the Federal Trade Commission.

Refund paths at a glance

This is general information, not legal or financial advice — if the amount is significant or you’re in a dispute you can’t resolve, consult a consumer-protection attorney or a nonprofit credit counselor.

Key Takeaways

• Genius ($14.99/month or $149.99/year) charges automatically after your free trial unless you cancel.
• Cancel in the app, under Settings — deleting the app does not cancel anything.
• Request a refund from Albert support first; catching the charge quickly improves your odds of a full refund.
• A card chargeback is your fallback, generally within about 60 days of the statement date.
• Save confirmation emails or screenshots so you have proof if the charge returns.
• For big disputes or unresolved cases, a consumer-protection attorney or credit counselor can help.