How it works
Each grant of credits gets an expiry date. When credits are spent, the oldest or soonest-expiring credits are usually consumed first so customers lose as little as possible. When a grant expires, its remaining amount is removed with a ledger entry that records why.
Expiry rules differ by credit source. Promotional and allowance credits often expire because they were free or bundled. Stripe's billing credits, for example, describe promotional credits as typically carrying an expiration date. Paid top-ups often do not expire, because customers object to losing what they bought, and some rules restrict expiry of prepaid value: US federal rules require gift card funds to remain valid for at least five years.
Example
A user gets 500 free trial credits that expire in 30 days and buys 1,000 credits that do not expire. Over the month they spend 650 credits, drawn first from the expiring grant. On day 30 the trial grant is fully used and nothing is lost; they keep 850 paid credits.
Credit expiration in Cred
Credit balances in cred.diy do not expire automatically. If your terms include expiry, your server applies it as an ordinary deduction with its own reference, so the removal is recorded in the ledger like any other movement and can be reversed if needed.
Managing Credits docsQuestions
- Is it legal to expire purchased credits?
- It depends on the jurisdiction and on how the credits are sold. Some places restrict expiry of gift cards and prepaid value. Get legal advice before expiring credits customers paid for.
- How do I expire credits without upsetting customers?
- Expire only free or bundled credits, give a long window, spend expiring credits first, and warn customers before anything is removed.
- Do subscription allowance credits usually expire?
- Often they reset or expire at the end of each period, since a new allowance arrives with every renewal. Plans that roll unused allowance over usually cap the rollover so balances do not grow without limit.
