Movement of funds from one entity to another is a highly regulated process, and while Upwork does facilitate payments between freelancers and clients, we are not allowed to operate like a bank that is permitted to hold money in an account over an indefinite period of time.
Upwork’s scheduled payment system offers freelancer’s the option to withdraw earnings at any time while establishing limits to the account balance within a certain period. Since regulations vary by country, different limits are set for US freelancers versus international freelancers. Once these limits are exceeded, the system automatically triggers a withdrawal into the freelancer’s primary disbursement method.
Funds in Account Over 180 Days
The balance will be disbursed into the freelancer’s default or preferred disbursement method, regardless if they met the $100/$1000 threshold.
* The maintaining balance will be included in the withdrawal if funds are older than 180 days
Payment Schedule
When setting up a disbursement (aka Get Paid) option, freelancers will be asked to choose the disbursement method, the scheduled period, and the minimum amount required to be in the account for the funds to be disbursed. Freelancers can still withdraw their available earnings at any time despite the schedule by clicking “Get Paid”. For freelancers who do not set up a payment schedule, the system will use quarterly as the default.
Blocked Withdrawals
Even with a schedule, withdrawals will be blocked if the freelancer’s AE is suspended or when there is no disbursement method on file. If a freelancer’s account is permanently suspended and there are earnings in the account eligible for receipt by the freelancer, confirm the preferred disbursement method with the freelancer and transfer the request to Payment Operations for manual withdrawal.
Helpful KB Links
- Choose an Automatic Payment Schedule (External)
As of July 12th, we have disabled ACH deposit verifications so users will no longer receive two (2) small deposits and will not need to enter the amounts to verify the account. The account will become active after the three-day security hold has taken place. However, if there is a mismatched name, it will delay activation and go into review - if this happens this would be notated under their payment method in their account.
In this screenshot, this is what the user sees after they've added the payment method.
There is still a three-day security hold before ACH becomes active and available for use as shown in the screenshot above.
If there is a mismatched name (as shown in the screenshot below), it will delay activation and go into review.
When adding an ACH payment method, some freelancers may receive this error message: “Our records indicate that the payment method entered is already associated with the maximum number of accounts. Please add a different payment method.”
Our system won’t allow the same US ACH bank to be used on more than 3 different Upwork accounts. Most freelancers who receive this error message are trying to add a BitWage ACH account as a payment method. BitWage provides the same routing number and account number to our freelancers, then BitWage disburses funds from the US Bank to the respective FLs (in most cases in bitcoins). Given this scenario, the first 3 freelancers who add this bank will have no issue and anyone after will receive the above error message.
How to Handle
Probe first asking if the freelancer uses a personal US ACH account or if the account is provided by a third party vendor/provider like BitWage
If a personal ACH account:
- Request from the user: a screenshot of the screen they are receiving the error message on (with the error message also displayed) & if not already determined, ask what actions the user took to receive the error message
- Assign ticket to Payment Operations explaining the issue in detail for further investigation
If the freelancer confirms that they are using BitWage or similar third party vendor ACH account: Advise that disbursements provided by BitWage (or any similar vendor) is not supported. This is because users would not be able to investigate with the bank if their transfer were to go missing since they don’t own the receiving bank account. We then suggest to use available payment methods based on their country like Direct to Local Bank, PayPal, Payoneer, etc.
See canned response below:
<Hi, Freelancer>
Thanks for contacting the Upwork Support Team.
Unfortunately, we don't support third party vendor ACH bank account (i.e. BitWage) as payment method at this time. Upwork only supports withdrawals to bank accounts owned by you or that you are the authorized signer. If your withdrawal were to go missing, you would not be able to investigate the payment with the receiving bank as you are not the receiving bank account owner. We recommend for you to please use one of the available payment methods to you.
To see which payment methods are available to you, please log into your account, click on “Settings,” then “Get Paid,” and choose “Add a Payment Method.” All of your options will be listed there.
I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Thanks for using Upwork!
Thank you,
Upwork Customer Support
We are required, by state laws, to transfer funds from an account to the State if an account is abandoned (no activity) for over 3 years. Upwork freelancers that have held funds on the platforms for the past three years or greater and not logged in during that time will be notified via email or letter of the impending risk of Escheatment (when unclaimed property, funds in this case, are turned over to the government). Individuals can claim this property from the State, but are encouraged to do so before escheatment occurs.
Messages to Freelancers
You have funds in your account but there has been no customer activity on your account for more than three years. Therefore, your property is in danger of escheating to the State of record in your Upwork account if you do not timely respond to this notice. If you did not provide Upwork with a complete address or are an international Upwork user your funds will be remitted to the State of Delaware. If Upwork has already remitted your funds to the State we suggest you contact that state’s unclaimed property division for collection of your funds as Upwork is no longer in possession of these funds.
To avoid escheatment, you should:
- Withdraw your balance. To do so, simply initiate a withdrawal request using your preferred method.
- Log in. Just by logging in, you are showing an interest in your account and we’ll continue to maintain it on your behalf and will not escheat to the State of California
FAQs
What does escheatment mean?
State Unclaimed Property Law requires Upwork to transfer funds from your account to your state of record in your Upwork account or Upwork's state of incorporation if the account has been inactive for statutory dormancy period.
I can’t remember my password. It’s been so long. What do I do?
If you have forgotten your login credentials, you can reset your password here.
How much money do I have on Upwork?
Please login to your Upwork account to access this information.
Am I in some kind of legal danger?
No. This is simply a notification that due to the time your funds have been held along with your inactivity on Upwork, the law requires that we transfer them to the State. You can still retrieve them from the individual state but this is a more complicated process that what we outlined in our email notification.
To avoid escheatment, you should:
- Withdraw your balance. To do so, simply initiate a withdrawal request using your preferred method.
- Log in. Just by logging in, you are showing an interest in your account and we’ll continue to maintain it on your behalf and will not escheat to the State.