OpenAI API Credits Expired or Balance Disappeared
Quick answer
Purchased API credits expire after 12 months and OpenAI does not extend them. Check Billing history, buy smaller top-ups and ask support only if it was a billing error.
Most likely fix: Check credit grants
How to fix it
Try these in order — the most common fix is first.
1. Check credit grants
- Billing > Overview > Credit grants shows expiry dates
Did this fix it?2. Buy smaller amounts with auto-recharge
- Avoid prepaying large balances you will not use within a year
Did this fix it?3. Request a review
- Refunds only for billing errors, unauthorized activity or confirmed service failures; contact support with details
Did this fix it?
Symptoms
Balance dropped to zero without usage, or an expiry date appears on credit grants.
Why it happens
- 12-month expiry on purchased credits
- Free credits used first and expired
- No proactive expiry warning
This guide also covers
- openai api credits expired
- openai credits disappeared
- openai api refund credits
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The same problem in other apps
All plan limits, paywalls & watermarks guides →
- Claude Usage Limit Reached (Anthropic Claude)
- Gemini Usage Limit Reached (Google Gemini)
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Other OpenAI errors
- OpenAI API 429 Too Many Requests (Rate Limit)
- OpenAI API Error: You Exceeded Your Current Quota (insufficient_quota)
- OpenAI API 401 Incorrect API Key Provided
- OpenAI API 500 and 503 Server Errors (server_is_overloaded)
- OpenAI API Request Timed Out / 504 Gateway Timeout
- OpenAI "Your Organization Must Be Verified" 403 Error
- OpenAI API model_not_found: Model Does Not Exist or You Do Not Have Access
- OpenAI API context_length_exceeded: Maximum Context Length Error