Actions are disabled due to payment issues.

[z44d]

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Question

What GitHub Actions topic or product is this about?

Actions Runner

Discussion Details

Hi everyone

I'm currently on the Free plan (including Copilot Free), and all my budgets are set to $0. However, GitHub Actions is not working on any of my repositories — I keep seeing a message saying that my account is locked in payment settings due to failed payments.

The job was not started because recent account payments have failed or your spending limit needs to be increased. Please check the 'Billing & plans' section in your settings

To resolve this, I tried adding a payment method, and a $1 authorization was made to my card. Unfortunately, the account is still locked, and I’m unable to run any Actions.

I have sumbitted a support ticked but i saw this notice above, so i think this will take a long time and i really need quick solve.

The GitHub team will have limited availability from July 19th to July 27th. During this time, you may experience a slight delay in our support response. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

This is very important for my workflow, and I would really appreciate any help or guidance on how to unlock my account and resume using Actions.

Thank you.

[MaheshR03]

You're on the GitHub Free plan and using GitHub Actions, which are normally free within certain limits. However:
*Your Actions usage shows $0.32 metered, which GitHub attempted to bill.
*Your budgets are set to $0, and “Stop usage” is enabled, which means any cost beyond $0, even $0.01 immediately blocks services like Actions.
*Because your previous payment failed and your budget is set to $0, GitHub locked your account from running Actions, even though your billed amount is technically $0 (likely due to discounts or credits).

To fix this:
1.Increase Your Budget to Unlock Usage
Go to:
Settings > Billing & Plans > Budgets
Edit the “Actions” product budget
Set the budget to something greater than your current usage.

2.Manually Clear the Lock
Go to Settings > Billing & Plans
Click “Payment history”
If any payment attempt failed, try manually retrying it or paying the balance (even if it's $0.32)

3.Re-run Your Workflow
Once unlocked:
Go back to your repository
Re-run the failed GitHub Actions job from the Actions tab

Mark this as answer if helpful. Feel free to ask any doubts.

[z44d]

I have added new card with $1000 balance, it's take nothing so i tried to subscribe in copilot pro and i got this error message.

Your account is currently locked due to a failed billing authorization. Please update your payment information.

i have tried to set the budget of actions to 500$ and still not working.

[MaheshR03]

GitHub has your account in a locked state, likely because:

A past payment attempt failed (maybe before a payment method was added).

The system still flags the account as in arrears, even though your current balance is $0.

GitHub does not automatically retry billing attempts until a manual override happens or support intervenes.

This is not something you can fix entirely on your own, even with a valid card and budget, the lock is server-side.

Do the follows:

Force a Manual Billing Retry

Go to Billing → Payment History

See if there’s a "Failed" payment line (even if it's for a few cents).

If there is a "Retry" or "Pay now" button - click it.

If nothing appears, remove your payment method and re-add it again manually, which sometimes retriggers the billing attempt.

Contact Billing Support with Priority

You’ve already submitted a support ticket, but here's how to bump visibility:

Go to: GitHub Support Contact

Choose “Accounts or Billing” → “Billing issue”.

Clearly state in your message:

My account is locked due to a failed billing authorization. I have added a valid payment method with sufficient funds ($1000 balance), set the Actions budget to $500, and attempted to subscribe to Copilot Pro — yet I still receive the “account is locked” message.

This is blocking critical workflows, and I kindly request a manual unlock or payment retry. Ticket #[your existing ticket number] is already submitted.

Please escalate this if possible. Thank you.

You’ve Done Everything Right on Your End.

Until GitHub manually clears the lock or retries billing, no usage or upgrades will work, even if your card is perfect and budgets are generous.

Ping GitHub Support on Social Channels if its urgent

GitHub is typically quicker on Twitter/X:

Tweet or DM @ https://twitter.com/githubsupport

Include your ticket number.

Mention this is blocking workflow-critical use despite valid billing.

[hedgehogform]

I cannot create tickets they don't show up for some reason @github-staff

[z44d]

Do you have the same issue of mine? I solved it by adding virtual credit card i got it from Bybit intead of my physical one, they took $1 after a few minutes, then they refund it to me and my account got unlocked, the support respond after 2 weeks of solving my problem and they did nothing to me. the whole problem was my bank is not supporting online payments so i used crypto card instead ( removed the payment info later )

[hedgehogform]

Do you have the same issue of mine? I solved it by adding virtual credit card i got it from Bybit intead of my physical one, they took $1 after a few minutes, then they refund it to me and my account got unlocked, the support respond after 2 weeks of solving my problem and they did nothing to me. the whole problem was my bank is not supporting online payments so i used crypto card instead ( removed the payment info later )

I had to add a buget and set it to a dollar to make it work then set it back to 0 again

[hedgehogform]

I also had a credit card authorization issue. I solved it by deleting my card and adding it again too.

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