# ③ Meta's paperwork, in order of urgency

None of these is ours, and none of them can we do for you. They're in order: almost everyone is missing the first one.

**1 · Add a card at Meta.** With no payment method Meta **won't let you start** conversations: you receive and you reply within 24 h, but you can't write first. It happens to **six out of seven** customers who just connected, and **nothing is broken** — the panel says so on the number's page, with the direct link. _It unlocks: starting conversations with templates._

**2 · The display name — and this depends on WHICH number you have.** Three different cases, and **only in one of them does Meta require it**. The panel tells you which one you're in, and doesn't show you the other two.

· **A `+1 555` Meta assigned you:** 🔴 **here an approved name really is a documented requirement.** Meta says so verbatim —_"must have their display names approved before they can be used to send messages"_— and the text of error **131037** names the range. ⚠ What we **cannot** tell you is what happens meanwhile: we measured one `+1 555` that sent fine for 21 hours before Meta rejected everything at once, and another that **keeps sending** with its name under review. _It unlocks: meeting the requirement Meta states for these numbers._

· **Your own number on Cloud API:** a **rejected name does not stop you from sending**. What changes is what your customer sees: the number instead of your business name. Meta sends the name to review on its own when you move up a messaging tier. _It unlocks: being seen by your name, not your number._

· **Coexistence:** the issue **doesn't apply**. The name is managed by your customer from the WhatsApp Business app on their phone, not from here, and Meta doesn't even open a review unless the business subscribes to Meta Verified. That's nine of our twelve connections. _It neither unlocks nor blocks anything: it's informational._

**3 · Verify your business.** It raises the daily ceiling from **250 to 2,000** new people per day. ⚠ It is **one** of three ways to reach 2,000: you also get there by delivering 2,000 messages to distinct people in 30 days with good-quality templates, or by having a partner verify the business. The full ladder is 250 → 2,000 → 10,000 → 100,000 → unlimited, and from 2,000 up it climbs on its own with good quality and usage. _It unlocks: reaching more people per day._

## Notes

- The daily ceiling is **Meta's**, not ours, and it is shared across every number in the same business portfolio. The panel shows it on the number's page with that caveat.
- 🔴 A Meta `+1 555` is **the only** case where Meta ties name approval to sending. And the reason connecting your own is first on the list (step ①) isn't that: it's that **a `+1 555` cannot be migrated later**.
- ⚠ **And there's quite a lot Meta doesn't clear up.** On a `+1 555` it can report the name as "ready, no review needed" **and still reject you** for not having an approved name; both can't be true at once and their documentation doesn't say which wins. On top of that, when it rejects a send it returns a **name** error (131037), while its own health report on that same account can give a **different reason** — business verification. Requesting a name review from WhatsApp Manager is the path that exists; **Meta does not say that clears 131037, and we haven't verified it.**
- None of this blocks the next step: you can integrate, send yourself test messages and build templates while the paperwork moves.