I’m really stressed and hoping someone here can help or at least give some advice.
On July 6, 2025, I tried purchasing $5 worth of OpenAI API credits using my HDFC Bank debit card. At first, the payment failed because I had international transactions disabled. I immediately enabled them, and the payment then went through automatically — no OTP prompt, no second confirmation, just debited.
Here’s the issue:
The money was successfully debited (₹427.69) from my account
I even got a confirmation SMS + email from HDFC
But no API credits showed up in my OpenAI account
And now it’s been well over 70 hours
I reached out to OpenAI support. Their AI assistant said it might be a rare processing issue due to the initial failed payment, and the manual review might take 1–3 business days. I eventually got a reply from a human agent who suggested checking with my bank and trying again after 24 hours (That was 40+ hours ago) — but that doesn’t really help when the money’s already gone and no service was delivered.
I also cancelled my OpenAI billing plan shortly after the failed transaction (after I realized the payment had gone through), just to avoid duplicate charges. Not sure if that messed something up further.
I’ve contacted HDFC as well, asking them to confirm if the payment was fully cleared from their side or is stuck somewhere. It was successful.
My questions:
Has anyone faced something similar with OpenAI and Stripe payments?
Is there any way to speed this up?
Should I just wait it out or request a chargeback if nothing happens in a few days?
This small payment may not be huge, but it’s still my hard-earned money — and the whole thing has been frustrating and mentally draining.
Would love to hear if anyone has had success resolving something like this, or if there are any other steps I can take.
You may only be seeing the “authorization”. That is the initial test that OpenAI does when you add a payment method to see that the card works.
This normally comes off your bank account in a few days, but some international banks have problems recognizing the authorization mechanism properly, and continue to hold (and potentially profit from) authorization tests, when no money was actually charged and delivered.
The actual payment failed according to your report, and you never actually purchased credits. I would “purchase” a different figure like $5.55 so you can see the distinction in amounts.
For payment processing issues you need to go through the support system at help.openai.com we have no ability to look into or make alterations or refunds on accounts from here.
No, the thing is I have double checked with my bank & they have made sure that the transaction was successfully processed.
The thing is just the credit amount ($5) was charged and the additional tax ($0.90) that was applicable hasn’t been deducted.
This is what I am seeing right-now on my billing page.
This only adds further corroboration that what you are seeing is the authorization upon updating the payment method, and not the charge for purchase of credits that would include the appropriate tax.
While it says “will be released in 7 days”, that is depending on the bank and their proper interpretation of the the payment network and translation of American credit card authorizations being separate from the later settlement of charges.
You can complain to your bank, “I want this authorization released sooner than the expected time, because I am confused”.
However OpenAI can’t refund anything if you were to contact customer service, because on their end they never actually charged anything or received money.
Thus, if you want to use the API, the solution is to verify that you and your banking are based in a supported country, that you have adequate funds, and the account is one that is tied to an identity (not a gift card or prepayment card). Then have a successful purchase of credits.
Thank you so much for this information brother! This really puts me at a comfortable position.
BTW just to clear some doubts, my money is stuck between bank and OpenAI for card authentication purposes. Once that authentication is successful, I will receive the said amount back as is.
You are saying that I ask the bank itself to like undo the transaction? Like what exactly do I say to them? What reason do I give them? Sorry for me sounding dumb but I really need help.
Just wait a week or two. You only need concern if funds are never released back to you (and that you won’t have that $5 for a while).
Unfortunately, if you’ve removed the payment method and cancelled any payment plan (which didn’t go through for the purchase anyway), you’ll need ANOTHER authorization to add a new card again.
I’m wondering, The AI company OpenAi is still depends on manual review which take up to 1–3 business days.
Why OpenAi not use AI to detect your payment?
It means they do not trust on own AI, but selling it to other persons.
Them trusting their AI does not help in this case, because of all the different parties involved to make the financial trx work. Those things will need to be checked in the current way.
