diff --git a/fs/ext3/balloc.c b/fs/ext3/balloc.c
index a2038928f9a3..954a7d355f59 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/balloc.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/balloc.c
@@ -1743,8 +1743,11 @@ ext3_fsblk_t ext3_new_blocks(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 
 	*errp = 0;
 	brelse(bitmap_bh);
-	dquot_free_block(inode, *count-num);
-	*count = num;
+
+	if (num < *count) {
+		dquot_free_block(inode, *count-num);
+		*count = num;
+	}
 
 	trace_ext3_allocate_blocks(inode, goal, num,
 				   (unsigned long long)ret_block);