Having a LinkedIn Premium account can provide many benefits for your professional networking and career development. However, due to financial constraints or other reasons, you may need to temporarily suspend your premium membership. Fortunately, LinkedIn makes it relatively straightforward to suspend and later unsuspend your premium account.
Why You Might Want to Suspend Your LinkedIn Premium
There are a few common reasons why you may need to suspend your LinkedIn Premium subscription for a period of time:
- Financial constraints – If you are facing budget cuts or tightened finances, suspending your premium membership can help save money each month.
- Changed career focus – If you are switching industries or changing career directions, you may not need the full benefits of Premium for a little while.
- Prolonged travel/time away – If you will be traveling, on leave from your job, or otherwise less active on LinkedIn for an extended period, you may want to suspend your membership until you are regularly using the platform again.
- Dissatisfaction with features – You may be unhappy with the Premium features or feel you are not getting enough value for the monthly cost. Suspending it can give you time to evaluate if you want to renew later.
Suspending during these situations allows you to take a break without losing your account history and connections. You can then unsuspend when you are ready to resume using Premium again.
How to Temporarily Suspend Your LinkedIn Premium Subscription
Suspending your Premium subscription is simple to do through the LinkedIn website:
- Log into your LinkedIn account and go to your homepage. Click on the “Me” icon at the top of your homepage.
- From the dropdown menu, select “Settings & Privacy”.
- On the “Settings & Privacy” page, click on the “Account” tab at the top of the page.
- In the “Products” section, click on “Manage” next to your LinkedIn Premium subscription.
- On the “Premium” page, click the button to “Suspend membership”.
- On the pop-up, select the reason you are suspending and click “Confirm” to complete suspending your membership.
Your Premium membership will immediately be suspended. You will lose access to Premium features, but remain an active regular LinkedIn member.
What Happens When You Suspend Premium
Here is what to expect after suspending your LinkedIn Premium subscription:
- You will immediately lose access to all Premium features. This includes things like InMail messaging, profile highlighting, expanded search filters, data insights, and post boosting.
- Your profile badge will change from “Premium” back to “Basic” account status.
- You can still actively use LinkedIn, just without Premium capabilities. You maintain your same profile and connections.
- LinkedIn will continue trying to bill your payment method on file on your regular billing date. You will not be charged anymore since Premium is suspended, but you may still get emails trying to collect payment.
- Premium remains suspended indefinitely until you unsuspend your membership.
How to Unsuspend Your LinkedIn Premium Subscription
When you are ready to activate Premium again, unsuspending your account is quick and easy:
- Log into your LinkedIn account and go to your homepage. Click on the “Me” icon.
- From the dropdown menu, select “Settings & Privacy”.
- On the “Settings & Privacy” page, click the “Account” tab.
- In the “Products” section, click “Manage” next to the Premium membership listing.
- On the Premium page, click the button to “Reactive membership”.
- Check that your billing information is up to date if needed. Then click “Confirm” to reactivate Premium.
Your Premium membership will instantly be restored! You will regain access to all Premium features and your profile badge will change back to Premium status.
What Happens When You Unsuspend Premium
Here is what you can expect after unsuspending your LinkedIn Premium subscription:
- You immediately regain access to all Premium features.
- Your profile badge will again display “Premium”.
- You will be billed on your next billing date. Check your payment method is up to date first if needed.
- You can continue using Premium until you suspend or cancel again.
Changing Billing Date When Unsuspending
LinkedIn will normally reactivate your account on the same monthly billing date you had previously. However, you can request to change your billing date when you reactivate Premium if needed:
- When unsuspending Premium, select “Change billing date” instead of just confirming.
- On the pop-up, choose your new billing date from the calendar picker.
- Enter any additional information needed and confirm the new date.
- Premium will be unsuspended immediately, with billing now set for the new date going forward.
This can be helpful if you want your new Premium subscription to align with a certain pay day each month or other billing cycle preferences. Just contact LinkedIn customer support if you need any assistance changing dates.
Avoiding Unintended Charges When Suspending
Since suspending Premium simply pauses your billing instead of fully canceling, it can lead to accidental charges if not managed properly:
- If a payment method remains on file, LinkedIn may continue attempting to bill it on your set dates, even with Premium suspended.
- If you do not fully cancel the auto-renewal, your membership can become active again when a payment processes.
- Removing your payment method before suspending can help avoid unintended charges.
To prevent accidental reactivation or billing, be sure to:
- Delete any payment methods on file with LinkedIn first.
- Turn off auto-renewal for your Premium subscription.
- Review emails around billing dates to be sure no payment processed.
With payment details removed and auto-renewal off, suspending Premium will safely pause your membership without risk of being unintentionally charged or renewed. You can then re-add payment when you are ready to unsuspend.
Canceling LinkedIn Premium Instead of Suspending
Rather than suspending your Premium membership, you also have the option to fully cancel it. Canceling will completely terminate your subscription:
- Your access to all Premium features will stop.
- You will become a regular Basic member with a free account.
- Your billing and Premium membership will be permanently ended.
- You would have to purchase a new Premium subscription to reactivate.
If you think you may want to use Premium again in the future, suspending is typically better than canceling. But if you are sure you are done with Premium for the foreseeable future, cancellation may be the right choice to permanently terminate your membership.
Here is how to fully cancel your LinkedIn Premium subscription if desired:
- Go to your account Settings & Privacy page.
- Click “Manage” next to your Premium subscription.
- On the Premium page, click the button to “Cancel membership”.
- Select reason for canceling and confirm cancellation.
Your Premium access will immediately end. You will no longer be billed any future payments either.
Troubleshooting Issues Unsuspending Premium
In most cases, you can quickly unsuspend Premium with just a few clicks. But occasionally issues may arise that prevent reactivating your account. Here are some steps to try resolving problems unsuspending Premium:
- Update billing info – Make sure the payment method on file is current and has not expired.
- Contact customer support – LinkedIn’s help center can assist with troubleshooting and resolve many issues.
- Review account standing – Very overdue accounts can sometimes need to be brought current before Premium can be restored.
- Retry unsuspending – Often just trying to reactivate again after some time resolves transient glitches.
With a combination of updating billing details, contacting customer service, and retrying the process, you can usually get Premium successfully unsuspended. Be sure to resolve any outstanding payment issues first.
FAQs About Suspending and Unsuspending LinkedIn Premium
Is there a fee to suspend my Premium subscription?
No, LinkedIn does not charge any fee to suspend or unsuspend Premium. You can pause and reactivate your membership at no cost.
Can I get a refund for unused time if I suspend partway through a billing period?
Unfortunately refunds are not provided for any partial months remaining when you suspend Premium. You will forfeit the rest of that billing cycle.
How long can I leave Premium suspended before unsuspending?
You can keep your Premium membership suspended indefinitely. Your account history will remain intact no matter how long you leave it suspended.
What happens if I changed jobs while Premium was suspended?
Your Premium subscription will remain fully intact. You can update your profile and job details as normal when you reactivate the membership.
Will my premium badge and profile branding remain visible when suspended?
No, your profile will revert to a free Basic account look without the Premium branding while your membership is suspended.
Can I still message my network connections if I suspend Premium?
You can still message basic connections for free. But you will lose access to Premium InMail messaging until you unsuspend your account again.
Conclusion
Suspending your LinkedIn Premium subscription can be a simple and practical way to put your membership on hold during periods when you may not fully utilize premium features. With a few clicks, you can easily suspend your account, temporarily losing access to Premium perks. Whenever you are ready to reactivate, unsuspending your membership is fast and straightforward. Just be sure to remove any billing details on file first to avoid unintended charges. With the flexibility to pause Premium as needed, you can better manage periods of tighter budget or changed career focus when you may not get the full value from a paid membership. Overall, suspending and unsuspending provides an excellent option for controlling your Premium costs without losing your account entirely.