How to Cancel Anytime Fitness Membership (2026)

This is a franchise chain in the fullest sense: the contract is with the club, not with Anytime Fitness the brand. That shapes every step below.

1. Dig out your membership agreement. Anytime Fitness says it covers the cost to cancel, how to cancel, and any additional termination fees. If you cannot find your copy, the club can send it — ask for it in writing before you ask to cancel.
2. Identify your home club, which is the one that signed you up, not the one you have been using. Notice goes to the home club even if you moved gyms within the chain.
3. Give the notice in the form your agreement demands. Many clubs want a signed written notice delivered in person or sent by mail; some accept email. If the agreement names certified mail, use certified mail — this is the clause franchises enforce most literally.
4. Count the notice period back from your draft date. A 30-day requirement means 30 days before the next payment, not 30 days before you stop going.
5. Do not confuse billing with membership. ABC Financial processes Anytime Fitness payments and can be reached on 888-827-9262, but that is where you change a card, not where you end a contract. Only the club can cancel the membership.
6. Get written confirmation of the effective date, and check the next two drafts against it.

There is no chain-wide online cancellation. Because each club is its own business, some accept an emailed notice or a form on their local page and others require you to come in and sign. The only way to know is to read your agreement or ask the club directly.

If you joined online, New York and California both require a way to cancel online, and a franchise agreement does not override a state statute. Elsewhere, if the club insists on an in-person visit, ask them to confirm in writing that a mailed notice is acceptable — most will, because it is the same paperwork.

The honest table for a franchise chain is a short one. What is national is the structure; the numbers are local.

If you are inside a 12-month term, ask what the buyout actually is before you decide. Paying out two remaining months is often cheaper than a termination fee, and the club can tell you which applies to you.

Two things decide what a gym has to let you do, and only one of them is settled. The federal rule most people have heard of is not in force: the FTC's click-to-cancel rule, which would have required canceling to be as simple as signing up, was thrown out in full by the Eighth Circuit on July 8, 2025, weeks before compliance was due. The FTC reopened the rulemaking with an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in March 2026 and took comments until April 13, 2026; no replacement rule exists yet. The agency still sues over hard-to-cancel subscriptions under ROSCA and Section 5 of the FTC Act, so this is not a free-for-all — but there is no federal cancel button to point at today.

State law is where the real rights are. In New York, General Business Law § 624 lets you cancel any health-club contract within three business days of signing, with no penalty, and requires every dollar back within ten business days. It also gives you an exit later: a doctor-certified disability lasting more than three months, a move of more than 25 miles from any club the chain operates, or the club no longer providing what it sold you. Death releases the estate. Separately, § 527-a says that if you signed up online, you have to be able to cancel online — that is the law the Attorney General used against Equinox in May 2025.

California runs on the same idea with different numbers: Civil Code § 1812.85 requires a five-day cooling-off period on health-studio contracts, refunds are pro-rated to what you actually used, and the disability, death, and 25-mile relocation outs are all there. Since July 1, 2025, AB 2863 has required businesses to offer cancellation through the same channel you signed up in.

One franchise-specific note: an independently owned club is still bound by your state's health-club law. The three-business-day window in New York and the five-day window in California apply to the contract you signed at the club, whatever the club's own policy sheet says.

Most other states have their own health-club statute with a similar cooling-off window and similar medical and relocation exits. Look yours up before you accept a no at the front desk. This is general information, not legal advice.

Ask about a hold before you cancel. Anytime Fitness points holds and suspensions back to the home club, which means they are negotiable in a way a corporate chain's are not — a few months on hold can cost less than a termination fee plus a new joining fee somewhere else.

If the driver is cost, compare like for like. We track what every gym in New York City actually charges, including the enrollment and annual fees that make advertised rates misleading.

In New York the nearest alternatives on price are Planet Fitness, PureGym and Crunch Fitness. If your visits have dropped off, day passes are worth pricing against a membership before you sign another one.