WhatsApp error 131042
Error 131042: Payment method problem
Error 131042 means Meta refused the message because of a billing problem on your WhatsApp Business Account. Paid messages keep failing until it is fixed, so check the payment method attached to the account in Meta’s billing settings.
- Meta’s description
- “There was an error related to your payment method.” Meta’s error codes, 5 October 2026
- Charged by Meta?
- No. Meta charges only for delivered messages, and this one was not delivered.
- Shown in Fliok analytics as
- “Billing / eligibility”
Common causes
- No payment method attached to the WhatsApp Business Account, or the attached one is not active.
- The credit line is used up, or a prepaid balance cannot cover the message.
- The account’s time zone or currency is not set, or the payment account was deleted or suspended.
How to fix it
- Open billing for the WhatsApp Business Account at Meta and check that a payment method is attached and active.
- Add funds, or raise the limit, if the balance or credit line has run out.
- Make sure the account’s time zone and currency are set.
What Fliok does about it
- Fliok raises one alert, “WhatsApp payment issue”, when Meta refuses for this reason, whether the refusal comes back on the send or later on the delivery status. While it is unread it is raised again at most once a day.
- The alert opens Fliok’s Meta payments page, which says what happened to paid messages and opens Meta’s payment page.
- It shows as “Billing / eligibility” in the analytics failure breakdown.
Meta sets and changes these codes. If anything here disagrees with Meta’s current reference, Meta is right.
Check the current balance and the payment method on Meta’s billing page for that account. Messages refused before the top-up stay failed; send them again.
Related codes
Other errors you may see
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