It is shown that the multipole expansion of each order of the polarization series converges for large enough intermolecular distances when finite basis sets of Gaussian or Slater-type functions are used to approximate molecular response properties. Convergence of the multipole expansion for each order of the polarization series does not imply convergence of the polarization series itself. A corresponding convergence condition is extracted from the general perturbation theory in a finite-dimensional space and is applied to the H + H+ problem.