If you’ve ever set a spending limit on a business card to avoid surprise charges, especially from trials you meant to cancel, you might assume you’re protected.

That’s exactly what I thought when I set up a $10 daily limit on one of my Relay Bank virtual cards.

But as it turns out, Relay’s spending limits don’t work exactly the way I expected.

Let me walk you through what happened, because if you use Relay (or plan to), this is something you’ll want to know.

The Setup: A Credit Card Just for Trials

I created a dedicated checking account inside Relay that I labeled “Gentle Frog Checking for Videos.”

I used this account for small recurring charges or to demo how to connect a bank account to QuickBooks.

It was clean, low-risk, and easy to manage.

With this account, I set up a Relay virtual card, just for free trials and subscriptions.

I added a spending control: a $10 daily limit.

My thinking? Any charge over $10 should get blocked.

If I signed up for a free trial and forgot to cancel it, the card would block the charge, and I wouldn’t have to worry.

Spoiler: That’s not what happened.

What I Noticed: Blocked Charges… Then One That Went Through

For a while, it worked exactly as expected.

GoToWebinar (part of the LogMeIn family) tried to charge my card repeatedly.

(I wouldn’t normally let this continue but I CANNOT figure out how to cancel GoToWebinar).

Each time, Relay blocked the charge. I thought, “Perfect! The limit is doing its job.”

Then one day, I saw something strange.

The same subscription that had been blocked multiple times, suddenly showed up as settled.

Wait, what?

The card still had a $10 daily limit. The charge that went through? $385.69

Well over the threshold. And yet, there it was, cleared and processed.

The Problem: Recurring Subscriptions Can Override Limits

I contacted Relay support to find out what happened. After some back-and-forth, here’s what I learned:

Recurring subscriptions can override your spending controls.

Even though I set a hard limit, Relay allowed the GoToWebinar subscription to go through because it was part of a recurring subscription. Their system recognizes the charge as something you’ve “agreed to” and lets it bypass your custom controls.

That wasn’t the experience I expected, or wanted.

The Context: Why I Did This in the First Place

The GoToWebinar subscription was ancient.

I originally signed up for it about 10 years ago when I had a client in Alaska.

I haven’t used the account in years, and I tried multiple times to cancel through the GoTo/LogMeIn interface.

Every time I followed the instructions, I hit a dead end.

So, I took a shortcut. I updated the credit card on file to my $10-limit trial card.

I assumed it would fail quietly, and the charges would stop.

Instead, the subscription charge found its way through, and cost me nearly $400 before I noticed.

My New Solution

Since the spending limit didn’t work the way I thought it would, here’s what I did instead:

• Moved the money out of the account. I cleared out the “Gentle Frog Checking for Videos” account, so it now has a $0 balance.

• Removed the Relay card from subscription services. As those subscriptions come due, I’m updating them to use a different credit card, specifically my mileage card.

• Using a different approach going forward. For trials I might forget to cancel, I won’t rely on card limits. Instead, I’ll use either burner cards or a reminder system.

What You Can Learn from This

Here are a few takeaways from my experience with Relay’s spending limits:

1. Know how your bank interprets spending controls.

Relay’s limits are guidelines, not hard stops, when it comes to recurring charges. That might be fine for most people, but it’s important to know what you’re agreeing to.

2. Recurring subscriptions have power.

If you’ve agreed to recurring billing, your bank might prioritize that over your card settings. This applies to Relay, and possibly other platforms that support similar virtual card setups.

3. $0 balances are still your best defense.

The most reliable way to stop a charge from going through is to empty the account. No funds, no charge. It’s old school, but it works.

4. Cancel subscriptions the old-fashioned way (when you can).

I really tried to cancel GoToWebinar. Their system made it incredibly hard. But in most cases, it’s worth going the extra mile to cancel properly before relying on tech to do it for you.

Final Thoughts: Relay Is Great, But Be Aware

I still like Relay Bank. It’s easy to use, integrates well with tools like QuickBooks, and offers solid features like virtual cards and spending controls. But as with any tool, it’s only as effective as your understanding of how it works.

In my case, I misunderstood the way Relay handles recurring charges. Now that I know better, I’m adjusting how I use their features.

If you’re using Relay (or thinking about it), just keep in mind: spending limits don’t guarantee a charge won’t go through.

And if you’re like me, someone who sets up trial cards for “just in case” scenarios, make sure you really understand what protections you have… and what you don’t.