This document explains how to manage your payment methods for your self-serveCloud Billing account. Specifically, it explains how you can add, remove, orupdate credit cards and bank accounts when, for example, your needs change or tofix payment errors.

Each Cloud Billing account must have at least one valid form ofpayment attached to the billing account for the billing account toremain in good standing, even if your balance due every billing cycle is $0.00.Without a valid form of payment, your billing account will be suspended,disabling billing on thelinked projects.When billing is disabled on a project, you can't use the APIs, services, andother resources in the project until the linked Cloud Billingaccount isreactivated and billing is re-enabled.

The payment methods described in this document apply only toself-serve, online Cloud Billing accounts. If yourCloud Billing account is set up as an invoiced account and you want tolearn how to pay for your Google Cloud costs, visitMake 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, online Cloud Billingaccount and use it to define who pays for a given set of Google Cloudresources. You use Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles tocontrol access to a Cloud Billing account.

A Cloud Billing account is connected to aGoogle payments profile.The Google payments center is a Google-level resource that includes thepayment methods that costs are charged to. These payment instruments payfor the charges you incur when you use Google Cloud resources. Since theGoogle payments center is a Google-level resource accessed and managedoutside of Google Cloud, you manage theaccess permissions for your Google payments profile separately from theaccess permissions for a Cloud Billing account.

If you have the necessary permissions, you can interact with yourGoogle payments profile from within the Google Cloud console (as describedin the following figure) or atGoogle payments center

Payment methods you can add to your Google payments profile

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

You can also set up a backup credit or debit card to act as a safety net; ifyour primary payment method fails, we'll charge your costs to your backuppayment method. This ensures that your Google APIs and cloud services keeprunning. Note that you can't set up a bank account as a backup payment method.For more information about adding a backup payment method, seeAdd a payment method on this page.

Bank account payments (also known as direct debit or ACH) let you specify abank account to use as the primary funding source for your account. Your accountisn't active until you verify your bank account. Verification of your bankaccount 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 processedautomatically, so you don't have toworry that your service will stop running if you forget to make a payment. Ifyou prefer to make a payment in advance, you can do so at any time.
  • For more information on making advance payments, seeMake a manual payment or pay early.
  • For information about when you'll be billed, seeFind 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 aproblem finding the verification email or verifying your account, seeVerify your email address.
• If your Google Cloud services are restricted, you can enable them bymaking a manual payment or paying early.

Supported payment methods

The following sections list the supported payment methods that you can use inGoogle Cloud.

Credit and debit cards

Warning: (For customers in India) Due to Reserve Bank of India (RBI)regulations, your bank might decline automatic card charges for recurringpayments for your Google Cloud usage. To avoid interruptions in service,if your automatic payments are being declined, we recommend that you make amanual payment for your usage.

• American Express
• MasterCard
• Visa
• Discover (US only)
• JCB (Japan and US only)
• Visa Electron (Outside the US 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 (Brazil) is available as abackup payment method for Google Cloud accounts. You cancreate up to three payments per day using boleto as the form of payment.

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

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

Bank account

If supported in your country,you can add a bank account toGoogle payments center to pay yourCloud Billing account.

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

Note: It can take up to five business days for your bank account payment to beprocessed successfully.

Unsupported payment methods

• Debit cards thatrequire two-factor authentication aren't accepted for payment.
• Prepaid cards and Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) aren't accepted forpayment.
• Bank accounts that only support disbursements aren't accepted forpayment.
• Payment using wire transferisn't supported formonthly charge or threshold billing accounts.You may pay with a bank account by adding it as a payment method,if supported in your country.
• PayPal isn't 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 toinvoiced billing. Find a list ofresellers on theGoogle partners page.

Prepayment requirements

Certain types of payment methods require a prepayment. The prepayment amountdiffers by country and currency. Prepayments will be refunded if unused by thetime of account closure.

To pay your Cloud Billing prepayment amount, go to the payment overviewfor your Cloud Billing account:

1. Sign in to your Cloud Billing account in the Google Cloud console.

   Sign in to your Cloud Billing account

2. At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account that requires theprepayment. TheOverview page opens for the selected billing account.

3. On the BillingOverview page, click thePayment overview tab.

4. On thePrepayment pending banner, clickPay now.

Permissions required to manage payment methods

To manage the payment methods in the Google payments profile that's linkedto your Cloud Billing account, you need permissions on both theCloud Billing account and the Google payments profile.

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

Add a payment method

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

To add a payment method, complete the following steps:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment method page.

   Go to the Payment method page

2. At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account that you want toupdate.

3. On thePayment method page, clickAdd payment method. The types ofpayment methods available to you are based on your business address andthe currency of your Cloud Billing account.

4. Enter your payment information, and then clickSave.

5. Optional: If you added an additional credit or debit card to use as abackup payment method, after you save the payment method, set that card asa backup. Bank accounts can't be used as a backup payment method.

   1. In thepayment method card, you see a list in the bottom-left of thecard (the list might displayNone by default).
   2. Expand the list, and then selectBackup.

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

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

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

Update or remove payment methods

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

A backup payment method is a credit card or debit card that you designate to beused if your primary payment method fails. With a backup payment method, if yourprimary payment method is declined when processing a payment, we'llautomatically try to charge the payment to your backup method instead. Thishelps ensure that your service runs uninterrupted. A backup credit card will becharged only if your primary form of payment doesn't work.

Note: A bank account can't be used as a backup payment method.

Before updating your payment method, consider the following:

• You can edit all the details for your payment method, except for the creditcard or bank account number.
• Your Cloud Billing account always needs at least one payment methodon file. If you want to remove a payment method, add a newpayment method first.
• If your credit card has expired and you receive a new credit card with thesame account number and an updated expiration date and CVV number, justupdate 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 considerit a new credit card or bank account. You'll need to add it as a new paymentmethod. After you add the new payment method, you can remove the outdatedpayment method.

Update your payment method

To update your payment method, complete the following steps:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment method page.

   Go to the Payment method page

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

3. On thePayment method page do any of the following:

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

     1. Locate the payment method you want to update, clickEdit orFix, and then make the updates.
     2. When you are finished, clickUpdate.

   • To change which payment method is the primary payment method:

     1. First, you need more than one payment method on your accountbefore you can change which one is the primary payment method. Ifneeded, add a second payment method.
     2. In thepayment method info card for thenon-primary paymentmethod, you see a list in the bottom-left of the card (it mightdisplayNone orBackup).
     3. Expand the list, and then selectPrimary. The payment methodpreviously marked asPrimary will be marked asNone, and thepayment 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 asPrimary to be aBackup payment method.
     Note: A bank account can't be used as a backup payment method.

Remove a payment method

Before you try to remove a payment method, keep in mind the followingrequirements:

• Your Cloud Billing account always needs at least onepayment method on file. If you have only one payment method on theGoogle payments profile that's linked to your Cloud Billingaccount, you can't remove it. If you want to remove a paymentmethod, you need to add another payment method first.
• You can't remove a payment method marked as thePrimary methodof payment. If the payment method you want to remove is thePrimarymethod of payment, firstselect a different payment method to be thePrimary method,and then you can remove the non-primary payment method.
• Your Cloud Billing account must have a valid payment method at alltimes. If you have an invalid payment method and you can't replacea failing payment method with a different, valid payment method, you candisable Cloud Billing on your project.Be aware that even when Cloud Billing isdisabled, your credit card information is retained on your account andGoogle Cloud can't remove it. Credit card information isretained for reporting and auditing purposes only.

To remove a payment method, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thePayment method page.

   Go to the Payment method page

2. At the prompt, choose the Cloud Billing account that you want toupdate.

3. On thePayment method page, to remove a payment method, locate thepayment method info card displaying the payment method that you want toremove. Then, clickRemove.

Note: If you want to remove your form of payment from potentially being used onother Google services, such as the Play store, you can follow the steps forremoving a payment method on Google payments.As is the case with Google Cloud, this doesn't remove your paymentinformation from your Cloud Billing account as it's kept forauditing 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 toadd 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 accounts page.

   Manage billing accounts page.

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

2. In thefilter_listFilter row, clear theStatus: Active filter.

   All Cloud Billing accounts are displayed.

3. Click thename of the suspended billing account to access all of theaccount information for the Cloud Billing account.

4. In theBilling menu, in thePayments section, clickPayment method.

5. On thePayment method page, clickAdd payment method. The types ofpayment methods available to you are based on your business address andyour account's currency.

6. Enter your payment information, and then clickSave.

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

   1. In the payment method card, you see a list in the bottom-left of the card(it might displayNone by default).
   2. Expand the list, and then selectPrimary.

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

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

Resolve errors when adding or updating a payment method

When you're 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 theissuing bank.

You might encounter these errors if you're using a debit card that requires2-step verification to complete an online transaction (for example, entryof a one-time password sent by your bank directly to you using SMS).

2-step verification requires you to be in-session at the time of thetransaction. Cards that require you to be in-session can't be used forsubscriptions or similar recurring automatic transactions.

When you enter a debit card as your form of payment, Google checkswhether your issuing bank approves subscriptions or recurring payments usingthat card. If your bank doesn't approve, this card won't work for automaticrecurring payments.

If you receive an error such asYour card does not support automaticrecurring payments orGeneral decline of the card, select a differentform of payment or consider working with a local reseller who might be able toaccept more forms of payment, or help you switch toinvoiced billing.Find a list of resellers on theGoogle partners page.

You can also contactCloud Billing Support for help.

Try it for yourself

If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

Get started for free