🐛 [Bug] Credits drained continuously after closing Claude Code session — $39.07 lost overnight with auto-reload DISABLED

[jrbsolucoes]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Summary

On my first ever use of Claude Code, $39.07 in prepaid API credits were consumed without any active session. I closed Claude Code and went to sleep. When I checked billing the next morning, credits were still actively draining. The only way to stop it was to delete the API key entirely. Auto-reload was disabled throughout.

This is a critical financial issue. I am a developer in difficult financial circumstances and loaded $45 specifically to develop a project. This incident has left me with $5.93 and has severely damaged my trust in using Claude Code safely.

---

Timeline of Events

Time	Event
2026-02-25 ~evening	Loaded $45.00 in prepaid credits to start first Claude Code session
2026-02-25 ~22:50 BRT	Noticed credits draining abnormally. Closed Claude Code session.
2026-02-25 ~22:50 BRT	Credits continued to drop after session was closed
2026-02-25 ~23:xx BRT	Deleted API key — only action that stopped the drain
Balance at time of deletion	~$8.63 remaining
2026-02-26 (next day check)	Balance had dropped further to $5.93 — drain continued even after key deletion, or a delayed charge was processed
Total lost	$39.07 out of $45.00 loaded

---

Financial Impact

• Credits loaded: $45.00
• Balance when drain was stopped: ~$8.63
• Balance next day: $5.93
• Total consumed: ~$39.07
• Legitimate usage value received: Significantly less than $39.07 — first-time user, project was in planning/scaffolding phase

---

Expected Behavior

1. When a Claude Code session is closed, all API calls should terminate immediately
2. Credits should not continue to drain after the session window is closed
3. Deleting an API key should immediately halt all pending charges associated with that key
4. A user with auto-reload disabled should never be charged beyond their loaded balance through background processes

---

Actual Behavior

1. Credits continued to drain after Claude Code was closed
2. Credits continued to drain (or delayed charges processed) even after the API key was deleted
3. No warning, no notification, no rate-limiting — silent consumption overnight
4. Auto-reload was disabled — yet the drain behavior suggests a process was running server-side beyond client control

---

Environment

• OS: Windows
• Claude Code version: Latest available at 2026-02-25
• Authentication method: API key (prepaid credits)
• Auto-reload setting: DISABLED
• Spending limit: Not configurable at the time (no per-session limit UI available)
• Session type: Interactive development session (project scaffolding, not background/CI tasks)

---

Related Issues

This appears related to or a combination of:

• Issue 🐛 Bug: Claude Code charges users twice - API billing AND prepaid credits consumed simultaneously #23315 — Double billing bug where API billing users are charged via both API billing and prepaid credits simultaneously
• Issue [Bug] Anthropic API: Credit consumption rate increased 3-5x after January 1st #16868 — Credit consumption rate increased 3–5x after January 1st 2026
• Claude Code background tasks implement a persistence layer that maintains process continuity across session interruptions — this background persistence may be the mechanism responsible for continued billing after the UI session is closed

---

Impact & Urgency

• Severity: Critical — complete loss of pre-loaded funds
• User impact: First-time user. This incident has made it impossible to safely use Claude Code without fear of uncontrolled credit drain
• Financial context: Loaded funds specifically for a development project. Loss of $39.07 represents the near-total budget available

---

Requested Actions

1. Investigate server-side processes associated with my account active between 2026-02-25 23:00 BRT and 2026-02-26
2. Explain why credits continued to drain after both session close AND API key deletion
3. Issue a refund of $39.07 or the portion attributable to post-session background consumption
4. Implement safeguards:
   • Hard kill of all server-side processes upon session close
   • Immediate halt of all charges upon API key deletion (not delayed)
   • Per-session spending cap configurable by user before session starts
   • Real-time billing alert when spend exceeds a threshold

---

Additional Context

I am willing to provide account email, billing timestamps, and any other evidence required to investigate this incident. I can be reached through the support channel at https://support.claude.com.

"My first experience with Claude Code and this happened. I understand bugs occur, but silent background billing after a session is closed — with auto-reload disabled — is not acceptable behavior for a paid developer tool."

## Summary

On my first ever use of Claude Code, $39.07 in prepaid API credits were consumed without any active session. I closed Claude Code and went to sleep. When I checked billing the next morning, credits were still actively draining. The only way to stop it was to delete the API key entirely. Auto-reload was disabled throughout.

This is a critical financial issue. I am a developer in difficult financial circumstances and loaded $45 specifically to develop a project. This incident has left me with $5.93 and has severely damaged my trust in using Claude Code safely.

---

Timeline of Events

Time	Event
2026-02-25 ~evening	Loaded $45.00 in prepaid credits to start first Claude Code session
2026-02-25 ~22:50 BRT	Noticed credits draining abnormally. Closed Claude Code session.
2026-02-25 ~22:50 BRT	Credits continued to drop after session was closed
2026-02-25 ~23:xx BRT	Deleted API key — only action that stopped the drain
Balance at time of deletion	~$8.63 remaining
2026-02-26 (next day check)	Balance had dropped further to $5.93 — drain continued even after key deletion, or a delayed charge was processed
Total lost	$39.07 out of $45.00 loaded

---

Financial Impact

• Credits loaded: $45.00
• Balance when drain was stopped: ~$8.63
• Balance next day: $5.93
• Total consumed: ~$39.07
• Legitimate usage value received: Significantly less than $39.07 — first-time user, project was in planning/scaffolding phase

---

Expected Behavior

1. When a Claude Code session is closed, all API calls should terminate immediately
2. Credits should not continue to drain after the session window is closed
3. Deleting an API key should immediately halt all pending charges associated with that key
4. A user with auto-reload disabled should never be charged beyond their loaded balance through background processes

---

Actual Behavior

1. Credits continued to drain after Claude Code was closed
2. Credits continued to drain (or delayed charges processed) even after the API key was deleted
3. No warning, no notification, no rate-limiting — silent consumption overnight
4. Auto-reload was disabled — yet the drain behavior suggests a process was running server-side beyond client control

---

Environment

• OS: Windows
• Claude Code version: Latest available at 2026-02-25
• Authentication method: API key (prepaid credits)
• Auto-reload setting: DISABLED
• Spending limit: Not configurable at the time (no per-session limit UI available)
• Session type: Interactive development session (project scaffolding, not background/CI tasks)

---

Related Issues

This appears related to or a combination of:

• Issue 🐛 Bug: Claude Code charges users twice - API billing AND prepaid credits consumed simultaneously #23315 — Double billing bug where API billing users are charged via both API billing and prepaid credits simultaneously
• Issue [Bug] Anthropic API: Credit consumption rate increased 3-5x after January 1st #16868 — Credit consumption rate increased 3–5x after January 1st 2026
• Claude Code background tasks implement a persistence layer that maintains process continuity across session interruptions — this background persistence may be the mechanism responsible for continued billing after the UI session is closed

---

Impact & Urgency

• Severity: Critical — complete loss of pre-loaded funds
• User impact: First-time user. This incident has made it impossible to safely use Claude Code without fear of uncontrolled credit drain
• Financial context: Loaded funds specifically for a development project. Loss of $39.07 represents the near-total budget available

---

Requested Actions

1. Investigate server-side processes associated with my account active between 2026-02-25 23:00 BRT and 2026-02-26
2. Explain why credits continued to drain after both session close AND API key deletion
3. Issue a refund of $39.07 or the portion attributable to post-session background consumption
4. Implement safeguards:
   • Hard kill of all server-side processes upon session close
   • Immediate halt of all charges upon API key deletion (not delayed)
   • Per-session spending cap configurable by user before session starts
   • Real-time billing alert when spend exceeds a threshold

---

Additional Context

I am willing to provide account email, billing timestamps, and any other evidence required to investigate this incident. I can be reached through the support channel at https://support.claude.com/.

"My first experience with Claude Code and this happened. I understand bugs occur, but silent background billing after a session is closed — with auto-reload disabled — is not acceptable behavior for a paid developer tool."

What Should Happen?

1. When a Claude Code session is closed, all API calls should terminate immediately
2. Credits should not continue to drain after the session window is closed
3. Deleting an API key should immediately halt all pending charges associated with that key
4. A user with auto-reload disabled should never be charged beyond their loaded balance through background processes

---

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a prepaid API key on console.anthropic.com with a loaded balance ($45.00)
2. Ensure auto-reload is DISABLED in Billing settings
3. Open Claude Code and authenticate with the API key
4. Start an interactive development session (project scaffolding, file generation, planning)
5. After extended use, close the Claude Code terminal/window normally
6. Wait several hours without any interaction
7. Check billing dashboard the next day

OBSERVED: Credits continued to drain after step 5 (session close)
OBSERVED: Credits continued to drain (or delayed charges applied) even after
deleting the API key entirely — the only action that appeared to stop
the bleed

NOTE: No background tasks, no CI/CD, no scripts, no other processes were
running. This was a single interactive session on a Windows machine.
The user was asleep when the drain occurred.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Version: 2.1.59

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

I am willing to provide account email, billing timestamps, and any other evidence required to investigate this incident. I can be reached through the support channel at https://support.claude.com/.

"My first experience with Claude Code and this happened. I understand bugs occur, but silent background billing after a session is closed — with auto-reload disabled — is not acceptable behavior for a paid developer tool."

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [BUG] Claude Code confirms stop but silently continues in the background spending tokens forever ("Tool permission request failed: Error: Stream closed") #14229
2. [BUG] Claude code web hang and still consuming credit #11018
3. Background bash commands become orphan processes after session close or task interruption #27959

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[jrbsolucoes]

This is NOT a duplicate. The referenced issues describe different scenarios.

Key differences in my case:

• Auto-reload was DISABLED — this is not a double-billing scenario
• Credits continued to drain AFTER the API key was deleted
• Balance dropped from $8.63 to $5.93 the following day, post-deletion
• This was my first Claude Code session ever, on 2026-02-25 ~23:00 BRT
• Total lost: $39.07 out of $45.00 loaded

The post-deletion drain is undocumented in issues #14229, #11018, and #27959.
Requesting human review before auto-close.

I have also contacted support directly regarding refund.

[jrbsolucoes]

This issue is still open and unresolved from my end.

I've already reached out via https://support.anthropic.com, but I want to keep this issue active as it documents a reproducible billing failure that may affect other users.

As a first-time Claude Code user who lost $39.07 on the very first session — including charges processed after I deleted my API key — I believe this deserves investigation beyond the automated duplicate detection.

The key facts that distinguish this from the referenced duplicates:

• Drain occurred after session close
• Drain continued after API key deletion
• Auto-reload was disabled the entire time

Support escalation update: On 2026-02-26, I opened support conversation #215473266620046 via https://support.anthropic.com. The AI agent explicitly escalated my case to a human billing specialist and stated I would receive an email response. It has now been 19 days with no reply from a human agent. I submitted a follow-up in the same conversation today (2026-03-17) requesting assignment confirmation and a response within 5 business days.

I am still waiting for:

1. A human response to support conversation #215473266620046
2. Investigation of server-side activity on my account after 2026-02-25 23:00 BRT
3. A refund of $39.07 or the portion attributable to post-session background consumption

Happy to cooperate with any investigation and provide billing screenshots and timestamps on request.

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.