How to Fix It When Facebook Pay Isn't Working (2024)

Social Media > Facebook

Facebook Pay not working is usually due to you or the other person not meeting some basic requirements, like location or age, or because a valid payment method isn't being used. Whether that's the problem for you or it's something different, below is everything you can try to make FB Pay work again.

Why Is Facebook Pay Not Working?

There are numerous possible reasons you can't send or receive money:

• You're in a country where FB Pay isn't supported
• You're not old enough to use it
• The recipient declined the payment
• You don't have an active Facebook account
  
• You don't have a valid payment method
• The app is corrupted or outdated
• Your network (or Facebook's) is down
  

How to Fix It When Facebook Pay Isn't Working

Given the several reasons listed above, there's more than one fix, depending on the specific problem you're experiencing. Walk through these tips in order to address the more likely fixes first.

1. Confirm you and the recipient live in the United States and are at least 18 years old. These are two basic requirements that must be met before you can transfer money over Facebook.

   As you'd expect, there isn't really a quick fix if you don't meet the location or age requirement. But it's important to know those requirements now before you go through the rest of these troubleshooting steps.

2. Wait it out! Some users notice FB Pay says "pending" and appears to not work, even though the payment eventually does go through.

   For whatever reason, the payment appears to be stalled, but then the message doesn't update when the payment actually completes. There's nothing else you can do but realize this might just be how it works sometimes.

3. Tell the person you're paying to accept the money by adding payment information to their account. Or, if it's you having trouble receiving money, add one of those payment methods to your own account.
   

   This isn't a case where Facebook Pay isn't working, but instead a situation where the account simply isn't fully set up to receive money.

   To do this from the desktop site, go to Facebook Pay. If you're in the Messenger app, find Facebook Pay in the menu.
   

   If there's already a payment method attached to FB Pay, incoming funds are accepted automatically. The only time it won't be is if there isn't one being used.

4. Correct whatever is causing your payment method to not work. It must be working properly to send or receive money.

   We recommend first removing and then re-adding the payment method to perform a "refresh" of its connection to Facebook Pay. If that doesn't work, contact the company that handles your payments (PayPal or the card provider) to see what the problem is.
   

   Facebook lists which payment methods are supported and in which circ*mstances (e.g., only debit and PayPal are allowed for sending money to friends). Also, your card might only work one way—reloadable prepaid cards that receive funds from a single source (like a payroll card from an employer), and some government-issued cards, can only send money with FB Pay, not receive.

5. Open your Facebook Pay settings and ensure that the currency is set to US Dollars.

6. Log in to reactivate your Facebook account if it's been deactivated.

   Despite the fact that you can use Messenger without an active Facebook account, the Facebook Pay portion won't work unless you have an active account.

7. Log out of Facebook (or Instagram if you're using that) and then log back in. If you're using the app, log out of Messenger instead.

   Sometimes, little glitches with Facebook as a whole or FB Pay specifically can be solved by reestablishing a connection to Facebook.

8. Reinstall the Messenger/Instagram app on your phone, or log out and clear the browser cache if you're using Facebook Pay from a computer.

   There might be an update you haven't applied yet that fixes a bug causing problems. Or, the app or browser cache could be to blame.

   Take this time to also restart your device, whether it be your phone, tablet, or computer. A reboot is simple to perform and might be all that's necessary to get things working again.

9. Check if Facebook is down. Similar to the first step, there isn't anything you can do if Facebook's servers are down. You'll need to wait it out. Keep trying as often as you see fit, and it'll eventually get resolved, and Facebook Pay will resume working.

10. Check your own network for issues. Depending on where you're located, the best way to quickly confirm if this is a Wi-Fi or mobile internet issue is to switch to the other network and try again.

    For example, if FB Pay isn't working on your phone while you're on Wi-Fi, turn off Wi-Fi and try again using your mobile plan's internet. Or, do the opposite: if mobile data isn't working, switch to Wi-Fi.
    

    Disable your VPN if you're using one while trying to transfer money—some financial services don't work well with VPNs. Facebook might have detected it and is blocking Facebook Pay, or the IP address the VPN is giving you might be preventing the payment.

11. Contact Facebook if all else has failed. If you've confirmed all of the above is working and in place correctly, the only thing you can do now is report the problem to Facebook for further help.