If you're trying to make a purchase on YouTube but your payment is declined or won't go through, identify your issue below and try the suggested steps. If you're looking for help with a declined charge for your monthly membership payment, learn how to troubleshoot billing or access issues.
Fix credit and debit card issues
There are some common errors messages that you may see for credit and debit cards, which include:
- 'Card Declined'
- 'Correct this card info or try a different card'
- 'Card Expired'
- 'Please verify your card info and try again'
If you are seeing one of these error messages, or something similar, try the following:
Make sure that your card information is up to date
Payments often fail due to an expired credit card or an incorrect billing address. You can see which payment methods you have stored in Google Pay and when they expire. You can also click 'Edit' on any listed payment method to see if your postal code matches your billing address.
If you have an expired payment method, follow these steps to remove it and then add a new payment method. Once you've added a new payment method or updated your postal code, try your purchase again.
Submit any requested information
If you see an error message requesting that you submit additional information to Google, please follow the instructions to submit those details. For example, you may need to verify your identity on Google Pay before you can purchase anything using your Google Account.
You can also check Google Pay at any time for alerts or requests to fix account issues.
Check that you have enough funds for the purchase
Sometimes a transaction is declined because of insufficient funds. Check your account to make sure that you have enough to complete the purchase.
Note: When you sign up for a free trial, you may see an authorisation hold on your account. This hold is to ensure that your payment method is valid, and it will be automatically removed by your bank and refunded after a short time. However, your sign-up may fail if you don't have the hold amount in your account. You can learn more about authorisation holds here.
Contact your bank or card issuer
Your card may have specific restrictions that are causing your payment to fail. Contact the bank or company that issued your card to ask about the transaction and see if they know the reason for the decline.
If you're outside the US, you will also need to make sure that your card and bank support international transactions. Depending on your country, you may also need to contact your bank to authorise your card's use for online transactions.
Try to pay with a different payment method
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If the first payment method that you tried to use didn't work, you can try another method. Go back to the purchase screen and select, or add, another payment method.
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If you see a greyed-out payment method while making a purchase on YouTube, that payment method isn't valid for that particular purchase. Use a different payment method to complete your purchase.
Tip: If you are still having trouble using your payment method to purchase on YouTube, you can consider paying with Google Play balance (if it's available in your country). You can find which countries have Google Play balance available here.
First, add to your Google Play balance and then select the 'Google Play Balance' option as your payment method. You can also read more about redeeming your Google Play balance.
Issues related to other forms of payment (such as mobile provider billing)
See our tips below for troubleshooting issues paying with direct operator billing or another supported payment method.
Mobile provider billing (direct operator billing)
Other payment methods
- We saw a suspicious transaction on your payments profile.
- We need a little more information to protect your account against fraud.
- We need a little more information to comply with EU law (customers from European Union member states only).
Check Google Pay for any alerts or requests to fix account issues. For example, you may need to verify your identity on Google Pay before being able to purchase using your Google Account. If there are no active alerts or requests, make sure that your name, address and payment information are up to date.
Next steps
Once you have updated your payment information, please try your purchase again. We will not attempt to automatically recharge you.