Thanks - yes I did hear that, but sadly it isn't an option for me for some specific reasons

specifically: I moved countries in between and now they require entry of a credit card even though they would supposedly not bill it, but they decline all my credit cards (which they are not going to bill) because the billing country has to match the account country ... as usual the support options end in a dead end / python script etc. Which all just points back to, I'm dealing with a giant borg too big too care and moving is probably the right thing any way.

I'm not sure 'paid off' is the correct takeaway. Moreso, Google as an organization has no idea what they are doing, quite literally. Promising free forever, then trying to force you to pay, then giving up is not the sign of a healthy host. That act alone led me to move all of my consumer spending away from Google(mainly drive space and yt premium).

Do you have a link about the grandfathered plans? I added my card on file few weeks back when Google was incessantly mailing about shutting my account if I didn't upgrade to paid plan. Would like to know if it was unnecessary