Generally, when an iPhone user tries to make a payment for any app or for subscribing to anything, it might decline the payment method. Now the user has to add another payment method after removing the existing payment method.
Recently, we have been getting several reports from iPhone users that they are unable to remove the existing current payment method on their iPhones and instead get an error that does not allow them to proceed.
The error message that they receive is shown below.
Unable to Remove
There is an active subscription on this account that requires at least one payment on file.
This problem has left many iPhone users disappointed as they are not able to purchase anything. This error could possibly be because there might be some balance yet to be cleared, some active subscriptions, recently changed country, or some iPhone settings got altered.
Upon researching the above reasons, we have got some information and compiled a set of fixes using this information in the article below.
Preliminary Fix
Clear any balance money owed to Apple
All iPhone users, mostly use their credit cards to subscribe to their favorite apps, channels, etc using the auto-renewal process. This renews the subscriptions every month without the user having to manually do the payment process.
But if unfortunately, the credit card gets expired and the active subscriptions are paid off by Apple and the user owes the money as a balance in their Apple ID. So until and unless this balance money is cleared by the user, Apple will not allow them to remove the existing payment method and add any other payment option.
So try and check if there is any balance amount pending with Apple and clear it as soon as possible. Once cleared, you can easily remove the payment method without any error.
Fix 1 – Change the Country/Region option
If any user has recently shifted to a new country for any purpose and he/she gets this error out of blue, it might be because it recognizes the change in the country and restricts the user from removing the payment method.
So try changing the country/region using the steps explained below.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone first after you have unlocked your iPhone.
2. Now click on the Profile Name at the top of the Settings app page as shown in the below screenshot.
3. Next, select the Media & Purchases option by clicking on it as shown.
4. This pops up a context menu and you need to tap on the View Account option from the list.
5. After verifying the FaceID successfully, it opens the Account page.
6. Tap on the Country/Region option from the Account page.
7. Now again tap on the Change Country or Region option as shown below.
NOTE – Doing this can cancel all your auto-renewing subscriptions to the existing payment methods.
8. Select a country from the list.
If your country is already selected, please choose some other country.
9. After that, click Agree on the top right corner of the screen as shown below.
10. To confirm it again, click on the Agree option on the pop-up context menu as shown.
11. On the next page, choose None as a payment method and fill out all the information that is necessary.
12. Then tap on the Next option on the top right corner of the screen as shown in the below screenshot.
13. Now proceed by following the instructions on the screen.
14. Once you are done, it will remove the existing payment method from your Apple ID.
15. After that, you can anytime add another payment method.
Fix 2 – Cancel All Active Subscriptions to your Apple ID
If you have not moved to any new country lately and still you are having this error, then probably some of the active subscriptions are still not canceled by you. Upon canceling all the active subscriptions, you can fix this error and remove the existing payment method using the steps below.
1. First of all, you have to open the Settings app page on your iPhone.
2. Then click on the Profile Name option as shown below.
3. Now once the Apple ID page opens, tap on the Subscriptions option.
4. All the active subscriptions will be displayed on the Subscriptions page.
5. Tap on one of the active subscriptions.
6. Now to cancel this subscription, you need to click Cancel Subscription as shown in the below screenshot.
7. This pops up a confirm cancellation window and you need to tap on the Confirm option as shown.
8. Once the subscription is canceled, do the same to cancel all the active subscriptions one by one.
Fix 3 – Reset All Settings
If none of the things are working for you in resolving this error, then what you can do is reset all settings on your iPhone using the steps below.
1. First you should open the Settings page on the iPhone by clicking on the settings icon.
2. Then tap on the General option on the settings page as shown below.
3. Scroll down the general page to the bottom and tap on the Transfer or Reset iPhone option.
4. After that, click on the Reset option.
5. This pops up the context menu which shows different reset options.
6. Now select the Reset All Settings option from the list by clicking on it.
7. This might require you to enter your passcode to continue.
8. After that, please tap on the Reset All Settings option on confirm context window as shown in the image below.
9. Once done, it will start resetting all the settings on the iPhone.