**Faster Payouts

Agents: Please use categories: Getting Paid > Faster Payouts for tickets related to this.

How does it work?
Thanks for reaching out. As long as your client’s billing method can be charged successfully and they don’t dispute your hours, we will apply their payment to your Upwork account five days earlier than before if you are Top Rated. You can then withdraw the money anytime you prefer by clicking here and choosing “Get Paid Now.” Note: If you have an automatic payment schedule set up and want your earnings sooner, you also can use “Get Paid Now.”

Who is eligible?

Thanks for your question. We are rolling this out to the Upwork marketplace’s most successful freelancers and agencies -- those who are Top Rated. In the future, we may consider expanding this to other freelancers. 

Will this be more widely available in the future?

Thanks for reaching out. We will look at expanding this to other freelancers in the future. Stay tuned! 

Will you take additional steps to help us get payments faster?

Thanks for your question. We have no plans to do so. We do need to leave time for clients to review the hours you billed and your progress on the project.

Will the reduction on hold on funds be applied to fixed-price contracts?
Thanks for reaching out. The five-day security hold will still apply for fixed-price contracts.

Why is there a review/security-hold period in the first place?

Thanks for your question. There is inherent risk in payment processing, driven by the potential of fraud, disputes and chargebacks. We also want to give clients time to review their freelancer’s billed hours and project progress before a payment is released. That is why we established the ten-day review and security-hold period to begin with. But in these unusual times, we understand how important it is for you to get your money as quickly as possible. As a result, we are willing to take on additional risk and potential losses and remove the security-hold period for Top Rated freelancers and agencies so you can get your money five days sooner.

Will this be available only during COVID-19?

Thanks for reaching out. While we plan to continue the practice after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, we will be monitoring how this change impacts our marketplace and business. 

Will all payouts be accelerated and are there any instances when they wouldn’t be? (For example,  we will only pay early if (a) client payment was successful and (b) payment/work is not disputed.)

Thanks for your question. If your client disputes your hours or their billing method cannot be successfully charged, your payment will be delayed. 

Why does it show a payout date of a Wednesday (for example, May 13) instead of five days earlier, on the Friday (for example, May 8)?
Thanks for reaching out. Your official payment date will continue to show as Wednesday. This is because we won’t know which payments will be released early until we review accounts every Friday morning (if your client disputes your hours or their payment fails, we can’t release your payment until the issue is resolved). As long as there’s no issues, your payment will be posted to your Upwork account on the Friday before the Wednesday date that is listed. For example, if your payment date is listed as Wednesday, July 15, you will receive it on Friday, July 10. 

I’m Top Rated, why didn’t I get an email about getting paid faster?
Thanks for reaching out. This type of email is only sent to users who haven’t opted out of receiving promotional emails from us. Please check your Notification Settings. Also, be sure to check your junk and spam folders too, as emails from us might be there. Note: If you opt out of receiving promotional emails from us you will still receive non-promotional emails to alert you about account changes and transactions.