How to remove a card from Copilot on Microsoft, GitHub or your phone

Which company holds the card for your Copilot plan?

Four companies can bill a Copilot plan, and each keeps the card in a different place. Find your plan first:

As of October 2026, three of the four billers (GitHub, Apple and Microsoft) publish a rule that can stop you removing a card. GitHub is the only one whose docs say removing the card cancels the plan. We read all four help centres on 18 October 2026, and no single vendor page puts them side by side.

Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium all include Copilot, according to Microsoft's plan comparison page. So a Copilot charge on your statement may be a Microsoft 365 plan, and its card sits in the same Microsoft account.

How do you remove a card from your Microsoft account?

You remove it on the Payment options page of the Microsoft account that pays for Copilot. Microsoft keeps the card there for every Copilot plan it sells, so the Copilot app itself is the wrong place to look.

1. Go to account.microsoft.com/services and sign in with the paying account.
2. On each live plan (Copilot Pro, Microsoft 365 Premium, Personal or Family), select Manage, then Change how you pay. Pick another card, or select Add a new way to pay.
3. Go to account.microsoft.com/billing/payments, the Payment options page.
4. Find the card you want gone and select Remove.
5. Confirm, and select Remove again.

Steps 3 to 5 are Microsoft's whole published procedure. Its help article lists no conditions at all. Step 2 is ours: Microsoft says a new card for a subscription is added on the Services & subscriptions page, so a live plan should point somewhere else before its old card goes.

Already cancelled? If a plan shows Turn on recurring billing where Manage should be, Microsoft says it's set to expire and you won't be charged after the date shown. You can skip step 2 for that plan. Microsoft says the card on such a plan stays put anyway:"You won't be able to change how you pay if recurring billing is off."

One more reach to know about. Microsoft lists the Microsoft Store under the same article, so the Payment options page covers your Store purchases too. A card removed there is gone for every Microsoft purchase, not just Copilot.

Why can't you remove a payment method from your Microsoft account?

A past due balance is the one cause Microsoft names. Its troubleshooting page says that if you get a message to contact support when you remove a payment option, you may have a past due balance on a Microsoft subscription.

The fix is to pay it. Open account.microsoft.com/services, find the subscription and select Pay now. Microsoft says gift cards, subscription cards and your Microsoft account balance can't pay a past due subscription. You'll need a card or another payment method.

Two other causes show up often, and both are about the account, not the card:

• You're signed in to the wrong account. Microsoft's Copilot Pro page tells you to use the Microsoft account that bought the plan. A family member's card, or one on an old Outlook address, won't show up on your page.
• Microsoft never had the card. A plan bought in the Copilot app on an iPhone or Android phone is billed by Apple or Google. Microsoft's cancel page sends those buyers to the store.

Microsoft's own pages don't say a live plan blocks removal. Community answers say it can. Switching the plan first (step 2 above) settles it either way, and it costs nothing.

How do you remove a payment method from GitHub Copilot?

GitHub keeps the card under Settings, Billing & Licensing, Payment information, where Remove sits next to Edit. Click your profile picture, choose Settings, find Billing & Licensing in the Access part of the sidebar, then open Payment information and click Remove under Payment method.

GitHub's billing docs set three conditions. "To remove a payment method, you must have a balance of zero, and no billable metered usage in the current month." That includes the previous month if it's still unpaid. And on an active paid trial you can't remove the card at all.

Then the catch. GitHub's docs say that if you have a paid subscription and remove the card, "your subscription will automatically cancel on your next renewal date." On GitHub, removing the card and cancelling Copilot Pro are one action.

Some people never see the Remove link. In September 2025 GitHub Support told one user, in a reply the user posted to GitHub's community forum, that the option "is not visible in your settings due to your Copilot subscription." Support offered to remove the card once a cancellation was scheduled for the next billing date.

So cancel first if Remove is missing. In Billing & licensing, open Licensing, then the Manage subscription menu in the GitHub Copilot section, and click Cancel subscription. GitHub says you keep your features until the billing cycle ends, then drop to Copilot Free.

Don't let the renewal fail on purpose instead. GitHub warns that after a failed renewal cancels your plan, "updating your payment method alone does not restore a canceled plan."

Bought Copilot in the iPhone or Android app?

Apple or Google holds the card for any Copilot plan bought in a phone app, and Microsoft can't remove it. GitHub Mobile also sells Copilot upgrades through an in-app purchase, so the same applies there.

On an iPhone: open Settings, tap your name, tap Payment & Shipping, then Edit. Tap the red delete button next to the card, then Remove. Apple has one firm rule here: "If you have subscriptions like iCloud+, you must keep at least one payment method on file." Add the new card before you remove the old one.

On Android: go to payment methods in Google Play, tap More payment settings, sign in to Google Pay if asked, and tap Remove under the card. Tap Remove again to confirm. Google says you can remove backup payment methods at any time.

That store card pays for every app you've bought on the phone. If your goal is to stop paying for Copilot, cancel the subscription in the store and leave the card alone.

Does removing your card cancel Copilot?

Only on GitHub. There, removing the card cancels a paid plan at the next renewal. Apple won't let you remove the last card while any subscription runs.

Microsoft doesn't publish what happens to a live plan with no card behind it, so don't use removal as a way to cancel. Cancel on the Manage page instead: our Copilot Pro cancel guide covers the clicks and Microsoft's refund window.