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Billing guide · October 2026

How to add a payment method for WhatsApp Business and Meta ads

Meta bills your business directly for WhatsApp messages and for ads. Without a working payment method on Meta, paid messages are refused and ads stop. Here is where to add it, step by step.

Steps for WhatsAppSteps for Meta ads

Every step checked against Meta’s own help pages on 12 October 2026.

Why Meta needs it

Meta bills you directly

Meta charges for each message it delivers: marketing, utility and authentication templates, and replies sent through the API after each number's first 1,000 a month. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account directly. Fliok adds no markup and never collects these charges.

What each message costs in India

What happens when it is missing

  • Template messages are refusedBroadcasts, reminders and one-time passcodes fail with Meta's error 131042, “There was an error related to your payment method.”
  • Replies stop after the free onesMeta delivers a number's first 1,000 service messages a month with no payment method, then stops delivering them.
  • Ads are pausedWhen an ad account's payment fails, Meta pauses its ads and disables the ad account until the amount due is paid.
  • Nothing is charged for a refused messageA message Meta refuses for payment is normally not delivered and not charged. It has to be sent again once the payment method works.

Meta’s WhatsApp pricing pageMeta’s error code referenceMeta’s help page on failed ad payments

WhatsApp Business API

Add a payment method for WhatsApp

You add it on Meta, in Billing & payments, with your own Facebook login. It belongs to your WhatsApp Business account, not to the platform you send from.

  1. 01

    Sign in to Meta as someone who may change billing

    Use the Facebook login of someone Meta allows to change billing. Who that is, is under these steps.

  2. 02

    Open the account's payment settings

    In Fliok, the Meta payments page has a button that opens Meta's billing for your WhatsApp Business account. On Meta itself the way in is WhatsApp Manager, your account's three-dot menu, Manage account settings, the Settings tab, Payment settings.

  3. 03

    Choose Add payment method

    Meta takes cards for WhatsApp charges (its help page names Visa and Mastercard). In India, an account that has not set up a payment method yet can add funds by UPI instead. Use what Meta's screen offers you and follow it through.

  4. 04

    Add your business details

    Meta then asks for your business information, and may ask for tax details, before it saves the payment method.

  5. 05

    Send one paid message and check

    Send a template message. In Fliok, Meta payments shows “Working” once Meta has charged for a message.

Who can do it

Meta lets a person add it only if they have the “Manage WhatsApp account” permission on the WhatsApp Business account; whoever owns the account has it automatically. Adding a card to the business in Billing & payments needs full control of the business portfolio, or finance access.

Meta’s steps for adding a cardUsing a card already on the business

In India: UPI or a card

Meta gives a WhatsApp Business account in India two ways to pay, and the first one you use decides how the account is billed.

  • Add funds by UPI: prepaidThe account pays from a balance you add in Billing & payments. Meta takes each message's charge from it, and refuses a message the balance cannot cover.
  • Save a card: charged afterwardsMeta charges the card when your message charges reach a payment threshold, and again on the monthly bill date.
  • The first choice staysMeta says an account cannot move between the two, and that paying the other way needs a new WhatsApp Business account.
  • Watch a prepaid balanceMeta's check counts earlier charges not yet settled, and tax, as well as the new message. It tells the account's admins by email and in WhatsApp Manager when the balance is low or empty.

Rupee billing by 31 December 2026. Meta is moving WhatsApp billing to rupees for businesses whose “Sold to” country on Meta is India. Its pricing page says those businesses must have every WhatsApp Business account in INR by 31 December 2026, and that from 1 January 2027 Meta will not deliver messages from their accounts in other currencies. The account's currency shows on its billing page on Meta. If yours is not INR, talk to us before then.

Meta’s prepaid billing pageMeta’s payment threshold pageBilling localization for India

Meta ads

Add a payment method for Meta ads

Ads on Facebook and Instagram, Click-to-WhatsApp ads included, are paid from the ad account. Its payment method is separate from the one for WhatsApp messages.

  1. 01

    Sign in to Meta as an admin of the ad account

    Use the Facebook login of someone Meta allows to change billing. Who that is, is under these steps.

  2. 02

    Open Billing & payments for the ad account

    With one ad account, choose Payment settings. With several, pick the ad account under Accounts, then Payment methods.

  3. 03

    Choose Add payment method

    Pick a payment method and follow Meta's screens. For an ad account in India billed in rupees, Meta lists Visa and Mastercard cards, NetBanking and UPI. It says NetBanking and UPI can only be chosen when the ad account is first set up.

  4. 04

    Know which way the account pays

    A card, when its bank supports recurring payments, sets the ad account to automatic payments: Meta charges it when ad costs reach a payment threshold and again on the monthly bill date. NetBanking and UPI set it to available funds: you add money first and Meta deducts from it as ads run.

  5. 05

    Add money, if it uses available funds

    In Payment settings, the Available funds section has Add funds. Meta sets a minimum amount, and the money shows at once or after several days, depending on the method.

  6. 06

    Check the tax details

    In Payment settings, check your business name, address and GST number. Meta says a GST number is not mandatory, but a business registered for GST that wants input tax credit should enter it.

Who can do it

Only an admin of the ad account can change how it pays. If the ad account is in a business portfolio, the person needs full control of the ad account.

Meta’s steps for an ad accountAd account roles

Cards for ads in India. For automatic payments in India, Meta accepts only cards whose bank supports recurring payments under the Reserve Bank of India's e-mandate rules. Meta checks a new card with a charge of INR 3 that it refunds, and your bank sends a notice at least 24 hours before each charge.

Payment options Meta accepts for adsAdding money to available fundsMeta on the e-mandate rulesMeta on GST for ads in India

Troubleshooting

Common problems, and what to do

Card declined, the wrong business, a balance that ran out, ads that stopped: the usual causes, each with the fix Meta’s own pages give.

  • WhatsApp and ads

    The card is declined

    Check the card is enabled for online payments, has not expired and has enough balance, and that you can receive your bank's one-time password. If it still fails, ask the bank whether it blocked the charge, or use another card.

  • WhatsApp

    The payment method was added to the wrong business

    Each WhatsApp Business account has its own payment method on Meta. A card saved to the business still has to be chosen for the account: Payment settings, Add payment method, select the card, Make primary. Fliok's button opens the account your number is on.

  • WhatsApp and ads

    You are not an admin of the business on Meta

    Meta only lets people with the right permission change billing. Ask someone with full control of the business portfolio to add it, or to give you the “Manage WhatsApp account” permission. For an ad account, ask one of its admins.

  • WhatsApp

    A payment method is added but messages still fail

    Check it shows on the right account: WhatsApp Manager, Manage account settings, the Settings tab. On a prepaid account, check Available funds in Billing & payments. Then send one template message and check again. If Meta keeps refusing, its billing support works through a support ticket: talk to us and we will help you raise it.

  • WhatsApp

    In India: you chose UPI and now want a card, or the other way round

    Meta fixes how a WhatsApp Business account pays at the first choice, and says paying the other way needs a new WhatsApp Business account. Decide before you add the first one.

  • WhatsApp

    In India: a prepaid balance ran out part-way through a broadcast

    Add funds in Billing & payments and wait until they show as available. Messages already delivered were charged; the refused ones were not, and need sending again.

  • Meta ads

    Ads stopped for an unpaid balance

    In Billing & payments, pick the ad account, then Payment methods, then Pay now. Meta restarts active ads once the amount due is paid. In India, Meta says Pay now may not be offered while the ad account is disabled; its Business Support Home is where to ask.

  • Meta ads

    Ads paused although nothing is unpaid

    The ad account may have reached a limit: the account spending limit you set, which you can change, remove or reset in Payment settings, or the daily spending limit Meta sets, which resets the next day.

Meta’s payment errors and supportAd account spending limitsDaily spending limits set by Meta

In Fliok: the Meta payments page

For each WhatsApp Business account it shows whether Meta charged for your last paid message or refused it for payment, and a button that opens Meta's payment page for that account. It is on every plan, Free included. Fliok adds no markup to Meta's charges and never collects them.

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Related guides

See why a message failed, in plain words

Fliok tells you when Meta refuses a message for payment, and takes you to the page on Meta that fixes it.

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