[Solved] Direct to Local Bank withdrawal not showing in my account

[#1]

I've been on Upwork since the start and as a freelancer on the former Odesk platform, and this never happened to me until now. The money should be in my account on Monday, and it still doesn't show. Upwork support is nonexistent, only the chatbot with formatted answers that don't make sense. 

I went to my bank yesterday, and they don't have any information about the transfer, I was told they would need the swift number to track the direct transfer. To make everything worse, it's Christmas, and I need the money. I don't know who else to recur to. 

What should I do?

Thank in advanced

[UPDATE] Funds were in my bank account today (December 22) around 13h30.

Thank you all Guys and Merry Christmas ❤️

[#2]

Hello Joao! So sorry for this, but you are not alone with the problem - see the thread here https://community.upwork.com/t5/Support-Forum/Direct-to-Local-Bank-withdrawal-not-received/m-p/14885... . It seems Upwork has changed transfers from an Irish bank (EU country) to a UK bank (not an EU country) which might be the cause of our delays. Also see the comment by Merve https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Europe-transfer-fee/m-p/1488499#M812071

Please keep us posted how you progress.

With kind regards,

Petra

[#3]

Hi Petra, thank you for this. I see, and to me, this is absolutely not acceptable. People have lives and bills to pay, and it's Christmas time, people have families. I'm seeing on other posts that now since it's not a SEPA account, banks are charging fees for each wire transfer. I've been seeing bad decisions every day from Upwork. It's really sad to see things going this way. It would leave me guessing if I didn't come here and post this. Also, support that once was a priority for Top Rated freelancers no longer is. I always get the message that agents are online for chat between 4:00 am to 12:00 pm in my timezone, so they should be online now but I still get this message. Sadly I will probably have to rethink my relationship with the platform. This has become a battlefield of 'connects' for everything... it's really sad. 

[#4]

Hello Joao! I have not received payment, but I just got a message that my complaint has been raised as an Upwork ticket and someone from support would get in touch to sort the issue. Let's see what comes out of this.

[#5]

edit

[#6]

To make matters worse, within the next hour or so you will receive a standard reply of someone "being sorry for the delay but having to wait 8 business days until it shows in the account" etc. and this thread will be merged with the one I've linked to so it can be less obvious. I know how tough it is right now before Christmas (I've significantly reduced my Christmas shopping list after the money didn't show by Tuesday) and will change to Paypal with the payout tomorrow. I haven't even dared to contact Support yet as it always increases my blood pressure. As a form of self-criticism I have to admit that I broke the golden rule of freelancing when working exclusively for Upwork: Never put all your eggs in one basket! My New Year's resolution therefore is: opening up my own translation bureau in 2024!

[#7]

We're almost in 2024, wire transfer delays don't make any sense unless there is human interaction with an intention to create it. On the other side, human interaction is almost nonexistent with the type of replies you're mentioning. Too much 'dumb' AI everywhere. I'm seeing a lot of people being affected by this, so we're talking about a s**t load of money probably being traded somewhere else. Totally not acceptable. 

[#8]

Meanwhile, Kubar (right next to this post) is offering a loan for all the freelancers who didn't get their funds for Christmas at a 3% interest rate... what a joke this is... 

[#9]

OMG. Sadly I've missed this one (I think it's gone now). I'm sorry but that's actually a bit... funny. Opportunism at its worst - and most ridiculous.

[#10]

At least that one made me laugh. 🙂 

[#11]

Do you remember what Kubar said? (I am just bumping this post with subsequent thread because I like it to stay 'on top' of the list).

[#12]

Not word for word, but maybe it was already deleted. Did support contacted you already?

[#13]

Yes they did: and offered me to trace my payment from December 8th... (which I obviously received). If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny. After I corrected the date, I've heard nothing from them. I did, however, hear from two of my clients. One offered to pay me the entire missing amount, the other stated how offended they were that Upwork did not forward the money to their team members. I haven't told either, so they must be following on here.

[#14]

I'm in!

[#15]

Hello Community!

I withdrew my earnings last Friday, December 15th 2023 and normally, I would have found the amount on my Italian bank account the following Monday, December 18th 2023 (2 business days).

Today is Thursday, December 21st and I have yet to receive my earnings.

I called my bank three days in a row so far and they do not see any type of incoming international wire transfer in their daily streams.

Was the wire transfer at all processed? Why did I receive an email from Upwork on December 15th stating it was? What is the reason for 5 business days to have gone by and still no trace of the wire transfer?

Many thanks for your support

[#16]

Hello Antonella! Thank you for posting this, and I would like to invite you to join our thread of people (all from Europe) who have exactly the same problem as you with regards to last Friday's payments. https://community.upwork.com/t5/Support-Forum/Direct-to-Local-Bank-withdrawal-not-received/m-p/14886... . You will have to scroll down to find Virginia, Abraham, Joao, Sergey, Mindaugas and me. One of the problems might be, that Upwork quite possibly changed payouts from an Irish bank (EU country) to a UK bank (not EU country). You can find another thread on this one here: https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Europe-transfer-fee/m-p/1486885#M811623 . Again, I'm sorry. I know how stressful this is, but you're not alone.

[#17]

Petra, please keep me posted if someone, anyone, receives payment. Thank you 😉

I'll keep humming Michael Jackson's song in the meantime 🤣 You are not alone... though we're far apart... 

We'll get through this together! 😉

[#18]

Hello Antonella! I have not received payment, but I just got a message that my complaint has been raised as an Upwork ticket and someone from support would get in touch to sort the issue. Let's see what comes out of this.

[#19]

So far, I haven't received a response from Moderators, nor an Upwork ticket 🤔

[#20]

Same here. I get the impression Upwork is more and more against Freelancers 🥺 Higher fees, ridiculous amounts of connects to apply for a job, no invitations anymore. I'm Top Rated Plus for years and all this has never been an issue before. They obviously use our money and delay payouts now, too. This is really sad, because I used to rely on Upwork and made lots of money. I have jobs from other sources now, but still really good customers from years ago with Upwork, but they make it more and more impossible. And that especially before Christmas. 

[#21]

Heisann Andrea! Clever girl! It's my New Year's resolution: Get income sources outside of Upwork. In the meantime, would you mind joining us on the thread  https://community.upwork.com/t5/Support-Forum/Direct-to-Local-Bank-withdrawal-not-received/m-p/14886... ? We are quite a few by now - all in Europe - who have not received last Friday's payment. You might have to scroll a bit down until you find Virginia, Abraham, Joao, Sergey, Mindaugas and me.

[#22]

Thank you Petra! 
Reminds me of a famous song... 

Still no response to my issue though 🫤

[#23]

Soon you'll just need to spend 1000 connects to get the funds in your account by the next month. Another Freelancer Plus perk... I know how much Upwork earns with me every week, seeing this 'connects' nonsense is just insulting, not to mention the fees... Back in the day, they would reward you for keeping long-lasting relationships with your older clients, but then they decided it should be just a 'Plus' on your profile. 

[#24]

Yes, there's a lot of people going through the same. I opened a ticket and got the answer that they would only be able to trace the transfer on the 29 of December. I told them there was no need to trace it since it had probably been due to the decision to move the transfers to a non-SEPA bank, but that I was disappointed with everything. When it's the norm to have the money in the bank account every Monday, I don't care about that 5-7 business days crap... It's that simple, especially when it's happening with everyone in Europe. It's not an isolated error. Upwork should never make this move without warning freelancers, since this is affecting everyone's lives. I just had that many freelancers don't come to the community forums, so the issue must be much larger than what is showing here. 

[#25]

Absolutely Joao! 

December 29th?! That's way too far away...

Non-SEPA bank you say? Well that's my problem too then but Upwork still hasn't contacted me directly.

My bank agent said the wire transfer could still be sitting on someone's desk... I surely hope not! 😕