Add, remove, or update a payment method

This article describes how to manage payment methods, such as credit cards and bank accounts, on your self-serve (online) Cloud Billing account.

Each Cloud Billing account must have at least one valid form of payment attached to the billing account in order for the billing account to remain in good standing - even if your balance due every billing cycle is $0.00. Without a valid form of payment, a billing account will be suspended, disabling billing on the linked projects. When billing is disabled on a project, you cannot use the APIs, services, and other resources in the project until the linked Cloud Billing account is reactivated and billing re-enabled.

The payment methods described in this article apply only to self-serve, online Cloud Billing accounts,and not to accounts paid by invoice. If your Cloud Billing account is set up as an invoiced account and you would like to learn how to pay for your Google Cloud costs, visit Make a payment to an invoiced Cloud Billing account.

About Cloud Billing accounts and Google payments profiles

In Google Cloud, you can set up a self-serve, onlineCloud Billing accountand use it to define who pays for a given set of Google Cloud resources. You use Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles to control access to a Cloud Billing account.

A Cloud Billing account is connected to a Google payments profile. The Google payments center is a Google-level resource that includes the payment instruments to which costs are charged. These payment instruments pay for the charges you incur when you use Google Cloud resources. Since the Google payments center is a Google-level resource accessed and managed outside of Google Cloud, you manage the access permissions for your Google payments profile separately from the access permissions for a Cloud Billing account.

If you have the necessary permissions, you can interact with your Google payments profile from within the Google Cloud console (as described below) or at payments.google

Payment methods you can add to your Google payments profile

The payment methods available for your self-serve (online) Cloud Billing account depend on your currency and country. In many countries, you can set up acredit card, debit card, or bank account as a primary payment method.

You can also set up a backup credit or debit card to act as a safety net; if your primary payment method fails, we'll charge your costs to your backup payment method. This ensures that your Google APIs and cloud services keep running. Note that you cannot set up a bank account as a backup payment method. For more information about adding a backup payment method, see Add a payment methodon this page.

Bank account payments (also known as direct debit or ACH) allow you to specify a bank account to use as the primary funding source for your account. Your account isn't active until you verify your bank account. Verification of your bank account may take up to 10 days. For information about instant bank verification, seeVerify your bank account.

Be aware of the following important points:

• By default,payments are processed automaticallyso you don't have to worry that your service will stop running if you forget to make a payment. If you prefer to make a payment in advance, you can do so at any time.
  • For more information on making advance payments, see Make a manual payment or pay early.
  • For information about when you'll be billed, see Find out your Cloud Billing account type and charging cycle.
• If you entered your Cloud Billing account information recently, it may take a few hours for your account to become active.If you have a problem finding the verification email or verifying your account, see Verify your email address.
• If your Google Cloud services are currently restricted, you can enable them by making a manual payment or paying early.

Supported payment methods

Credit and debit cards

• American Express
• MasterCard
• Visa
• Discover (U.S. only)
• JCB (Japan and U.S. only)
• Visa Electron (Outside the U.S. only)
• Elo credit cards (Brazil only; We don't allow you to add Elo debit cards)
• Debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo
• Boleto bancário (in Brazil) is available as abackuppayment method for Google Cloud accounts. You can create up to three payments per day using boleto as the form of payment.

The types of cards Google services lets you add to payments profiles vary by location and by product.

Bank account

If supported in your country, you can add a bank account to payments.google to pay your Cloud Billing account.

Depending on your country, you might have to accept adirect debit mandate, which gives Google permission to charge your bank account.

Unsupported payment methods

• Debit cards that require two-factor authentication are not accepted for payment.
• Prepaid cards and Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) are not accepted for payment.
• Bank accounts that only support disbursements are not accepted for payment.
• Payment via wire transfer isnotsupported for monthly charge or threshold billing accounts. You may pay with a bank account by adding it as a payment method, if supported in your country.
• Starting July 1, 2022, PayPal is not supported for payments.

For more payment options, consider working with a local reseller, who might be able to accept more forms of payment, or help you switch to invoiced billing.Find a list of resellers on theGoogle partners page.

Permissions required to manage payment methods

To manage the payment methods in the Google payments profile that is linked to your Cloud Billing account, you need permissions on both the Cloud Billing account and the Google payments profile.

• On the Cloud Billing account, you must be a Billing Account Administrator.
• On the Google payments profile, you must be an admin or full-access payments profile user.

Add a payment method

You can add additional payment methods to your Cloud Billing account at any time.

To add a payment method, complete the following steps:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment methodspage.

   Go to the Payment methods page

2. At the prompt,choose the Cloud Billing account you want to update.

3. In thePayment methodpage, clickAdd payment method.The types of payment methods available to you are based on your business address and the currency of your Cloud Billing account.

4. Enter your payment information and clickSave.

5. Optional: If you added an additional credit or debit card to use as a backup payment method, after you save the payment method, set that card as a backup (note that a bank accountcannotbe used as abackuppayment method):

   1. In thepayment method card,you will see adrop-down in the bottom-left of the card(it might displayNoneby default).
   2. Expand the drop-down, and selectBackup.

If your new payment method is a U.S. bank account, you can instantly verify your bank account rather than use the challenge deposit which takes 2-5 days. For information about challenge deposits and instant bank verification, see Verify your bank account.

If your new payment method is a non-US bank account, you might need to accept adirect debit mandate,which authorizes Google to charge your bank account. You can download a copy of your mandate by returning to thePayment method page and clickingDownload mandatenext to your bank account.

If you receive an error message when you attempt to set up or change a payment method, see A billing account change wasn't allowed for more information.

Update or remove payment methods

You might want to update your payment information or to set a credit or debit card as a backup payment method.

A backup payment method is a credit card or debit card that you designate to be used if your primary payment method fails. With a backup payment method, if your primary payment method is ever declined when processing a payment, we'll automatically try to charge the payment to your backup method instead. This helps ensure that your service runs uninterrupted. A backup credit card will be charged only if your primary form of payment doesn't work.

When updating your payment method, keep in mind:

• You can edit all the details for your payment method, except for the credit card or bank account number.
• Your Cloud Billing account always needs at least one payment method on file. If you want to remove a payment method, you should add a new payment method first.
• If your credit card has expired and you receive a new credit card with the same account number and an updated expiration date and CVV number, just update your card details. You don't need to add it as a new payment method.
• If the number of your credit card or bank account has changed, we consider it a new credit card or bank account. You'll need to add it as a new payment method. After you add the new payment method, you can remove the outdated payment method.

Update your payment method:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment methodpage.

   Go to the Payment method page

2. At the prompt,choose the Cloud Billing account you want to manage.

3. On thePayment methodpage do any of the following:

   • Toupdate your credit/debit card informationsuch as the expiration date or the billing address, do the following:

     1. Locate the payment method you want to update, clickEditor Fix,and make the updates.
     2. When you are finished, clickUpdate.

   • Tochangewhich payment method is theprimary payment method:

     1. First, you need more than one payment method on your account before you can change which one is the primary payment method. If needed, add a second payment method.
     2. In the payment method info card for thenon-primary payment method,you will see adrop-down in the bottom-left of the card(it might displayNoneorBackup).
     3. Expand the drop-down, and selectPrimary.The payment method previously marked asPrimarywill be marked asNone,and the payment method info cards will shuffle on the page, so that thePrimary payment method is displayed first.
     4. Optionally, you might want to set the method previously marked as Primaryto be aBackuppayment method.

Remove a payment method

Before you attempt to remove a payment method, keep in mind the following requirements:

• Your Cloud Billing account always needs at least one payment method on file. If you have only one payment method on the Google payments profile that is linked to your Cloud Billing account, you won't be able to remove it. If you want to remove a payment method, you need to add another payment method first.
• You cannot remove a payment method marked as thePrimarymethod of payment. If the payment method you want to remove is thePrimary method of payment, first select a different payment method to be thePrimarymethod, and then you can remove the non-primary payment method.
• Your Cloud Billing account must have a valid payment method at all times. If you have an invalid payment method and you are unable to replace a failing payment method with a different, valid payment method, you can disable Cloud Billing on your project. However, you should be aware that even when Cloud Billing is disabled, your credit card information is retained on your account and Google Cloud is unable to remove it. Credit card information is retained for reporting and auditing purposes only.

Toremove a payment method,do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment methodpage.

   Go to the Payment method page

2. At the prompt,choose the Cloud Billing account you want to manage.

3. On thePayment methodpage, to remove a payment method, locate the payment method info card displaying the payment method you want to remove, then clickRemove.

Add a new payment method after your account has been suspended

If your account was suspended because of an invalid payment method, you need to add a valid payment method before your account can be reactivated.

To add a payment method:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theManage billing accountspage.

   Manage billing accounts page.

   By default, when you first access the list of Cloud Billing accounts, the account list is filtered to displayActiveaccounts.

2. In thefilter_list Filterrow, clear theStatus: Activefilter.

   All Cloud Billing accounts are displayed.

3. Clickthe nameof the suspended billing account to access all of the account information for the Cloud Billing account.

4. In theBillingmenu, in thePaymentssection clickPayment method.

5. In thePayment methodpage, clickAdd payment method.The types of payment methods available to you are based on your business address and your account's currency.

6. Enter your payment information and clickSave.

7. After you save the new payment method, set that payment method asPrimary:

   1. In the payment method card, you will see adrop-down in the bottom-left of the card(it might displayNoneby default).
   2. Expand the drop-down, and selectPrimary.

8. To remove the invalid payment method, locate the info card displaying the payment method you want to remove, then clickRemove.

If your new payment method is a U.S. bank account, you can instantly verify your bank account rather than use the challenge deposit which takes 2-5 days. For information about challenge deposits and instant bank verification, seeVerify your bank account.

Resolve errors when attempting to add or update a payment method

When you are adding a form of payment, you might receive an error such as:

• Your card does not support automatic recurring payments.
  or
• General decline of the card. No other information was provided by the issuing bank.

You might encounter these errors if you are using a debit card that requires two-factor authentication to complete an online transaction (for example, entry of a one-time password sent by your bank directly to you using SMS).

Two-factor authentication requires you to be in-session at the time of the transaction. Cards that require you to be in-session are not usable for subscriptions or similar recurring automatic transactions.

When you enter a debit card as your form of payment, Google checks whether your issuing bank approves subscriptions or recurring payments using that card. If your bank does not approve, this card will not work for automatic recurring payments.

If you receive an error such asYour card does not support automatic recurring paymentsorGeneral decline of the card,please select a different form of payment, consider working with a local reseller, who might be able to accept more forms of payment, or help you switch toinvoiced billing. Find a list of resellers on theGoogle partners page.

You can also contact Cloud Billing Support for help.

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