Payments to Colombia temporarily unavailable?

[jdvlazio]

It seems you can break that limit in Nequi by paying $15.000 COP once, and it will be $2.000 USD max per month and $10.000 yearly. 

[criloz]

I am using Payoneer temporally,  it has no limit and allows direct transfers to bancolombia, they are quite fast, the same day generally with a 2% fee. 

I think that is time that Upwork starts to consider crypto payments.

[5472e5cc]

Hello team,
I'm from Colombia, I cannot register my "direct to local bank" payment method, as it does not appear in the payment options.

I would appreciate your help!

[LuiggiR]

Hi Jose,

I am afraid that Direct to Local Bank payments in Colombia (COP) are currently unavailable. You may use any other of the withdrawal options which you can learn more about here. Sorry for any inconvenience this can cause you. 

[angelkanday]

José,
Hello unfortunately that is no longer available through Upwork, you will need to use PayPal through Nequi or add your direct to local bank on PayPal to withdraw.
Hope this helps you out.

[drbomb]

I've finished setting up paypal for bank transfer and it is pretty much like Upwork used to use when transfast (?) was still up and running. The process was painless but it will take you at least a week of time while everything is set up.

1. Set up a paypal account. Link your card and link your local bank. This is NOT nequi, nor davivienda transfers.
2. Link your paypal account to upwork. Wait 3 days to be enabled.
3. Withdraw to paypal. The fee is 2$.
4. From paypal, withdraw to your local bank. The fee is 3500COP. Around 1$.
5. After 3 or so days, you will be sent an SMS (to the phone number in your bank account) from Pagos Internacionales, linking you to an authorization form to be filled. Here's the link if you're interested in checking it out. https://www.pagosinternacionales.com/site/depositos-bancarios/ 
6. Download the PDF. I signed it electronically using Adobe Acobat on my phone, I don't know if that was required, but I did it anyways.
7. Send an email to the specified address on the webpage alongside your Government ID scans, I sent front and back. And the bank details again. Everything is laid out on the webpage.
8. After a day or so I received an email and SMS notifying me that the money would be on my account at the end of the day
9. Money arrived, all is good.

In short, aproximately 3$ in fees and some time while everything is set up. It works almost the same as Upwork used to do. As far as I know there is no limit like Nequi transfers that have some ridiculous limits such as 700$ a month. As before with other direct to bank transfers, Pagos Internacionales claims the authorization sent by email will be valid for a year. I'll keep you guys posted if I run into other issues. I already have issued a second bank deposit today.

Good luck!

[milogr]

So, how is this "direct to local bank" issue, for Colombian UpWorkers, going?
Any news?
Its been a while and I haven't get any news via email or anything. And we haven't been informed about the root cause for this sudden failure. I believe we deserve to know at least the cause, even if there is no solution.

[AndreaG]

Hi Daniel,

Our team has reached out to you with the latest update about your payment method via support ticket #31123023. Please feel free to reply directly to our team if you have any further questions.

Thanks!

[patrik_r]

Seriously considering leaving Upwork and taking my clients with me because of this...

[VladimirG]

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for the message. I understand the frustration and problem the inability to use the Direct to Local Bank payment method is causing you. We are working to learn more from our banking partners in your country, and will be sure to let you know as soon as we have information to share. As we mentioned before, you can still access the funds from your Upwork account via any of our other payment methods. Learn more about your choices here, or check your account settings here. 

In the meantime, we have taken steps to support our users located in Colombia and do offer additional assistance in order to ensure they are able to continue accessing their earnings without further delays and added expenses.

I'd like to note that users are required under Upwork TOS to maintain relationships and payments through Upwork for the first two years, unless the Conversion Fee is payed. Moving a relationship outside of Upwork before that time frame and without paying the Conversion Fee is a serious violation of Upwork TOS. You can find more information in the following Help article.

[milogr]

If I use the EXPENSIVE wire transfer option and wait the INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF TIME I have to (one week) Do you know what will be the exchange rate when I finally get paid? (The exchange rate from the day I start the payment request or the one from the day I finally receive it?)

If you didn't know, one have to play with exchange rates to compensate a bit for the (apparently) insufficient 20% fee freelancers have to pay to upwork. And now even more when you know you have to pay an additional $30 to get the rest of your money to your bank account within one week.
Thank you so much!

[dani_zoso]

Hi thanks for the advice! This is really great as I had to switch to wire transfer and it's SO expensive! $30 USD in Colombian pesos is too much for it to be worth it.

So, you've received payments without issues through PayPal here in Colombia? I had the impression that PayPal only works with Davivienda and you have to have your Davivienda account and PayPal account linked. 

I use Bancolombia, do you think it will work if I create a PayPal account, add it as my payment method on Upwork, and add my bank info to PayPal to receive payments to Bancolombia account?

Thanks!

[rmag84]

Hi Laura, yes, you can transfer money from Paypal to any bank now, the
process is the same as it used to be on Upwork, through Transferencias
Internacionales, I know it works with Bancolombia and Bbva, ##- Please
type your reply above this line -##

[vanessapalau]

Hello Juan! 

I wanted to ask you if you are still using this payment method? Did you have any issues?  The 30 USD for direct bank transfers is still in Upwork and it's so expensive! Thank you.