Payment Method not Verified for many jobs

[#1]

Hi. About half the jobs I have looked at do not have payment method verified. However, according to Upwork, hirers need to have payment method verified for Upwork to give hirees hourly payment protection. Are these jobs not legitimate or secure? Please respond. Thank you.

[#2]

Hi, According to Upwork, hirers must have payment verified for hirees get hourly rate protection. So far, about half of the jobs I have looked at here have payment method not verified. Can you tell me if these jobs are financially secure places to work? Thank you!

                              Kyu Yeon Park

[#3]

It's risky to take jobs like that. According to the Upwork article below

"You don’t have to avoid these clients, but you should know that you cannot get paid until the client successfully completes billing method verification. It is up to you to decide if beginning work before that is done is worth the risk. Please note that even if you have an hourly contract, you are not yet covered under the Upwork Hourly Protection when the client doesn’t have a verified payment method."

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211063098-Unverified-Billing-Methods

Personally, I avoid sending proposals to unverified clients. I don't want to waste my connects that way.

[#4]

HI Kyu Yeon, 

Clients can post a job before verifying their payment method and completing their company information with address and other details. Clients need to provide this information first before they can hire a freelancer. So clients who don't have verified payment methods and details about their location are most likely just new. 

If the payment method is unverified, this means the client has not yet added a payment method on file and any work done on a contract without a verified payment method will not be covered by payment protection. When communicating with a client prior to accepting the offer or starting work, we recommend freelancers to speak with their clients about verifying their payment method as this would benefit both parties in having payment protections in place.

We do not wish to discourage freelancers from sending proposals to clients who are yet to verify their payment method. However, we always recommend freelancers to be wary of clients who raise red flags and to consider the recommendation I noted above so that they can work safely on Upwork. 

[#5]

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Kyu Yeon P wrote:

Hi. About half the jobs I have looked at do not have payment method verified. However, according to Upwork, hirers need to have payment method verified for Upwork to give hirees hourly payment protection. Are these jobs not legitimate or secure? Please respond. Thank you.

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These jobs are perfectly fine to apply to. Just don't do any work before the client has verified payment.