Never Received My Instant Pay

[7e58b12c]

I had an Instant Payment successfully submitted at 1 am but it still has not reached my bank account. I contacted my bank & they have no record of any payment or pending payment. 

Please help. 

[AndreaG]

Hi Ann,

I can see you were able to submit a support ticket with our team regarding this. Please allow some time for our team to review and they will update you directly via ticket as soon as possible.

[7e58b12c]

Thank you @Andrea, Is there a typical timeframe for support tickets to be resolved? 

[AndreaG · Accepted solution]

Ann, please allow the team up to 24-48 hours to respond to your support ticket.

[alexdimuzio]

Hello! Did you ever get this resolved? I am currently experiencing the same exact issue with my Instant Pay

[7e58b12c]

Sorry to hear you are having the same problem I did.

I did get a resolution after I filed a complaint. I was told that even though I used Instant Pay for a fee, "it is not instant. Depending on your bank, it may take up to 48 hours to post." I received my money about 32 hours after clicking Instant Pay. 

A little bit of background info that may be helpful for you. I used Instant Pay many times before, never having an issue. Typically, I would click Instant Pay, and if I check my bank account, it would already be in my account -- not pending, but available for use. I didn't change my bank or account numbers. But suddenly, it is now not instant. 

I called my bank before contacting Upwork and this forum. There were no pending deposits. 

So I guess it is just50-50 if it will be instant or not. 

[alexdimuzio]

Thanks for the quick reply! Glad to hear it got worked out somewhat quickly for you. I am in the exact same boat, I could click Instant Pay in the past and instantly see it in my account. Did that at 915 pm last night and still nothing, heard the same from my bank that they never received it. I opened a support case as well but was told they can't trace it until 24 hours after I initiated the Instant Pay. Hopefully mine comes through tomorrow!

[JoanneP]

Hi Alexander,

I can see that you already have an open ticket regarding this issue. One of our agents will update your ticket and assist you further. 

[7e58b12c]

@Joanne, 

Once again the Instant Pay is not even close to being instant. I initiated Instant Pay on 8/13 (around 12 am), and I am still waiting on it to appear in my bank account. I have contacted my bank, and they see no pending or incoming deposit from Upwork. It has been over 48 hours. 

Is there ANY way to speed things up? I have always used Instant Pay, and it was relatively instant (usually 30 mins) to appear in my account. I have not changed banks. So something is causing payments to be delayed on your end. What can be done to correct this? What has changed on Upwork that is causing a delay? 

[AndreaG]

Hi Ann,

I'm sorry to hear your funds are delayed, I know how important it is for you to access your earnings as soon as possible. It looks like you were able to submit a support ticket with our team regarding this. Please allow some time for our team to review and they will update you directly via ticket,

[alexdimuzio]

How long did it take to get it resolved this time? I am having the same issue yet again as well, clearly something had to have changed on the Upwork side to cause this process to take so much longer...

[AndreaG]

Hi Alexander,

It looks like the team has already responded to your support ticket. Please refer to your ticket for more information about your transaction and feel free to reply directly to the team if you have any questions.

[7e58b12c]

My deposit finally appeared on Tuesday. I clicked Instant Pay early Friday morning. So clearly, there was no 24-48 hr timeframe for me. Even without counting the weekend, it was still longer than 48 hours. 

I checked w/ my bank daily & they said nothing was pending. The Upwork representative said that the deposit was sent on time.

I will refrain from using Instant Pay, which is a shame because it was one of the perks that I really found useful. 

How long did your Instant Pay take to arrive? 

[alexdimuzio]

I still haven't received mine, hoping it appears overnight tonight like it did last time. Here is what they told me today:

We understand that funds should be credited to your account instantly. However, as confirmed by our processor, there's a settlement delay recently configured by Visa and allows them to process their batches within 2 days of the initiation. We have reached out to our payment processor on how we can resolve this with Visa payouts. At this time, we do not have an ETA but rest assured that we are working with the banks to have Instant PayOuts reflect on accounts immediately.

[7e58b12c]

Thanks for the information. You definitely got a much better response than I did. 

[bcc2bc62]

I'm new to the Upwork platform and just tried to use Instant Pay for the first time as a test to see how long it would. After reading these responses I assumed it would take a few days. However, I requested mine on Tuesday and have not received it as of today (Friday). Have you guys seen a resolution for this is the last month? I'm not sure if it is just mine or everyone's payment that is delayed. 

[NikolaS]

Hi Nicole,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I shared your report with our team and one of our agents already reached out to you directly via a support ticket to assist you further. You can access your ticket on this page.

[developingteam]

My instant pay hasn’t gone through either now- which is a shame. I was so excited about this update— I never have any issues with instant withdrawals on any other platform- and it’s a significant amount of time that lapses to get paid considering that Upwork still holds funds for 5 days even after a client verifies and approves a milestone and funds the next.

It becomes extremely frustrating to be charged 20-25% on each project (idk wth it’s gone up but I’m seeing 25% being taken from recent projects)— and then to wait 5 days for the payment to be released- and I still can’t even rely on a quick payout after that despite an additional instant transfer fee.

This is the 3rd time my “instant transfer” hasn’t been instant. At this point I probably won’t even bother with it anymore.

[petra_r]

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Davron B wrote:
It becomes extremely frustrating to be charged 20-25% on each project (idk wth it’s gone up but I’m seeing 25% being taken from recent projects)— .

---

No, you are not seeing 25% being deducted....

[AveryO]

Hi Davron, 

I checked your account and can confirm that the withdrawal was processed successfully on our end. Depending on which bank you use, you may have to allow time for it to process your withdrawal. 

Let us know if you don't receive it after 24-hours and our team will assist you further.

As for the freelancer fees, you are only charged a sliding fee of 20%, 10%, or 5% on your earnings on Upwork. If you're seeing other charges on your account, let us know. 

[stephen-cannon]

Not sure why my account has not been credited via instant pay. I have it set up to go to my Venmo card which is a Master Card. It's been two days and my Upwork account says 0.00 funds while the invoice shows paid.

[BojanS]

Hi Stephen,

When a client releases a milestone payment, it goes through a 5-day security period, and will show under the Pending tab of your Overview page (Reports > Overview). The 5-day security period allows the system to process and clear the payments. Please read this article for more information about Fixed-Price Protection.

Once funds become available in your account balance, you’ll be able to use the Get Paid Now button under the available tab and withdraw the funds to the payment method you set up on your Get Paid page, under Settings.

Thank you!

[stephen-cannon]

Maybe I'm missing something but this (attached inline) says, $0 in escrow
and $55 in Milestones Paid. Did I miss an approval step or something?

Thanks,
Stephen


[image: image.png]

[BojanS]

Hi Stephen,

That is correct, the client has approved your milestone and funds have been currently subjected to a standard five-day security period and will become available for withdrawal as shown under the date details in your Transaction History. In order to check the status of your payment, please go to your account > select the Reports tab > Overview and you’ll see the funds under the Pending tab. 

Thank you! 

[stephen-cannon]

I'm confused. There is no instant pay? I selected "Instant Pay" as the
preferred method of payment. 5 days is far from instant.

Stephen