# Openai api credits grant isssue can i still use those free credits which are still available **URL:** \ **Category:** API\ **Tags:** api, assistants-api\ **Created:** [March 5, 2026, 4:22am UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739 "2026-03-05T04:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![khanshabirghulam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea5d25/32.png) [@khanshabirghulam](https://community.openai.com/u/khanshabirghulam)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2026, 4:22am UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/1 "2026-03-05T04:22:22Z")
I have paid for the credits last year for 5$ there were some credites granted for free. these are still available but i am got being able to use it what is the reason look at these two screenshot at one point it says only 1.15$ and at other point credits grant of 23$. those credits are still available but it looks like i will not be able to use it. Is there any solution of it ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/original/4X/c/e/c/cecb373b72fb8f30f122edbefd814511af71f299.png) ---
**Author:** ![\_j](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/_j/32/719663_2.png) [@\_j](https://community.openai.com/u/_j)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2026, 5:10am UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/2 "2026-03-05T05:10:45Z")
The $18 is an API trial credit that expired three months after you created an account - it was created and destroyed three years ago, even if it was, from your perspective, just a ChatGPT login that you created. What you are seeing is the payment platform being extremely screwed up and untrustworthy, the same symptoms on my own organization and others: - Newer credit expiration dates being applied to older credit items, not merely a UI bug but an issue in the returned data from the payments API backend; - Payments being consumed from out-of-order of the earliest expiration, so that payments expire while being skipped over; - Payments of credits being completely ignored for either paying for services or for adding to the shown credit balance. This has been ongoing for months with no resolution and with nobody at OpenAI even addressing it system-wide. News of “changes” I see: one credit that that was showing a wrong expiration date for months now has the correct expiration date - but only with the balance zeroed out against it in the interim. Even in the _usage_ page, the “total spend” for month-to-date and the “March budget” usage are different amounts. It seems you also have: “Expired” reverting to “Available” for this old credit. Be glad if you don’t have (or check for) the worse symptom possible, since it seems this trial credit is showing an unremoved $18/$18 when it is expected to show $0/18: $18 of an old expired credit acting like you actually OWE OpenAI $18 and making your balance go -18 and causing a bill invoice that if not paid would shut off the account. > [@Negative balance despite no API usage](https://community.openai.com/t/negative-balance-despite-no-api-usage/1366595/13): > > At the beginning, it was $0.00. > After I added $10, it displayed a $10 balance. > And then I was able to test it. > After couple of days transformed to -$8 You are wise to only have put in the $5 at the time, meeting the criteria, “don’t pay more than you can afford to lose (or have taken from you)”. If you are real lucky: the $18 is made working again through OpenAI fault. ---
**Author:** ![OpenAI\_Support](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/openai_support/32/561845_2.png) [@OpenAI\_Support](https://community.openai.com/u/OpenAI_Support)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/3 "2026-08-13T19:54:43Z")
Hi there - we’re closing this topic because there hasn’t been a new response for a long period of time and the discussion appears inactive. If you still need help, please reach out to [support@openai.com](mailto:support@openai.com). Thanks for being part of the community. Avinash ---
**Author:** ![avinash.api](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/avinash.api/32/741581_2.png) [@avinash.api](https://community.openai.com/u/avinash.api)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/4 "2026-08-13T19:55:36Z")
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**Author:** ![VeitB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/veitb/32/712987_2.png) [@VeitB](https://community.openai.com/u/VeitB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 8:44pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/5 "2026-08-18T20:44:58Z")
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**Author:** ![VeitB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/openai1/user_avatar/community.openai.com/veitb/32/712987_2.png) [@VeitB](https://community.openai.com/u/VeitB)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://community.openai.com/t/openai-api-credits-grant-isssue-can-i-still-use-those-free-credits-which-are-still-available/1375739/6 "2026-08-23T21:09:27Z")