This week, r/ClaudeAI got more than 130 comments telling the same story: the US$100 free credit from the Claude Fable 5 promotion disappeared from accounts of people who swore they had until September 19 to spend it. The real date, confirmed by Anthropic's own documentation, was always different: September 17, 2026, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time (PT), regardless of when the credit was claimed.
My free Claude credit disappeared before the date the screen showed. Is this a bug?
It is not an expiration bug, it is the wrong date in the wrong place. The promotion never had a rolling deadline counted from each person's individual claim date: it expires on one fixed date for everyone, and that date is September 17, not 19. Anyone who read "19" somewhere and saved the balance for the weekend lost the credit without warning.
Why did so many people expect a different date?
Two factors piled up. The first is a math mistake: the promotion talked about credits valid for up to 60 days after the start of the claim window (July 20 to August 2, 2026), and a lot of people treated that as "2 calendar months" counted from their own claim date, which lands on September 19 for anyone who claimed in late July. The real rule is different: a single cutoff date for everyone, September 17 at 11:59 PM PT, regardless of when each person clicked claim.
The second is timezone. The usage panel shows only the date, no time or timezone. Midnight Pacific Time in the US is already the next morning across most of the world, Brazil included. Anyone outside the US saw the credit disappear hours before they expected it, compared to their own local clock.
How do I confirm the real date before losing the balance?
Three steps, none of which rely on trusting the bare number shown in the panel:
- Find the official article for that specific promotion, not the generic usage credits page. Every Anthropic promotion documents an exact date and time, and that time is always Pacific Time (PT), not your own timezone.
- Convert PT to your timezone before deciding to wait. 11:59 PM PT on a given day is already early morning the next day in Brasília (UTC-3, 3 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time). If the screen only shows a date with no time, assume the real deadline already passed a few hours before midnight on your own clock.
- Spend the credit as soon as you have real use for it. Anthropic's general credit terms are direct: promotional credit expires on the date stated at issuance, with no extension and no refund once it expires.
Has this happened with other Anthropic promotions before?
Yes, and the same timing pattern repeats. The 50% boost on Claude Code's weekly limit, which we already covered here, also expired at 11:59 PM PT, just on a different date.
| Promotion | Claim window | Expires at (always PT) |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 free credit (US$100) | Jul 20 to Aug 2, 2026 | Sep 17, 2026, 11:59 PM PT |
| Claude Code weekly limit 50% boost | May to Sep 2026 | Sep 13, 2026, 11:59 PM PT |
Dates confirmed in Anthropic's official support articles and in the credit terms at anthropic.com/legal/credit-terms, checked on 2026-09-19.
A promotional credit deadline is always one more clock to watch, with a timezone the screen never quite spells out. On Verboo Code there is no credit with a hidden expiration date: it is unlimited tokens inside a fixed monthly plan, no countdown to discover the hard way.
