Trying to sign up for a free trial

Question

I am trying to deploy my nodejs app to google cloud. To do that you need to set up your billing account. I live in India and I've read some blogs online saying that google doesn't accept debit cards from India because they require Verified By Visa authentication and google doesn't implement that. What can I do? Do I NEED to get a credit card (credit cards work apparently)

Answer 1

If you don't have a credit card, please try to sign up with your debit card (assuming it has the Visa or Mastercard logo) as per below information.

If it does not work and you have further issues, please contact Google Cloud Platform billing with questions, as it will require discussing sensitive financial information that you shouldn't post on Stack Overflow.

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Q1: do you need a billing account to sign up for free trial?

Per the billing docs:

Do I pay anything for the free trial?

No, the trial is free and you will not be billed. When your trial ends, your account will be paused and you'll have the option to upgrade to a paid account.

Per the Google Cloud Platform free trial FAQ:

You Won’t be Billed

When you sign up for the free trial, you are asked to provide your credit card information. This information is used only to verify your identity and let us know you’re not a robot. Your credit card is not charged during your free trial unless you upgrade to a paid account.

Q2: will debit cards work or do you need to use a credit card?

Per billing docs, you can pay via debit cards if they have the Visa or Mastercard logo. Also:

The payment methods available to you will depend on your currency and country. You'll see what payment methods are available to you when you sign up for Google Cloud billing.

Note that instant verification mentioned below is only available for US-based bank accounts at the time of this writing (20 Sep 2015). Otherwise, you can verify your bank account via trial deposits.

For more details, see the help page:

Choose a payment method

A payment method is what you use to pay for your costs, such as a credit card or bank account. The payment methods available to you will depend on your currency and country. You'll see what payment methods are available to you when you sign up for Google Cloud billing.

Credit cards and debit cards

Credit card and debit card payments allow you to specify a credit or debit card that will be used as a primary or backup funding source for monthly automatic or manual payments. We accept debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo.

Note: Prepaid cards are not accepted for payment.

Bank account (also known as direct debit)

Bank account payments allow you to specify a bank account that will be used as the primary funding source for monthly automatic payments. Your account won't be active until you've verified your bank account. Verification of your bank account may take up to 10 days. For information about instant bank verification, see Verify your bank account with instant bank verification.

Backup credit cards

If your primary form of payment doesn't work for some reason, a backup credit card makes sure your services keep running.