Azure Credit Issue - Please Help

Hello @Jacob ,

You almost certainly have not lost your $200 Azure credits. However, the Azure upgrade flow can make this situation confusing, and what you’re experiencing is a common scenario with Azure Free Trial subscriptions.

Here’s what likely happened:

• Your $200 free credit is still valid
• The credits will continue to be applied automatically until 30 days from signup, or the full $200 credit is consumed

This is expected behavior and is documented by Microsoft. Please refer to this link for detailed information- https://dori-uw-1.kuma-moon.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/manage/upgrade-azure-subscription

To verify your credits:

• Go to the Azure Portal
• Search for Cost Management + Billing
• Navigate to Credits

If the credits are still available, they will be displayed there even after the subscription upgrade.

Upgrading from an Azure free trial to a pay-as-you-go subscription does not immediately remove the remaining $200 free credit, but how it appears and is consumed changes.

Key points based on the free account behavior:

1. During the first 30 days after creating the Azure free account, there is $200 credit that can be used on almost any Azure service, including virtual machines, as long as the credit is not exhausted and not expired.
2. When the account is upgraded to pay-as-you-go within those 30 days, any unused portion of the $200 credit is kept and can still be used until the original 30‑day period ends. For example, if sign-up was on November 1 and upgrade on November 5, the remaining credit is usable until November 30.
3. After upgrade, charges for non-free services (like many VM sizes) are first deducted from the remaining free credit. Once that credit is exhausted or the 30 days end, normal pay‑as‑you‑go billing starts.
4. If the $200 credit has already been fully consumed by the VM usage, or the 30‑day window has passed, the credit will no longer appear because it is either used or expired.

To verify what happened to the credits:

1. Sign in to the Azure portal and go to Cost Management + Billing.
2. Check the subscription created with the Azure free account and review usage and charges during the first 30 days to see if the $200 was consumed by the VM.
3. If the subscription was disabled due to running out of credit and then upgraded, be aware that non‑free resources are re‑enabled and start incurring pay‑as‑you‑go charges.

If the portal still shows no trace of the free credit and the 30‑day period should not be over, open a billing support request from the Azure portal so the billing team can review the subscription and credit status. Billing support is free.

References:

• Avoid charges with your Azure free account
• Create services included with Azure free account
• Upgrade your Azure free account or Azure for Students Starter account