Manual review request: 403 Lightning dunning decision is deny — project [105932686502..]

Gemini API
1

Hello Google AI / Gemini Team,

I’m requesting a manual review / dunning-cache flush for my project, as suggested in similar resolved threads (e.g. topics 177462, 176411, 178766).

Project ID: gen-lang-client-00891445.. Project number: 10593268650..

Error:

403 PERMISSION_DENIED
{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "message": "Lightning dunning decision is deny for project: projects/105932686502..",
    "status": "PERMISSION_DENIED"
  }
}

Context:

  • This is a personal Gemini API project (model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite) that had been running fine on the free tier.
  • On September 7, 2026, I upgraded the linked billing account from the free trial to a paid (“Cloud Prepay”) account and purchased a small top-up (A$8) to raise my rate limits.
  • Shortly after the billing upgrade completed, all Gemini API calls from this project started failing with the “Lightning dunning decision is deny” error, even though the billing account shows as active and in good standing, with a positive credit balance and no outstanding charges.
  • I have not made any other changes to the project, API key, or billing configuration.

What I’ve verified:

  • Billing account status: active, no payment failures, no outstanding balance.
  • API key is valid and unchanged.
  • The same error occurs consistently across multiple calls and retries over more than an hour, so this does not appear to be a transient/rate-limit issue.

Could someone please manually flush the dunning decision cache for this project? Happy to provide any additional account details needed to verify ownership.

Thank you!

2

Hello @Nam_Pham ,

Getting a 403 API error response and / or seeing “Unavailable” next to your project in AI audio indicates a flag has been placed on your account. To proceed:

  1. If you are on a paid tier:

    1. Check for banners / error callouts in the AI Studio Projects page & the Billing page. Mostly these flags cause visible banners or other errors on these pages with concrete next steps / appeal links. You can also check the email address associated with your project for information on next steps.

    2. If your GCP project/ billing account is suspended, you must submit an appeal directly through the Google Cloud Console following the Project Suspension Guidelines (Help Center)