Payments in Messenger
You can securely send and receive money to friends and family through Messenger using a bank-issued debit card or PayPal account. For added security, you can create a PIN.
Please note that payments in Messenger are only available in the US at this time.
Getting Started
You can only receive and send money to someone residing in the same country as you.
You can send or receive money in messages if you and your friend:
If the $ sign in messages is grayed out or missing, or you don’t have access to Payments in messages, please let us know.
Once you’ve added a payment method to your account, money is transferred right away, but your bank may take up to 5 business days to make it available to you.
If you’ve been sent money but it hasn’t appeared in your account after 3-5 business days, try contacting your bank by calling the number on the back of your payment card or reaching out to PayPal support.
If you’re still having issues, let us know.
You can send or receive money in Messenger using a bank-issued Visa or Mastercard debit card or PayPal account. Keep in mind you should never give anyone your payment info in Messenger.
We currently don’t support the following payment methods:
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Debit Cards other than Visa or Mastercard
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Credit cards
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Prepaid cards (example: Google Wallet, H&R Block Emerald)
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Reloadable prepaid cards
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Government-issued bank cards for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment or disability
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Preloaded health care flexible spending cards
No, sending or receiving money in Messenger should only be done with your friends and family. If you send or receive money in Messenger for your personal business, you may lose the option to use payments features on Facebook (example: Payments in Messenger, ads).
Keep in mind you should never ask anyone for their payment info in Messenger.
Sending and Receiving Money
This feature is only available in the U.S.
To send money:
- Start a message with the person you want to send money to.
- Click
then
and enter the amount you want to send.
- Click Pay or click Next if you haven’t added a debit card to your account and follow the onscreen instructions.
To receive money:
If you’ve already added a debit card to your account, any money sent to you is automatically completed and you don’t have to do anything.
To add a debit card to your account:
- From the Messenger homepage, open the conversation containing the money.
- Click Add Debit Card and follow the onscreen instructions.
Keep in mind your bank may take up to 3 business days to make the money available to you.
If the
Desktop
You can only send money to and receive money from friends that live in the same country as you.
You can send money to one person at a time or request money from multiple people while in a group conversation.
To request money in a group conversation:
- Start a group conversation with your friends.
- Click
- Click
- Click Continue.
- Enter the amount you want to request and click Request.
To send money in a group conversation:
- Start a group conversation with your friends.
- Click
- Click
- Click Continue.
- Enter the amount you want to send and click Pay.
Keep in mind everyone in the group conversation can see the amount of money that’s sent or received.
Android/iPhone:
You can only send money to and receive money from friends that live in the same country as you.
You can send money to one person at a time or request money from multiple people while in a group conversation.
To request money in a group conversation:
- Start a group conversation with your friends.
- Tap
.
- Tap
and select a friend or multiple friends you want to request money from. - Tap Continue.
- Enter the amount you want to request and tap Request.
To send money in a group conversation:
- Start a group conversation with your friends.
- Tap
- Tap and select a friend you want to send money to.
- Tap Continue.
- Enter the amount you want to send and tap Pay.
Keep in mind everyone in the group conversation can see the amount of money that’s sent or received.
To pay someone who requested money from you:
- Go to the conversation where someone requested money from you.
- Click Pay below the amount that was requested.
- Click Pay at the bottom. If you haven’t added your payment information yet, tap Next and follow the on-screen instructions.
To decline a request for money:
- Go to the conversation where someone requested money from you.
- Click Decline below the amount that was requested.
- Click Decline.
Note: You can only decline payments from friends if you haven’t added your payment information to your Messenger account.
When you send money to someone in Messenger, you can add a theme. This feature is only available on Android devices.
To add a theme when you send money in Messenger:
- From the Messenger homepage, open a conversation with the person you want to send money to.
- Tap
- Tap and swipe left on the dollar amount to select a theme
This feature isn’t available on a computer or iPhone right now. If you’re using an Android device, you can log into the Facebook app to add a theme when you send money.
You can only decline money someone has sent you if you haven’t linked a bank issued debit card or PayPal account to Messenger.
To decline money someone has sent you:
- Open the conversation containing the money someone sent you.
- Click the payment amount (example: $, £ or €) that has been sent to you.
- Click Decline.
No, you can’t cancel money after you send it in Messenger.
If you accidentally send money to someone in Messenger, you can:
Note: If your money is sent back to you or is declined, your bank may take up to 3-5 business days to make it available to you.
No, you can’t send or receive money to another Facebook Messenger account that has the same debit card or PayPal account as you. If you try to send money to someone who has the same debit card or PayPal account added to their Messenger account, the money will be immediately canceled and refunded to you.
If you don’t live in Minnesota and no longer want to send or receive money in Messenger, you can remove your payment information from your account. If someone sends you a payment in a message and you don’t have a debit card or PayPal account added to your Messenger account, the payment will be returned to the person.
If you live in Minnesota and no longer want to send or receive money in Messenger, you’ll need to send a written request to the following address:
Once your request has been received and processed, we’ll disable Facebook payments for you.
Payment Status
Once you’ve added a bank-issued debit card or PayPal account to Messenger, money is transferred right away to your account. However, your bank may take up to 5 business days to post it to your account.
If you haven’t received the money you were sent in Messenger:
If you need help with payments in messages, first make sure you’re able to send or receive money.
If you’re still having issues receiving money, let us know.
Facebook takes your security very seriously and verifies information about people sending and receiving money before processing payments. Most payments will be reviewed within 24 hours.
If your payment is still pending after 24 hours, let us know.
If you’re trying to send money in Messenger and it’s not working, it may be because:
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Your friend declined the money or didn’t add a bank issued debit card or PayPal account to their Messenger account.
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Your friend’s payments are disabled by Facebook.
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There may be issues with your debit card or PayPal account. Try contacting your bank or PayPal support.
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You are attempting to send money to a friend living in a different country.
If you’re still having issues after talking to your bank, or if you still have questions, please complete this form.
Account Management
To add or remove a debit card or PayPal
- Open Messenger from a mobile device.
- Tap your profile picture at the top of your screen.
- Scroll down and tap
Payments.
- To remove a payment method, tap the desired card or account and tap Remove Card or Remove Account.
- To add a new payment method, tap Add new debit card then select New Debit Card or Add PayPal.
Changing your primary payment method
When you send or receive payments, all transactions use your primary payment method from your Payment Settings.
To set or change your primary payment method, please follow the steps below:
- Open Messenger from a mobile device.
- Tap your profile picture at the top.
- Scroll down and tap Payments
- Tap your preferred card, then tap Accept Money With This Card.
This feature isn’t available on a computer right now. If you’re using an iPhone or Android device, you can log into the Facebook app to add or remove a PIN.
To see a history of your Messenger payments:
- Click
in the top right of Facebook and select Settings. - Click Payments in the left menu.
- Below Payment History, click the payment amount next to the person you sent money to or received money from.
Privacy
When you send or receive money in Messenger, only the payment amount, your name and your profile picture are shared between you and your friend. After a payment is made, you can check your payment history to track who you’ve sent or received money from.
Learn more about how we keep your payment information secure.
When you send or receive money in Messenger, we securely store your payment information after you enter it for the first time. This allows you to send or receive money later without having to re-enter your info.
If you don’t want us to store your payment info for future use, you can remove it from your Payments in Messenger settings. Keep in mind that if you remove your debit card or PayPal account, you won’t be able to send or receive money until you add a new card or PayPal account.
We value the trust you place in us and take many precautions to prevent unauthorized access to information you’ve saved on Facebook.
When you send or receive money in Messenger, only the dollar amount and your name and profile photo are shared between you and your friend. We won’t share any info we may ask for when verifying your identity.
Learn more about how we protect your payment info.
Security
Here are a few things you can do to keep your account safe when sending and receiving money in Messenger:
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Only send to or receive money from people you know.
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Never click suspicious links, even if they come from a friend you know.
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Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know.
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Never tell anyone your account password or debit card info.
Learn more about keeping your account secure.
In the rare case there is a money scam on Facebook, cyber criminals will either create fake accounts or hack into existing Facebook accounts of people you may know. The fake or compromised accounts will then try to trick you into giving them money by sending you personalized messages in Messenger. If a scammer tries to message you, report them.
Here are some common money scams you should look out for when sending and receiving money in Messenger:
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Romance scams: Romance scammers typically send romantic messages to people they don’t know, often pretending to be divorced, widowed or in a bad marriage. In order to pay for things like flights or visas, they’ll engage in online relationships in hopes of receiving money. They may use photos they’ve found online of representatives from official institutions like the military, or government agencies. Their goal is to gain your trust, so the conversations may continue for weeks before they ask for money.
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Lottery scams: Lottery scams are often carried out from accounts impersonating someone you know, or fake profiles pretending to represent an organization. The messages will claim that you’re among the winners of a lottery and that you can receive your money for a small advance fee. The scammer may ask you to provide personal information, such as your physical address or bank details.
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Donation scams: These scams are done by accounts impersonating famous religious figures, or by accounts pretending to be representatives from various charities or orphanages. In the messages, the scammers will ask for donations.
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Inheritance scams: The scammer will claim to be a lawyer or from another legal authority, pretending to represent the estate of a deceased person. The messages will state that you’re entitled to the inheritance. The scammer may ask you to provide personal information such as your physical address or bank details.
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Loan scams: Loan scammers send messages and leave posts and comments on Pages and in Groups offering, or claiming to know someone offering, instant loans at a low interest rate for a small advance fee.
To protect yourself from scammers, watch out for the following:
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People asking you for money who you don’t know in person
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People asking you for advance fees in order to receive a loan, prize or other winnings
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People asking you to move your conversation off of Facebook (example: a separate email address)
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People claiming to be a friend or relative in an emergency
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Poor spelling and grammatical mistakes
Learn more about keeping your account secure.
Confirming Your Identity
When you send or receive money, we may ask you to provide information to verify your identity after you reach a specified amount of money. We do this to help protect you from unauthorized payments activity and to comply with various federal and state laws.
You may be asked to provide one or more of the following to verify your identify:
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Your legal name, first name or last name
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Your date of birth
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Your ZIP or Postal code
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Your address of residence (not P.O. box)
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The last 4 digits of your Social Security number
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Answers to multiple-choice questions that only you would know
Facebook Payments is a regulated financial service. One regulatory requirement is that Facebook validates your identity at certain times. Just like other financial institutions, Facebook Payments needs to make sure you are who you say you are.
Please make sure that the name and date of birth on your Facebook account matches the information found on your ID so that we can re-enable your account more quickly.
Learn more about the types of IDs accepted by Facebook Payments.
Facebook Payments accepts:
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Driver’s licenses
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State and national IDs
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Passports
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Green cards, residence permits or immigration registration cards
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Tribal identification or status cards
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Voter ID cards
If you have a message from Facebook, please follow the instructions in that message. Otherwise, please follow the prompts on your Facebook account.
Please make sure that the name, address and date of birth you entered matches the information found on your ID. Learn more about the types of IDs accepted by Facebook Payments.
Keep in mind that this feature is only available on a computer.
If you received a message from the Payments team to update your account information, please follow the instructions below to edit your Legal Name on your Facebook Payments account.
From a computer:
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Click on the top right of Facebook and select Settings.
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On the left hand menu, click on Payments.
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Click on Account Settings.
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In the Legal Name area under Preferences, click on Update.
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Enter your full legal name (first and last) as shown on your ID.
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Click Save.
To expedite the verification process, please ensure the Legal Name on your Facebook Payments account exactly matches the name on the ID you submitted.
For your protection, Facebook Payments needs to make sure you are who you say you are before a transaction can be attempted. This means that to use Payments in Messenger, your Facebook profile name and date of birth must be verified to match your government-issued ID.
We understand that sometimes the name on your ID isn’t the name you associate with your authentic self. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
As a regulated financial service, Payments in Messenger is required to validate your identity at certain times. To send or receive money in messages again, Facebook Payments will need your help to verify your identity.
To use Payments again, please follow the instructions in the email you received. You may need to provide documentation or update your profile information.
