What Are SMS Credits?
Starting August 1st, sending a text message to your passholders uses SMS Credits. One credit covers one text to one passholder — send to a Customer Segment of 200 people, and that's 200 credits.
Email and Pass Feed messages don't use credits. They never have, and they won't going forward. This applies to text messages only.
Your balance, your purchase history, and your auto-reload settings all live in one place: Settings → SMS Credits.
💳 Two Kinds of Credits
Credits reach your account two ways, and they behave differently. The difference matters, so it's worth knowing which is which.
| Contract credits | Purchased credits |
Where they come from | Included with your plan, added at contract start and again at every renewal | Bought any time from Buy More Credits |
Used first? | Yes. Every send draws these down first | Only once your contract credits are gone |
Do they roll over? | No. Unused contract credits don't carry into the next contract year | Yes, always. They never expire |
At renewal | A new message bundle will automatically apply to your account each year at renewal | Untouched. They stay on your account |
Your renewal allotment size depends on your plan. You'll see yours on the SMS Credits page.
✅ Credits you paid for are never wasted
Because contract credits are always spent first, you can't accidentally burn through purchased credits while free ones are sitting unused. Anything you buy stays put until you've used everything your plan gave you.
The flip side: contract credits reset rather than accumulate. If you're still holding a pile of them a month or two out from renewal, they're about to disappear — and you'll start the new year with the same allotment either way. That's a good window for a re-engagement text to lapsed passholders, or a heads-up about what's coming next season!
🛒 Buying Credits
Go to Settings → SMS Credits.
Click Buy More Credits.
Choose a credit package. Larger packages cost less per credit, and current pricing is shown on the page.
Complete checkout. Your balance updates immediately.
Paying by purchase order? Reach out to your Partner Success Specialist before you buy — POs are handled outside the checkout flow.
🔄 Setting Up Auto-Reload - RECOMMENDED
Auto-reload tops up your balance automatically so a campaign never stalls waiting on a purchase.
On the SMS Credits page, turn on Auto-Reload.
Set the threshold — the balance that triggers a top-up.
Choose the credit package to reload with.
Save your payment method.
💡 Pick your threshold with your largest send in mind
Set the threshold above the size of your biggest typical send, not just above zero. Auto-reload triggers when you cross the threshold — so if a single campaign needs more credits than the reload delivers, you can still come up short on that send.
If your largest Customer Segment is around 3,000 passholders, a threshold well above 3,000 gives you room.
📊 Reading Your Transaction History
Every credit that enters or leaves your account is listed on the SMS Credits page, with a date and a description.
You'll see:
Purchases — packages you bought, and auto-reload top-ups
Contract credits — the allotment added at contract start or renewal
Usage — each text you sent and how many credits it used
Adjustments — any correction made by the Bandwango team, with the reason
Worth a monthly look. It's the clearest picture of which campaigns are driving your messaging spend.
✉️ Sending a Text With Credits
The messaging workflow hasn't changed. What's new is that you'll see the cost before you commit.
Composing a message
When you select Text as your send method and choose your Customer Segments, an estimated credit cost appears based on how many passholders are currently in that segment.
The estimate moves as your Customer Segments do. Add a segment, and the number goes up.
Message Length
Text messages are capped at 210 characters. A live counter shows where you are as you type, so you can't accidentally go over.
Sending immediately
If your balance covers the full send, it goes out. If it doesn't, the send is blocked and you'll be prompted to buy more credits.
Scheduling for later
When you schedule a text, we don't reserve the credits at that moment. We check your balance at the moment the message is due to send — because your Customer Segment can grow between scheduling and sending. A campaign you scheduled for 400 passholders might be going to 600 by the time it's due.
If your balance covers the full send at that moment, it goes out normally. If it doesn't, the message is Held.
⚠️ We never send a partial batch
If your balance covers 300 passholders out of 500, we don't send to 300. The whole message is held until you can cover all 500.
This is deliberate. A half-delivered campaign leaves you with no clean way to reach the rest — you can't tell who received it without cross-referencing, and re-sending risks double-texting people.
🔓 Resolving a Held Message
A held message shows a Held — needs credits badge on your Messages list.
To send it:
Go to Settings → SMS Credits and top up your balance.
Return to Messages and open the held message.
Click Send Now.
To drop it instead, click Cancel. Nothing is charged.
📬 Check your Messages list around scheduled sends
Automatic alerts for held messages are in development. Until they ship, a quick look at your Messages list after a scheduled send is the reliable way to catch one.
Auto-reload is the better safeguard: with it on, a hold is far less likely in the first place.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Do email and Pass Feed messages use credits?
No. Text messages only.
How many credits does one text cost?
One credit per message send. A text to a Customer list of 150 uses 150 credits.
Does a longer message cost more?
No! All text messages - regardless of length - cost the same. 210 character limit.
Does sending a test message use credits?
No. Test yours as many times as you like.
Which credits get used first when I send?
Contract credits, always. Purchased credits are only drawn on once your contract credits are used up — so nothing you paid for gets spent while free credits are still available.
What happens to contract credits I don't use before renewal?
They don't roll over. Your balance resets at renewal to the same allotment for the new contract year.
Do credits I purchase expire?
Never. Purchased credits roll over indefinitely and stay on your account.
Why was my scheduled text held when I had enough credits when I scheduled it?
Your balance is checked at send time, not at schedule time, and your Customer Segment likely grew in between. More passholders means more credits needed.
Can I send to just part of my list if I'm short on credits?
Not from a held message — it's all or nothing. If you need to reach a smaller group, build a narrower Customer Segment and send to that instead.
Who on my team bought our credits?
The purchase and amount are recorded, but we don't yet show which team member made it. That's being added.
Can I pay by purchase order?
Not through checkout. Contact your Partner Success Specialist and they'll arrange it.
What about Action-triggered messages? Do those text messages cost credits?
For now, action-triggered messaging does not use credits, but will within the coming months. We will communicate the change when we have a hard date.
My text didn't go out and there's no Held badge. What happened?
Likely something other than credits. Reach out and we'll take a look — start a chat from Experience Builder or email [email protected].
Related Articles
SMS Credits: Quick Setup Guide — the one-page version
Passholder Messaging — how to create and schedule messages
Customer Segments — building the segments your credit cost is based on
Messaging & Customer Segment Examples — campaign ideas