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ianjmz
Community Member

Can I use a friend's bank account since I don't have one yet?

I would like to use my firend's bank account for now. I don't have a bank account yet. Is this possible? 

17 REPLIES 17
petra_r
Community Member


@Ian T wrote:

I would like to use my firend's bank account for now. I don't have a bank account yet. Is this possible? 


 No, it's not possible! You can only withdraw to your own bank account which must be in your own name. Open your own bank account or use another withdrawal method.

VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ian,

 

No, as Petra noted you need to use a bank account in your own name in order to set up a withdrawal option on your Upwork account.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

We see this kind of question here from time to time.

 

I find this kind of fascinating.

 

People want to withdraw their money into their friend's account or their brother's account.

 

I guess it is good to have friends that you trust that much. But it seems like a precarious arrangement. Why wouldn't somebody want the security of withdrawing money into their own account, that they control.

 

And I always wonder... If your friend or your brother can open a bank account, why can't you open a bank account?

 

I mean... I would understand it if the question is:

"In our country, nobody has bank accounts. What should I do?"

 

But if your friend or brother has a bank account... and presumably he lives in the same neighborhood as you... then what's the big problem? Did your town run out of bank accounts? Does you friend have special knowledge about how to open bank accounts that he won't share with you?

 

Maybe opening bank accounts or other types of accounts is a lot harder in some places than it is where I live, and it's something only a select few people can do. So people in that town can be sophisticated enough technologically to work as freelancers on a global online platform, but unable to open the same type of account that their friend opened.

 

It's all very baffling.

Dear sir, 

 

I did have a bank account but it just got expired last year. The sad thing is, all the valid IDs (voters ID, Passport, etc.) also expired last year. That bank account was in fact a Paypal partner here in my country. 

 

When I signed up for Odesk I was still working for a third-party contractor at Holcim-Phils and we didn’t need bank accounts because we get our salary right there in our company’s office. 

 

That bank account became dormant and eventually expired. The bank did notify me that my account would soon expire if I didn’t take action but I was too busy with work. I just let my account expire thinking I would still be working at Holcim for a couple years more. 

 

I recently completed a job here (Upwork) and things are doing good but I am now having a hard time opening a bank account because my Ids have expired and some have become useless such as my company ID. The banks have become more strict in terms of requiring valid IDs. 

 

For now, getting a bank account is not as easy as it used to be. Getting valid IDs is not easy either. You have to wait for months. Ironic as it may seem, I easily got a bank account when I was not active here (Upwork). Now that I just recently completed a job and got paid, I’m having a hard time getting a new bank account. 

 

     

I understand your frustration. When it rains it pours, but fact is you will have to get your IDs renewed because there is no other way to get your money unless you have an account in your name. 

"Fairness is giving all people the treatment they earn and deserve. It doesn't mean treating everyone alike-Coach John Wooden"
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ian, 


You can order your birth certificate online and will serve as a valid ID when opening a bank account under your name. You may also try getting a cédula, which is also accepted by local banks such as BDO. 


~ Avery
Upwork
ianjmz
Community Member

Thanks Katrina and Avery!

 

I'm trying to open an account from BPI. I'll go check it again if they allow online birth certificate too. 

 

I didn't know that BDO allows just a cedula. In some banks, I think cedula is just a secondary valid ID. But if BDO is not that so strict maybe I'll just choose them instead.  

 

Thanks guys!

It's all very baffling.

 

It actually can be difficult for some people to open a bank account. Here, if you don't drive or have a passport, it can be almost impossible.

 

But there are other reasons, for example:

You have an overdraft that would eat up the money and you need it for day to day expenses.

You're claiming some sort of benefits/trying to avoid tax obligations and don't want evidence of earnings going through your main account.

 

And probably many more I haven't thought of.

 

 

Preston H. Some people can't open a bank account for different reasons. They may have an unpaid debt owed to the bank they once used. In some cases a bank account can become over drawn to the point the bank may close the account until the debt is paid off. The bank may replace some of the money at the time the transaction was made and there was not enough money in the account to cover the purchase. Fees can add up rather quickly if you're not carefully paying attention to what's in your acount. I should know. And before you know it you're in trouble. All I know is people have their reasons. Him and friends situation may be totally different, so try and look at things from other peoples perspective.

lysis10
Community Member

Sounds like some people need to stop being scrubs and get it together.


@Darcel O wrote:

Preston H. Some people can't open a bank account for different reasons. They may have an unpaid debt owed to the bank they once used. In some cases a bank account can become over drawn to the point the bank may close the account until the debt is paid off. The bank may replace some of the money at the time the transaction was made and there was not enough money in the account to cover the purchase. Fees can add up rather quickly if you're not carefully paying attention to what's in your acount. I should know. And before you know it you're in trouble. All I know is people have their reasons. Him and friends situation may be totally different, so try and look at things from other peoples perspective.


 Darcel, this is true. These things happen, but Upwork has to abide by tax codes and laws. So no matter what a person's problem is, at the end of the day, they will be shut down if they don't abide by regulations. So an individual person's woes doesn't matter. They are here to make money, they are here to make us money.  they have to abide by the law.  

"Fairness is giving all people the treatment they earn and deserve. It doesn't mean treating everyone alike-Coach John Wooden"

It's not an issue of being "sophisticated enough", usually it's an issue of oppressive regimes that don't want you to succeed and will do anything in their power to prevent you from it, because they need you to be poor and dependent. Venezuelan freelancers have it rough because we can't open accounts in US currency here, and our currency is, for lack of a better description, utterly useless, e-Payment methods are normally hard to implement and dangerous too, because of the civil unrest and lack of normal rights we may not have the things they ask us for opening an e-payment account with them, and if we do, all can go well until they want to screw us over, asking us things to support the movement of our hard-worked-and-earned money that we may not have and then, BAM! We lose our money because it's "locked for our security", landing us in scorching-hot water. You need leverage that you may not have. I know that this answer is from 2014, but it's relevant to me today, that's why I answer. I know the measures also protect us from unwanted transactions that a person with our Upwork details could make, but we should have the right to accept those protections or to waive them, understanding, of course, that you couldn't do anything in case we do get "relieved of our money", to call it something.

 

The Technological Sophistication comment is, honestly, kind of insulting. We can work as much as we please as long as the government doesn't decide to cap us in that front too. In most cases, it's not up to us.

Hahaha Exactly.... Nice explaination
I doesn't take much time to open an account.

I live in Pakistan and my mother lives in USA. Can I use her american bank account?

Hi, This is Kiran, I am freelancer,  I recently set up new busines Firm, And I opened A Current account with that specific firm name. How i can i add those current bank account details to my upwork account, because my name and my firm name is diffrerent. 

 

Thank you

Hi Swetha,

 

Thank you for your message. You can add your payment method by going to the Settings page  Get Paid. Our team will get in touch with you if they need further information from you. Also, could you please clarify why do we see a different name, 'Swetha G' on your account while you mentioned in your post that your name is 'Kiran'? 

 

Thank you

Pradeep

Upwork

One possible reason could be to reduce tax burden. Here in India, we have to pay 33% tax on top of all upwork fee and convertion rate charges, finally only 50% of promosed amount would be eventually reaching us. To avoid this, people may use another person's account. Provided this other person has no income tax

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