Why was my credit card declined when I tried to pay my AWS bill?

Short description

The following reasons are why a credit card or payment method is declined:

• Your credit card expired, or the credit card information that's on file is incorrect. 
  Note: Incorrect information can be a name or address that doesn't match what you provided on your AWS account and what your creditor has on file.
• Your credit card isn't an accepted payment method.
• Your payment method has transaction or balance limits.
• Your payment issuer requires verification or authentication.

Resolution

Your credit card expired, or the credit card information that's on file is incorrect

Verify that your payment method has accurate and current billing and contact information.

To review your payment method, complete the following steps:

1. Open the AWS Billing and Cost Management console.
2. In the navigation pane, choose Payment Preferences.
3. Review your Payment methods. If the payment method is Unverified, then choose Verify.
4. If the payment method is still Unverified, select the payment method, and then choose Delete.
5. Choose Add payment method, and then enter your credit card information. For more information, see Managing credit card and ACH direct debit.
   Important: Make sure that your credit card number, expiration date, billing address, and phone number are correct. Also, confirm that the billing address and phone number match the information that's on file with the institution that issued your credit card.
6. Retry the payment.

Your credit card isn't an accepted payment method

Verify payment method compatibility

Confirm that your AWS seller of record accepts your credit card as a payment method. Because AWS Organizations can have members with accounts under different sellers of record, multiple sellers of record might operate simultaneously within your organization.

Make sure that your payment can process

Verify that your current payment method can successfully process bills from your seller of record. If you must change your payment method, then see How do I change the default payment method that's associated with my AWS account?

If you don't have a payment profile, then create one so that your AWS bill automatically process.

Add backup payment methods

You can add cards to your payment profile. If your default payment method fails, then AWS charges the next card in your payment profile.

Your payment method has transaction or balance limits

If the information that's associated with your payment method is correct, then contact your creditor to confirm the following information:

• Your credit card has sufficient credit to cover your AWS invoice. If your card has insufficient credit, then ask your creditor to adjust your withdrawal or purchase limits.
• You authorized the charge for AWS services. For AWS Inc. and AWS Europe accounts, the charge descriptor ends in aws.amazon.com.

Your payment issuer requires verification or authentication

If your card issuer requires payment verification or authentication, then take the following actions:

• If you're an AWS Europe customer, then you might need to verify your credit card payment with the card issuer. For more information, see Managing your payment verifications.
• Confirm that AWS supports 3D Secure authentication in your AWS Region. If your card issuer requires 3D Secure authentication, then check with the card issuer to waive the requirement.

Retry the payment

If you resolved the issue, then retry the payment. If you can't retry the payment or you purchased a subscription and the payment was declined, then contact AWS Support.

Before you create a case with AWS Support, review the following limitations:

• AWS Support can retry the charges for a Reserved Instance or Savings Plans only during the month of purchase.
• AWS Support can't retry payments for Amazon Route 53 domain registration, renewal, or transfer. To resubmit the domain registration, renewal, or transfer, see Transferring registration for a domain to Amazon Route 53.

Related information

How do I view past or current AWS payments?

Does AWS Support have a phone number?