Stating Amounts of Money in Negative Option Offers

One way of obfuscating recurring charges in a negative option offer while appearing to try to be fulfilling disclosure requirements is by writing out the recurring charges in words instead of numbers - especially when the amounts are surrounded by a fair amount of other text.

As an example, compare the following:

"To get your free kit just enter the information on the right, and I'll get your kit shipped out fast. Also for a limited time you can get the kit for free. After seven days, if you choose not to cancel you will be billed your first monthly membership fee of seventy two dollars and twenty one cents for the membership fee and then seventy two dollars and twenty one cents each month after that until you notify us that you would like to cancel by following our full procedures for canceling your membership as outlined in the section about canceling your membership."

versus:

"To get your free kit just enter the information on the right, and I'll get your kit shipped out fast. Also for a limited time you can get the kit for free. After seven days, if you choose not to cancel you will be billed your first monthly membership fee of $72.21 for the membership fee and then $72.21 each month after that until you notify us that you would like to cancel by following our full procedures for canceling your membership as outlined in the section about canceling your membership."

In fact, in true contract law, writing out numerals as words ONLY seems to be an uncommon practice and is NOT recommended.

According to Ken Adams, an expert on contract drafting and author of "A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting":

• "…numerals are easier to read than numbers expressed in words…" (see 10.1)
• "Drafters will often do the words-and-numerals thing when stating amounts of money: Acme shall pay Widgetco One Million Dollars ($1,000,000). The idea is that whereas numerals are easier to read than words, they’re more prone to typographic errors; adding words provides a safety net, as courts generally hold that if there’s a discrepancy between words and numerals, the words govern.But stating numbers in words and numerals distracts the reader and represents another possible source of inconsistency, yet adds little or nothing of value in return. If your proofreading isn’t up to making sure that when you say 12 you really mean 12, the words-and-numerals system isn’t going to save you."

The second quotation is part of the fuller article here:

Stating Amounts of Money