Contract is on hold on a almost-done fixed terms contract ?

[#1]

So here is my problem, today I've got a notice that one of my contract was on hold, my client told me that this is a problem on his side (Apparently his account got suspended because he made transactions out of Upworks, that he told me.). 

I informed him that it'll cause delay since I don't work without a contract, but the platform I was working on is connected too their server, which mean they already have access to the files I worked on this far. 

What i'm wondering is, if in the end they lock his account or something do I lose the money for the work I did this far? I seems a bit unfair since until a few hours ago the contract and everything was all good and now I get this email a few hours before the final deadline.

Thank you for your answer, I only started freelancing a few months ago and never met this kind of issues before!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

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Karolane L wrote:

I informed him that it'll cause delay since I don't work without a contract, but the platform I was working on is connected too their server, which mean they already have access to the files I worked on this far. 

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If it is a fixed rate contract and already almost done and the money is in Escrow I would personally (and that is of course contrary to advice) just finish the last bit and then submit for payment, as the suspension does not necessarily affect money already in Escrow, as long as the problem was not anything to do with the client's payment method.

Failing that you might want to wait until it is resolved (if the client is in trouble for the first time they probably just let him sign a promise not to do it again) and then finish.

You still have a contract, it is not cancelled, just on hold, and the "on hold" bit is more relevant for hourly contracts because you can't track time.

Personally (and see disclaimer above) if I was nearly (90% or so) done, I'd not jeopardize the whole milestone because the client and Upwork have a spat...

[#3]

Oh, okay thanks a lot for the advice, I don't know if the customer have issues for the first time but the thing that irk me is that the amount in escrow is only 50% of the final payment.

I want to build a good relationship with this customer as he said that there would be more work incoming for me if everything goes well with the first contract but since Upworks told me not to work on it I don't want to lose my income by having issues with my account, I'm really thorn appart currently...

[#4]

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Karolane L wrote:
Oh, okay thanks a lot for the advice, I don't know if the customer have issues for the first time but the thing that irk me is that the amount in escrow is only 50% of the final payment.

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Then you should only have done 50% of the work...

[#5]

Yeah, I suppose that worst-case scenario it'll be a loss of half of that amount, I couldn't really do only 50% of the work since it was a tight deadline, but if the client have other contract once this one go through, i'll explain to him that I need all amount in escrow to avoid situation where I only deliver 50% of the work and keeping the rest until the issue is fixed. 

I currently have two contract on hold from different clients today while I never had this kind of issue this far, it's a bit frustrating, since the other is only 15$ for something that took me 30 minutes I don't care that much to eat the loss but for 2 days worth of work it sting a bit more. 

I guess Upworks had a wave of banning people yesterday or something haha.