Failed payment help

Check that your payment method has sufficient funds and is:

• Not expired or canceled
• Enabled for foreign, secure online, and recurring purchases — Look for these settings in your bank’s mobile app

You can also check that your bank or payment provider has your correct details (e.g., name, address, zip, etc.). If you add a new payment method, they may need to verify your identity for security, e.g. with a password, PIN, fingerprint, or code sent to your device

Turn on backup payments from your settings so that your membership isn’t interrupted if your payment fails.

Retrying a failed payment

We’ll retry your payment method if it should fail; however, you can also manually retry your method with the instructions below - select your device to begin.

• Follow these steps while on your member profile. You can check which profile you’re on by clicking your picture in the bottom left corner.

  1. Click the Settings link from the left navigation
  2. Click Memberships in the top menu bar
  3. Click View details for the creator
  4. From here, you can choose a different payment method or click the Edit link next to the failing payment method to trigger a retry
  5. If your payment continues to fail, try adding a different payment method

• Follow these steps while on your member profile. You can switch between member and creator profiles (if you have one) by tapping on your profile image in the top right corner and tapping the Switch to button for the profile you’d like to visit

  1. Scroll through the creators listed at the top of the Home screen
  2. Double-tap on the desired creator from the list
  3. Tap the three dots button in the upper right corner of the creator's Home screen
  4. Tap on Your membership
  5. Tap Edit membership
  6. Tap on Edit payment method
  7. You can choose to either Update your payment method by selecting an existing one from your account, or you can follow the on-screen steps to Add a new payment method

Still not working?

There may be an authorization issue with the card network or issuing bank. If a payment continues to fail, you can:

• Enabled for foreign, secure online, and recurring purchases from your bank’s mobile app or by calling your bank directly. There may be restrictions that exclude membership transactions
• If you’re paying with PayPal, contact PayPal’s support team. They can check your account and assist with next steps

Please note that we’re unable to process transactions with gift credit cards. Since all memberships are auto-renewing, we require a bank-issued card for payments

Add backup payments

Backup payments help ensure you don’t lose access to your membership benefits due to failed payments. Once turned on, your backup payment method will kick in automatically if your primary payment method fails.

To turn back up payments on a Computer or Mobile web

1. Visit Settings > More > Payment methods
2. Click the Turn on backup payments button
3. Click the Continue button to add your backup method or the Turn on button if you have another method already on file
4. You can turn off backup payments at any time

More about backup payments

• Turning on backup payments applies to all your memberships, including future memberships. You'll get an email before a backup payment method is used
• Other membership settings, including price and when you're charged, aren't changing. Only how payments are made when a payment fails

FAQ

• A failed payment can happen when a payment is not processed successfully. Here are some common reasons that payments may fail:

  • Insufficient funds
  • Expired credit card information
  • Incorrect payment details
  • The issuing bank has blocked the transaction
  • Patreon’s authorization has been revoked (most often with PayPal)
  • Card network or issuing bank authorization issues if it is the first time the payment method is used

  You can contact your bank or PayPal for more information on why a payment has failed. Asking that they authorize future payments from Patreon may fix recurring issues.

  If you've filed a PayPal dispute for Patreon in the past, you’ll need to add a new funding source to your wallet to continue using PayPal for Patreon payments. Filing a dispute with PayPal for a charge revokes our access to process payments on that PayPal funding source.

• Patreon automatically retries failed membership payments. We’ll send members an email letting them know that the payment has failed. We don’t send the creator an email about the failed payment, however, they can see your billing status in their audience relationship manager.

  If you’ve turned on backup payments, we’ll retry your payment with a different method if the original payment method fails. You’ll get an email before a backup payment is used.

  We’ll send a confirmation email when a payment is processed successfully.

• Membership access relies on a successful payment. If your payment fails, you won’t have membership access until the payment goes through.