If your paid membership is declined, we'll let you know via email and you'll get a payment failure notification so that you can restore your membership.
After getting this email:
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You’ll have 3 days to fix the issue before losing access to your paid membership benefits. During this 3 day period, we will regularly re-attempt to process your monthly payment.
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If after 3 days, we still can't successfully charge you, your subscription will enter a "Paused" state for 30 days. During this paused state, we'll periodically try to process a payment to restore your membership access, unless you cancel your subscription.
If you update your payment info during this time, your membership should be automatically restored during our next attempt to charge your payment method. If you don't want to wait for the system to retry, you can cancel your subscription and re-sign up to gain access right away.
Fix billing issues with a Premium membership
If you believe you got charged for a purchase and membership but can't access your benefits, check out this article.
Troubleshoot a YouTube charge
Click the button below to troubleshoot or learn about your YouTube bill.
If your payment for a purchase and membership was declined, you most likely need to fix an issue with your payment method. See our tips for how to fix these issues below.
Fix a declined payment
Your monthly membership payment may have been declined due to an issue with your card or other form of payment. Once you fix any payment issues, the system will automatically try to charge you again and restore your access to your membership benefits.
Make sure your card info is up to date
Payments are often unsuccessful due to an expired credit card or an incorrect billing address. To update this info:
- If you're on a computer, go to youtube.com/paid_memberships . If you're on the YouTube mobile app, click your profile picture
Purchases and memberships.
- Click the
next to the message "Current payment method could not be processed".
- Click Update payment method.
We recommend that you check all of your card info to make sure it's correct, including the expiration date. The zip code listed for your payment method should also match the zip code of the current billing address of your card.
If your payment method on file can no longer be used, add or choose another payment method.
Submit any requested info
If you see an error message requesting that you submit more info to Google, follow the instructions to submit those details. For example, you may need to verify your identity on Google Pay before you can make a purchase using your Google Account.
You can also check Google Pay at any time for alerts or requests to fix account issues.
Check you have enough funds for the purchase
Sometimes a transaction is declined because of insufficient funds. Check your account to make sure you have enough to complete the purchase.
Get in touch with your bank or card issuer
Your card may have specific restrictions that cause your payment to be unsuccessful. Get in touch with the bank or company that issued your card to ask about the transaction.
Try to pay with a different payment method
You can try switching to another form of payment by following these steps:
- If you’re on a computer, go to youtube.com/paid_memberships. If you’re in the YouTube mobile app, click your profile picture
- Click the
icon next to the message "Current payment method could not be processed".
- Click Update payment method.
- Select a different payment method.
Fix issues with accessing benefits after being charged
If you’ve made a purchase but don’t have access to what you bought, it’s possible the charge is still being processed. You also may not have access if the charge was declined.
About authorization holds and pending transactions
Pending charges on Google Pay or your card statement are authorization holds that haven’t been processed yet.
It’s possible to see a few pending charges for the same subscription payment, as each pending charge represents an authorization attempt. If a charge is "Pending" instead of processed, it hasn't been charged to you, and any unsuccessful card authorization attempts for a payment will drop off from your statements on their own and won't be billed to you.
How to check a pending charge
- Check your billing statement or Google Pay. If you click into the transaction on Google Pay, you should see the purchase listed as a "Pending" charge rather than completed.
- Search for an email receipt. If a charge is processed, you'll get an email receipt from YouTube.
- You can also check Google Pay at any time for alerts or requests to fix account issues. For example, you may need to verify your identity on Google Pay before you can purchase using your Google Account. If there aren't any alerts on Google Pay, this pending charge should go through within 1-14 business days, or disappear when the payment is declined. If you're still seeing a pending charge after this time, get in touch with your payment provider.