Possible to get around this payment predicament ??

ScoobyNZ on 30/07/2026 - 18:39

So up until a few weeks ago, I've been using a Spotify account in a family plan and it recently got cancelled because the plan was based overseas (India)

My account is still set to use India, however when I do try to use it, it does give me the error saying I'm in the wrong area, and to change it. I haven't yet changed it though.

Today I get an email saying I can sign up for 12 months for 799 Indian Rupiah, which is less than $15

I tried completing the payment, but the payment method wouldn't go through. I was connected to Indian VPN at the time.

I tried two options : My Wise card which has enough IND Rupee in it, and also my local Debit Card (just in case it did actually work, but I didn't expect it to)

I didn't expect the Wise card to fail though.. so am a little bummed.

I'm assuming that it's because the systems in place, detect that my Wise card is not based in India, so it's not allowing it??

Anybody know how I can get around this?

Gift cards or something from an Indian source, to then use for the Spotify subscription??

Thanks in advance !!

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  • NovaAlpha on 30/07/2026 - 23:16

    Curious, I thought Wise would work since it's basically a virtual account in the target country's currency? But perhaps they can detect virtual accounts/cards and don't trust it anymore. I know Spotify has upped their game in terms of catching people using mods or bypassers to get premium for free. They're rather annoying to deal with.

    Aside from trying a different India VPN server (maybe use a different VPN app as well), your best bet is to get someone to pay for you directly from an Indian credit card or bank account or whatever the payment method is. Maybe you could even hire someone on one of those freelance websites and just do like 1/4 payment upfront, then get them to pay for you, then you can complete the rest of the payment to them. I dunno.

    I think there might be some tips and tricks that you can find on Reddit.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/steamregionaltricks/comments/1tadsn…
    https://www.reddit.com/r/steamregionaltricks/comments/1uf3aj…

    You could try using this too, will unlock most of the premium features that most people need:
    https://github.com/23fpsz/SpotiDuck-Releases/

    And if you're on Windows, it's even better/easier. Just block hostfile entries and make sure Spotify doesn't auto-update itself (which you can do if you hostfile block the domains related to the update). I haven't had ads on Spotify on Windows for years. Even now it's been fine.

    Anyways, good luck.

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    • FERRETBYTE on 31/07/2026 - 10:50

      Nah unfortunately I was stuck in a predicament where I wanted to buy something in AUD, and get it freight-forwarded to NZ, when I tried to use my Wise card to pay it wouldn't go through so I had to get my Aussie mate to pay for it.

      It's not official info from Wise or anything, but it's likely that the VISA card number identifiers expose the country, or bank of origin, so even if your card provides the correct currency, the payment provider, and then therefore the merchant know that the card is actually from New Zealand and will likely decline it unless the merchant allows international payment methods.

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  • NovaAlpha on 30/07/2026 - 21:49

    Maybe try out this guy's app:
    https://www.cheapies.nz/node/56575

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    • ScoobyNZ on 30/07/2026 - 22:21

      I did consider that, but this is $14 for an entire year, not just a month. Superb value, if I can get it to work.

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  • ace310 on 30/07/2026 - 22:43

    Gift cards from Amazon India used to work in past. Not sure if it still does, but if you want to research

    https://www.amazon.in/Spotify-Premium-Standard-Annual-Card/d…

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    • NovaAlpha on 30/07/2026 - 23:16

      "Cannot be redeemed for the Spotify Family, Student plans or in conjunction with other discounts and promotions (see T&Cs for more details)."

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  • Flippant on 31/07/2026 - 08:51

    See if there's an Indian specific virtual banking service that offers an Indian virtual card similar to Wise. I used to use a Turkish virtual Mastercard from a Turkish bank called Oldubil that allowed me to bypass Microsofts region locking of the Turkish store after they had a big crackdown and all other payment methods stopped working.

    Off topic, I just renewed my Turkish Gamepass Ultimate subscription earlier this month after thinking I'd have to get a NZ sub, turns out that if you already have an existing Turkish sub all you need is some Turkish currency loaded onto your Microsoft account, make that the default payment method and turn on auto-renew and it will continue your Turkish subscription. Nowhere near as cheap as it used to be, it's now $20/month, but still better than the $33/month that the NZ one costs.

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    • ScoobyNZ on 31/07/2026 - 08:55

      Yeah last night I did a bit of Googling and found a card called Evertry. It looked good so I signed up for it but had difficulty actually requesting a card, so I'm not sure if that's a feasible solution yet. But I'll continue with it to see if it works.

      I've also reached out again to the person who runs the Family Plan to see if they have resolved the issue on their end, hopefully that's an easier solution.

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  • tangobravo on 31/07/2026 - 10:27

    In my experience, having Indian accounts for services like Spotify, Netflix, or Google effectively requires an Indian phone number—mainly to handle local payment verifications and OTPs, even if you can log in with an email.

    As for Spotify, VPNs often don't work because Spotify locks your account region to the country where your payment method was issued, rather than relying on your phone's GPS or IP address.

    Also, I can confirm first-hand that Wise cards do not work for paying for these Indian subscriptions, even if you already have local Indian accounts and a valid Indian phone number set up.

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  • jackvdbuk on 31/07/2026 - 11:33

    This ship has long gone I'd say, Google and Spotify and probably the hardest to accomplish..

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