Add, remove, or update a payment method

Overview

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 invoicing 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.

In Google Cloud, you set up a Cloud Billing account and 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.com

Payment methods you can add to your 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 a credit 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 method, below.

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, see Verify your bank account.

You should be aware of the following important points:

• By default, payments are processed automatically so 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.
  • 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.

Supported payment methods

Credit and debit cards

Effective April 1, 2021, for customers in India: Due to new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations, your bank might begin declining automatic card charges for recurring payments for your Google Cloud usage. To avoid interruptions in service, if your automatic payments are being declined, we recommend that you make a manual payment for your usage.

• 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

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

Note: You might notice temporary authorizations on your card account when using a credit or debit card.

Bank account

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

PayPal

We accept PayPal as a payment method, if supported in your country.

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 is not supported 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.

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:

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to the Manage Billing Accounts page.

   Go to Manage Billing Accounts page

2. Select the name of the billing account that you want to manage.

3. In the Billing navigation menu, click Payment method.

4. In the Payment method page, click Add payment method. The types of payment methods available to you are based on your business address and the currency of your Cloud Billing account.

5. Enter your payment information and click Save.

6. 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 account cannot be used as a backup payment method.

   1. In the payment method card, you will see a drop-down in the bottom-left of the card (it might display None by default).
   2. Expand the drop-down, and select Backup.

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 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.

Note: A bank account cannot be used as a backup payment method.

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 the Manage Billing Accounts page.

   Go to Manage Billing Accounts page

2. Select the name of the billing account that you want to manage.

3. In the Billing navigation menu, click Payment method, and then do any of the following:

   • To update your credit/debit card information such as the expiration date or the billing address, do the following:

     1. Locate the payment method you want to update, click Edit or Fix, and make the updates.
     2. When you are finished, click Update.

   • To change which payment method is the primary 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 the non-primary payment method, you will see a drop-down in the bottom-left of the card (it might display None or Backup).
     3. Expand the drop-down, and select Primary. The payment method previously marked as Primary will be marked as None, and the payment method info cards will shuffle on the page, so that the Primary payment method is displayed first.
     4. Optionally, you might want to set the method previously marked as Primary to be a Backup payment method.
        Note: A bank account cannot be used as a backup payment 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 the Primary method of payment. If the payment method you want to remove is the Primary method of payment, first select a different payment method to be the Primary method, 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.

To remove a payment method, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to the Manage Billing Accounts page.

   Go to Manage Billing Accounts page

2. Select the name of the billing account that you want to manage.

3. In the Billing navigation menu, click Payment method.

4. To remove a payment method, locate the payment method info card displaying the payment method you want to remove, then click Remove.

Key Point: If you want to remove your form of payment from potentially being used on other Google services, such as the Play store, you can follow the steps for Deleting a payment method on Payments. As is the case with Google Cloud, this doesn't remove your payment information from your Cloud Billing account as that is kept for auditing purposes.

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 Cloud Console, go to the Manage billing accounts page.

   Manage billing accounts page.

2. Click Show active accounts only then select Show all accounts.

3. Click the name of the suspended billing account.

4. In the menu, click Payment method.

5. In the Payment method page, click Add 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 click Save.

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

   1. In the payment method card, you will see a drop-down in the bottom-left of the card (it might display None by default).
   2. Expand the drop-down, and select Primary.

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

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.

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 via 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 as Your card does not support automatic recurring payments or General decline of the card, please select a different form of payment. You can also contact Cloud Billing Support for help.

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