WhatsApp error 131042 (business eligibility payment issue): causes and fixes

WhatsApp error 131042 means a billing problem is stopping your messages. Meta's error reference gives the description "There was an error related to your payment method" and asks you to read About billing for your WhatsApp Business account and verify that billing is set up correctly. The code is often shown with the title "Business eligibility payment issue". Nothing is wrong with your template or the recipient: Meta has no valid way to charge for the message, so it will not send it.

There is a second source of the same code. Broadchat's channel API, the Graph-compatible endpoint you call with a channel access token, returns 131042 when the channel wallet cannot cover a template message. Both versions are explained below, with a quick way to tell them apart.

The billing problems Meta lists

Meta's error row for 131042 lists these common problems:

1. Payment account is not attached to a WhatsApp Business account
2. Credit line is over the limit
3. Credit line (Payment Account) not set or active
4. WhatsApp Business account is deleted
5. WhatsApp Business account is suspended
6. Timezone not set
7. Currency not set
8. MessagingFor request (On Behalf Of) is pending or declined

For Indian businesses there is one more. Meta's changelog for 8 Sep 2026 announced prepaid billing via UPI top-ups for India, and an account on prepaid billing that runs out of balance gets 131042 until it is topped up.

Who can fix each problem depends on who pays Meta:

Step-by-step fix for Meta's 131042

1. Confirm the error came from Meta. A Meta 131042 has Meta's error_data and an fbtrace_id (see the comparison below).
2. Open billing for the WhatsApp Business account. In Meta Business Suite, go to the business portfolio's billing and payments settings and open the WhatsApp Business account. Check that a payment method is attached and valid, and that the account has a currency and timezone set.
3. If you pay by card, check the card. Expired cards and cards that block international or recurring charges are common culprits. Add a backup method if you can.
4. If you are on India prepaid billing, top up. Then send a test template to your own number.
5. If a provider bills you through its credit line, contact the provider. Only the credit line owner can raise its limit or attach your account to it.
6. Check the account's status. If the account has been suspended or restricted, the billing fix will not help; read the notice in WhatsApp Manager first.
7. Resend. Messages that failed with 131042 were not delivered and are not charged by Meta, so resend the important ones once billing works.

Meta's failure for 131042 typically looks like this (values illustrative):

{
  "error": {
    "message": "(#131042) Business eligibility payment issue",
    "type": "OAuthException",
    "code": 131042,
    "error_data": {
      "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
      "details": "There was an error related to your payment method."
    },
    "fbtrace_id": "A7xQe2VbN0cL5tPzR9uWkYd"
  }
}

The Broadchat channel API version

Every Broadchat channel has a prepaid conversation wallet that pays WhatsApp messaging charges at the rates shown in your panel. When you send a template through the channel API (the API URL and token from the channel's Access Token window), Broadchat prices the template for the recipient's country and category and reserves that amount from the wallet before forwarding the request to Meta. If the wallet balance is too low, the request stops there and you get:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Insufficient balance in channel \"Rangoli Home Sales\". Required 1.0500 INR, available 0.3200 INR. Please recharge the channel wallet.",
    "type": "OAuthException",
    "code": 131042
  }
}

The amounts above are illustrative. Broadchat uses 131042 so that integrations already written for Meta's billing error handle it the same way: stop sending, fix the balance, then resend. A few details from how the channel API works:

• The response has HTTP status 402 and no error_data or fbtrace_id, because the request was never sent to Meta.
• It applies to sends with type: template on /messages and to the Marketing Messages API path /marketing_messages. Free-form replies inside an open customer service window are not blocked by this check.
• A channel whose balance has gone below zero refuses even templates in a category that costs nothing.
• If Meta rejects a template after the amount was reserved, Broadchat refunds it to the wallet; you pay only for messages Meta accepts and bills.

To fix it, open Channels, click the channel's menu and choose Recharge Conversation Wallet, or move balance between your numbers with Total Balance → Manage Conversation Balance. The deposit and every deduction appear in the channel's Wallet Logs. Our help article on recharging your wallet walks through the payment screen.

Telling the two apart

A worked example

Meera's developer at Rangoli Home sends order updates from the brand's store through the channel API. On Monday morning, every order_shipped template returns 131042 with HTTP 402 and the message "Insufficient balance in channel …". He forwards the message to Meera, who recharges the channel's conversation wallet from the panel. Ten minutes later the queued updates go out. Because the requests never reached Meta, nothing was charged for the failed attempts.

Three weeks later the same code appears again, but this time with HTTP 400, Meta's error_data and an fbtrace_id. That is Meta's 131042: the brand's own card on the WhatsApp Business account had expired. Meera updates the card in Meta Business Suite and the sends recover.

Preventing 131042

• Set up a backup payment method on the WhatsApp Business account if you pay Meta directly, and keep card expiry dates on someone's calendar.
• Watch prepaid balances. For India prepaid billing, top up before big campaigns. In Broadchat, a low-balance alert can go out when a channel's balance drops below its threshold, so you can recharge before sends stop.
• Estimate campaign cost first. Broadchat does not start a campaign when the estimated cost is more than the channel balance, and says so, which is better than discovering 131042 halfway through.
• Handle the code in your integration. Treat 131042 as "stop and alert a human", not as something to retry. Every retry fails until billing is fixed.
• Know who pays Meta. If you are on a provider's credit line, ask them how they will warn you before the line runs out.

Broadchat's channel health check also reads Meta's own account status. When Meta blocks business-initiated messages because the WhatsApp Business account has no valid payment method, the channel shows that reason, so you can fix it before customers notice. For what each message costs, see WhatsApp API pricing, and for every other code the WhatsApp API error codes cheat-sheet. Agencies that resell messaging can run client wallets and their own rates through the white-label program.