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r0p3
Community Member

Withdrawl on hold for additional review?

Hey,

I just wanted to express my feelings about 'Withdrawal is on hold' as I dont see anything else I can do.

 

So I had bills to cover today, so I told my clients to pay me on 15th, as its fixed-price contract the money would be proccessed on 20th. Well what a shockar to find out that half of the money will be available tomorrow (no big deal but it said 20th in the report section for 4 days), so I contact UW support to atleast get an information on why is it taking a day longer for the other half (it was payed as a bonus and it was billed on 16th apperantly no worries). When I tried to withdrawal frist half that is aavailable, my my what a shocker:

 

*Your payment is on hold for further review*

 

 

 

And in the email among others it says : If you don't hear back from us within 2 business days.

 


REALLY? 2 DAYS?

 

Thanks for rewarding all my hard work I did trough Upwork with electricity being cut.

Cheers!

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
imakeinternet
Community Member

Hi Petar,  Unfortunately Upwork does not take in to consideration your personal problems when transfering money.  These rules are in place to prevent fraud and abuse and to ensure trust worthiness of the company.  Patience is key here.

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217 REPLIES 217
cylver1z
Community Member

Hello Samantha,

 

Unfortunately, this process will occur every time you make a payment. Freelancers who withdraw their funds from their account will be on hold for a couple of hours only and funds will be released after that. We understand how important to receive your payment on time and please accept our sincere apology for the inconvenience this has caused you. All your concerns regarding the same issue will be responded in the ticket. You won't have to create a new one. Thank you.


Untitled

This will happen every time we withdraw from now on? What did we do to trigger this? Is this the new process for ALL Upwork accounts and withdrawals? I really don't want to have to go through the stress of having to file ticket after ticket just to get the money I worked hard for.


@Jeanne M wrote:
 I really don't want to have to go through the stress of having to file ticket after ticket just to get the money I worked hard for.

 No need, it will get done without you doing anything.

 

@Ryan C wrote:
Freelancers who withdraw their funds from their account will be on hold for a couple of hours only

 What, ALL freelancers??? When did that change from "within a business day" to "a couple of hours only?"

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Petra, 


I would like to clarify that this not affect all freelancers. At this time, it will only affect certain freelancers' withdrawals with delays that will only be for a few hours.


~ Avery
Upwork
sam-sly
Community Member


@Petra R wrote:

 What, ALL freelancers??? When did that change from "within a business day" to "a couple of hours only?"

 It isn't all freelancers. It is apparently all freelancers with suspicious names. I am in that category thanks to my Finnish grandfather that I inherited my last name from. A rep explained that last name is on a list of people Americans possibly can't do business with. So Upwork apparently has to confirm I am not on of those people every time I withdraw money.  I guess it is what it is. 

 

I feel bad because yesterday I questioned a community member who posted the same thing. It sounded crazy to me at the time, but I was just told the same thing. 

I have another question. I was told that the hold has been lifted and that my payment would be processed, but I still haven't received the "your payment is being processed" email I usually get after the payment confirmation email.

Freelancers who have already had their funds released - did you still receive the "payment is being processed" email, or did your funds just appear in your bank account after they lifted the hold?

Thanks!

Hi Jeanne,

Yes that is correct, you will receive the same email when the payment is processed. Please allow up to 24 hours so that our partner bank will process your withdrawal.

~ Goran
Upwork

I'm having that issue. I sent a payment request on 20th, got the on hold email. Then payment confirmation email, but then didn't get payment processed email till 22nd. Looks like the same is going to happen with the withdrawal I've made today.

 

I'm curious why this process isn't carried out during 'the security holding' phase before funds are made available for withdrawal.

I have made a payment to a local bank and Upwork says that my payment is on hold for additional review. I made a transfer successfully last week and I am using the same method for the last one year. I don't know why this is happening. Now, I need to wait for my hard earned money. Please help!

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Hi Rashidul,

This process is due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, once this is finished your payment will be processed within 1 business day.

~ Goran
Upwork

Hi Goran,
Thank you for your reply. Can you please tell me how long it takes for this review?

Hi Rashidul, 

The process is finished within one business day, if additional information are needed our team will contact you directly via ticket.

~ Goran
Upwork

Okay.

Thank you, Goran.

yitwail
Community Member

Goran, I have a suggestion to make. To those of us subject to this regulation, like me, please consider shortening the security period from 5 days to 4. It's unfair to have every payment delayed because we happen to share a last name with a totally different person.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi John,

Thank you for your feedback, I will share this with our team.

~ Goran
Upwork

Hi  Upwork Team,

 

I have just found myself in the same boat as many other Upworkers are in! Made a withdrawal request and soon after got a notification about my payment on hold for additional review. 

g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Tallal,

Please refer to my comments below:

This process is due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, once this is finished your payment will be processed within 1 business day.

~ Goran
Upwork

I am not really in a haste to have my payment, it's ok even if it take days. Just want to know why this is happening because I made no payment settings in recent past and my identity was confirmed via video verification a few months back.

bugaati
Community Member

I have received my payment. Thanks for the quick resolution! Not to forget the 'payment on hold' notification had nearly sent me into an almost cardiac arrest. 

Hi Goran,

Just wanted to let you know that my payment request is now accepted. Thanks to #upworksupportteam

faisal756
Community Member

Hi,

My payment is hold for further review.

 

"Unfortunately, your payment of $170.73 via Direct to Local Bank Transfer account Ref# 163561130 is currently on hold for additional review. We may need to verify some of your identify information and if so, a member of our identity verification team will reach out to you within a business day via email to assist you. "

 

 

Would anyone please help me to solve the issue? Will be thankful for that.

 

Thanks

Abdullah

As it says, a member of Identity Verification Team will contact you, so check your email, also go to the "Help & Support" section and check  "My Requests" in the top right, you might find a message from them there.

Thanks for your reply actually it is more than 24 hours i havent got any email.

 

Same thing here, I received nothing after 24h so I had to contact Upwork support, and it should be resolved in 24h, so basically 2 days. What I don't understand is why is this gonna happen every time we try to withdraw our money? If you confirm my identity once, why would you need to do it again the next time. It just seems like a colossal waste of time. Also, if it gets resolved in hours in future I guess it is not such a problem, but if it always takes a couple of days then it is. The wait for pending payments is already long as it is, this is something that should really be improved and it is the biggest problem that I have with Upwork, especially when you take into account big fees as well. Just my two cents on the matter, best regards to all.

Abdullah & Vladimir,

Due to legal regulations Upwork needs to comply with, the hold will happen for each withdrawal for some freelancers. The review should be completed and the payment will be processed within one business day as usual. We are working on streamlining the process to reduce the future wait time for the holds.

~Nina

This may well be related to OFAC Compliance

 

The OFAC site has a searchable database - if your surname is on it it could mean that youmight end up subject to further review.

It could be, there's a man with the same name as me on the list. Still, it is just silly that every withdrowal should go through this review. If they confirm my identity once, shouldn't that be enough? And I'm not talking about Upwork, I understand if that is the law. It's just not a very well-thought procedure I guess.

 

I just hope that Upwork will find a more efficient way to do these reviews, cause I've been waiting for this one to go through for more than a day, which is not as efficient as they said in the first emial I received. 

I pity those with very common surnames that are on that list.

I submitted a ticket after this also happened to me. I asked to be notified if I needed to submit additional documents immediately, as I don't want this happening again. Then I was told I was also potentially on this list? But I didn't understand, so I submitted a new ticket with additional questions. I was sent the same exact automated response for my second ticket, and none of my questions were answered. I felt very invisible in this moment.

 

Why is this happening now? I have been with Upwork for nearly a year and have never run into this problem. I requested a payment on the 15th with no problem, then the ones on the 19th and 21st ran into the same notification. Only today are both payments showing as processing in my bank account... but I wouldn't know that at all if I didn't check it directly...

 

I just don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden?

petra_r
Community Member


@Wanda S wrote:

1)  I asked to be notified if I needed to submit additional documents immediately, as I don't want this happening again.

2) Then I was told I was also potentially on this list

3) Why is this happening now? I have been with Upwork for nearly a year and have never run into this problem.

4) I just don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden?


 1) It may happen every time you withdraw... OFAC Compliance

2) Check if someone with the same surname is on the searchable database

3) New legislation

4) New legislation

 

wsowa
Community Member

Hi Petra, thank you very much for actually answering my questions.

 

My last name is not in the database, though...

 

Either way, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.

sam-sly
Community Member


@Wanda S wrote:

Hi Petra, thank you very much for actually answering my questions.

 

My last name is not in the database, though...

 

Either way, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.


Wanda, my last name isn't in the database either, but a rep did confirm that is why I am having this issue.

 

Someone in another group posted a link to a PDF. I used the "find" function and searched for multiple variations of my last name (I changed one or two letters). When I played with variations I did find some vaguely similar names on the list. My guess is the algorithm looks for variations of spelling for each name. Afterall, many of these names originate from languages that do not use the same alphabet so spellings can vary. (I am not a translator so I may be phrasing this incorrectly). Here is the link with the PDF: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Pages/default.aspx

 

The withdrawal I initiated Saturday appeared in my bank account today (it was cleared by Upwork on Sunday). I suspect my second withdrawal (cleared yesterday) will appear either tomorrow or the next day. So I can confirm the money does go through, it just takes 1-2 days longer (so far) compared to before they started doing this. It is annoying, but it is what it is. 

 

wsowa
Community Member

Samatha,

 

Thanks for the info. I actually had done a bit more research and checked the PDF too when the database didn't bring up any results. Good resource for those who doesn't know what's going on!

 

You're right, though... it is what it is.

janekenney95
Community Member

The title really says it all.

 

I tried to release the already-processed funds from my Upwork account into my PayPal account, but I was given the error message saying, "Unfortunately, we were unable to process your transaction. Your account is being reviewed. We may need to verify your identity information. Please check your email for the detailed next steps. If you don’t hear back within 2 business days, please contact us."

 

Then the title of the email I received read, "Your payment is on hold for further review". Why could this be? I've been releasing my funds with no problem since November 2017 and I've never gotten this message before. 

 

Can someone please explain this to me? Thanks. 

Hi Jane,

Cause of legal regulations that Upwork needs to comply with, the hold will happen for each withdrawal for some freelancers. The review should be completed and the payment will be processed within one business day as per usual. We are also working on streamlining this process to reduce the future wait time for the holds. Thank you!

~Nina

My name isn't on the OFAC list. Will this happen with every withdrawal I make in the future? My Paypal just got approved but my bank is now under additional review. This is kind of ridiculous - if I get approved once shouldn't that prove I'm good? 

 

I think any "streamlining" needs to be a way to exempt people reviewed and found legitimate from further review in the absence of new issues?

I just had this problem today, I got the same message from Upwork when trying to withdraw my money to my local bank. After a few minutes reading here in this thread, I checked my email again and got the message "requested payment of $$$$ from Upwork via Direct to Local Bank Transfer account." I checked my Upwork and the money is no longer there, it seems they are already transferring it to my local bank. 

 

I think I won't have to go through verification anymore.

classysnobbb
Community Member

I'm having this same issue. Withdrew funds to my PayPal account but no confirmation email from Upwork.

Hello Gabrielle,

 

We're sorry for the inconvenience. I just checked your account and I could see that your problem is now resolved. Thank you


Untitled
tgano
Community Member

UPDATE: I just recieved the confirm email, so they are still being sent...taking much longer than in the past.

I withdrew my money and I have not gotten any kind of confirmation email, I used to get it within seconds at most 5 minutes.

 

HOW are we supposed to know where our money is in the process with this HUGE change to withdrawals? 

How long before we get an email confirming our withdrawal? 

Word to upworks....you need to be PROACTIVE on this....our money is not something any of us want trifled with!!

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