Five Ways to Top Up Lebara, Plus the Useful Codes People Forget

The quick route

Five sensible ways to add Lebara credit

Lebara's current online page offers £5, £10, £20 and £30 top-ups. Those amounts and payment options can change, so use the live checkout as the final word.⁶

1. Pay online by card.Open Lebara's top-up page, choose an amount and follow the checkout. Lebara currently lists Mastercard, Visa, Visa Debit, Visa Electron and American Express.⁶
2. Pay online with PayPal.Select PayPal at checkout if you would rather not enter a card directly in that journey.⁶
3. Use the MyLebara app.The app listing says it can add credit by card or PayPal, show the balance and display allowances.⁸
4. Redeem a voucher or scratch card.Buy the e-pin, keep the receipt and enter the number carefully. A wrong digit may block the voucher service.¹
5. Visit a high-street retailer.Lebara says its retailers can take cash or card. You are still buying credit for a particular Lebara number, so check the number before leaving the counter.⁶

Voucher in hand

There are two official voucher routes, and the digits matter

Lebara's voucher help page says to dial *#1345*, enter the 12-digit or 14-digit voucher number, add #, then press the call button.¹

Its current top-up page also tells customers with a 14-digit e-pin or scratch card to dial 5588 and enter the number there.⁶ The two instructions are not identical, so use the route printed on your voucher if it gives one. If it does not, start with the current online guidance rather than trying random menus.

The important distinction

Adding credit does not always activate the plan you wanted

Lebara describes top-up credit as the choice for occasional calls and texts, while its SIM-only plans include an allowance and are aimed at regular use, particularly mobile data.⁶

If a prepaid plan has enough balance, Lebara says it renews automatically. If the balance is too low, Lebara sends an alert and the plan does not renew. To add a plan after topping up, choose it online or in MyLebara; Lebara also says you can text that plan's opt-in code to 38885.³

Helping somebody else

Top up the number, not merely the person in your contacts

If you are paying for somebody else's Lebara line, ask them to read the number back to you. In the online journey, check the number again before confirming payment. Names can be duplicated in an address book; mobile numbers are less forgiving.

Do not ask them to send card details, passwords or a one-time security code. You can make the payment in the official checkout yourself, or buy a voucher and send only the voucher details through a channel you trust.

A top-up adds credit to the selected line. It does not guarantee that a particular plan will start. Ask the recipient to check the balance and, if needed, activate the intended plan after the credit lands.³

The small cheat sheet

Three codes worth saving somewhere boring and findable

• 5588Lebara says this reads out the plan and credit balance. Its top-up page also gives 5588 as a voucher route.³⁶
• *#1345*Start the voucher sequence, enter the 12-digit or 14-digit number, add # and press call.¹
• 38885Send the chosen plan's opt-in code here after adding enough credit, if you are activating by text.³

MyLebara is the less cryptic alternative when you have data or Wi-Fi. It shows the balance and allowances without asking you to remember which collection of stars and hashes does what.⁸

Payment made, balance unmoved

Work through the boring checks before paying twice

1. Check the target number.Look at the receipt, confirmation email or app record.
2. Check the balance.Use MyLebara or dial 5588. A plan allowance and cash credit are separate figures.³
3. Check the payment status.A pending bank entry is not the same as a completed top-up. Keep the reference.
4. Check whether you bought credit or a plan.If credit arrived but the allowance did not, activate the intended plan rather than buying the same credit again.
5. Then contact Lebara.Give support the number, amount, time and transaction reference. Never publish those details in a forum post.

For a voucher error, stop after checking the e-pin. Lebara warns that entering a wrong voucher number can block the top-up service, at which point customer support is the safer route.¹

The quiet PAYG trap

A cash balance does not promise that an unused number lives forever

Ofcom says a provider can suspend an inactive PAYG service and recycle its number when the line has not made a call, sent a text or used data. The inactivity period varies between providers, so there is no safe universal rule such as "all PAYG credit lasts six months".⁵

If the number matters, check Lebara's current terms and use the line periodically in whatever way those terms require. Merely keeping an old SIM in a drawer beside three mysterious charging cables is not evidence of activity.

Quick answers

Lebara top-up questions