Fixing Facebook Disabled Payout Account and Restricted Payout Account

Since July 2023, more and more Facebook payout accounts are being disabled and Facebook content creators are seemingly getting frustrated. Here, we cover everything we have learned including how to resolve your disabled payout account issues.

Since the inception of the Facebook monetization, Facebook has always introduced, every now and then, series of measures to curtail frauds, ensuring that the platform's monetization policies are adhered to and all, but the crusade to disable certain Facebook payout accounts en masse seemingly began in July 2023 for that was the period around which more content creators began seeking solutions to the disabled payout account issue, at least, with us.

And starting from around January 2024, Facebook got even more strict and as a result, more Facebook payments disabled due to unusual activity.

NOTE: use the table of content box below to skip to the topic that concerns you if you don't have the time to read through it all.

1. What is A Facebook Payout Account?
2. What is A Payout Method?
3. Who is A Facebook Payout Account Admin?
4. What Does Payout Account on Hold Mean?
5. When Does Facebook Puts A Payout Account on Hold and Why?
6. What is A Restricted Payout Account?
7. When Does Facebook Restricts A Payout Account?
8. What to Do If Your Payout Account is Restricted?
9. What is A Disabled Payout Account?
   • Effects and Limitations of Disabled Payout Account
10. What to Do If Your Payout Account is Disabled
11. How to Transfer A Page from A Disabled Payout Account
    • Merge Your Page
    • Contact Payout Support
    • Utilize the Meta Partner Tool or Consult A Verified Agent for Help
12. Frequently Asked Questions

Pardon the brief intro from above but it is necessary to fully understand the the issues, and then, the solutions that we have prescribed in this article.

Now, let's start from where it all begins;

What is A Facebook Payout Account?

A Facebook Payout Account is the payment profile that must be setup during onboarding when a Facebook Page is been onboarded in any Facebook monetization tool. As the payment profile that it is, through the Payout account, payout admins can view and manage payment related transactions relating to all the Pages and monetization tools (such as in-stream ads, ads on reels, subscriptions, Facebook stars etcetera) that are connected to that payout account.

NOTE: A Facebook Payout Account should not be confused for a Meta Pay Account. We'll get to that in a minute.

After the payout account, another thing that should be among the sticking points in this article is the payout method.

One may ask, why?

That's because payout method is one of those things that could cause Facebook to greet you with the message:

Hi John Doe

Your account has restricted ability to earn money. Verify your identity to start earning again.

Only that in your case, John Doe might be replaced with your name in your email inbox.

So, what is a payout method?

What is A Payout Method?

A payout method refers to either of or all of the acceptable means or channels through whcich Facebook may send you revenue balances in your payout account.

By design, acceptable payout method varies by regions or even countries. For example, PayPal is an acceptable payout method for Facebook content creators in South Africa, whereas, in Nigeria, Facebook does not pay to PayPal though both countries are in Africa.

Regardless of the monetization tools your page has been approved to earn through, in-stream ads (on-demand), Stars, Subscription, Performance Bonuses, ads on reels or even the new Facebook content monetization, the same rules apply.

Okay. We can now talk about the payout admins and here is where it gets more intresting because this aspect concerns you more, provided you are among of or the only payout admin of your payout account.

Before we touch on why potential disabled payout account could be triggered directly or indirectly by a Facebook user, let's clarify whom a Facebook Payout Account Admin is.

Who is A Facebook Payout Account Admin?

Payout account admin refers to any Facebook profile that has administrative controls of/over a payout account.

From above, you will notice that I write any Facebook profile whence you might be expecting any Facebook user profile. It is intentional and it is not an error because;

Any Facebook Page admin with full administrative privileges can create a Facebook Payout Account onbehalf of the Page or even add a Page to an existing Payout Account.

Whichever the case, if a Page has access to a Payout Account, all the Facebook user profiles with full administrative access to that Page automatically controls the Payout Account - all that is needed of each of the admins is to switch to the Page profile to access, manage and control the Payout Account.

We good now?

Alright. Now to the main issues for which you are probably here to resolve; how to recover disabled payout account.

Before Facebook disables a payout account, it goes through some stages, one connected to the payout account disablement than the other. The stages are;

1. Payout Account on Hold
2. Restricted Payout Account
3. Disabled Payout Account

Let us address these stages.

What Does Payout Account on Hold Mean?

This is a period in which Facebook refuses to pay the balances in your Payout Account. This is a temporary measure and it usually lasts between 5 to 10 days. It sometimes extends up to 15 days depending on what precedes the measure.

Just think of this as a SAFE MEASURE PERIOD, a period during which your Payout Account is hibernated.

This meansure is actually good because it actually protects and benefits you, the content creator more.

When Does Facebook Puts A Payout Account on Hold and Why?

Generally speaking, Facebook puts a payout account on hold whenever any activity that can cause a potential loss of revenue is observed or occurs in your Payout Account.

Examples include;

• When a change in payout method occurs in the payout account.
• When suspicious payout admin change occurs in the payout account.
• When a payout account access has just been restored.
• When a payout source transfer has just been completed.
• When already successfully issued payments for the payout account failed and reversed.
• The list goes on and on...

And this brings us to why Facebook puts payout account on hold.

Facebook puts payout account on hold to ensure that;

• Revenues/payments are not paid to the wrong payout method/person.
• Allows for all Payout Account admins to become aware of the sensitive change that occured in the payout account.
• Ensure that only the legitimate admins access the payout account.

The next stage is, restricted payout.

Among several things that can cause a payout to become restricted by Facebook, a simple thing that SHOULD NOT cause restricted payout account but also causes it is when a Payout Account gets put on hold too often within a short period of time.

Therefore, a Payout Hold could occur before and or after both restricted payout account and disabled payout account would be triggered.

So, when does a restricted payout account occurs, what is it and how does it impact your payout account?

What is A Restricted Payout Account?

A restricted payout account is an extended version of payout account hold. When Facebook restricts a payout account, certain bans are placed on the it and sometimes, the Facebook user profiles that control the payout account.

And unlike payout account hold that is temporary, restricted payout account could become permanent and if care is not taken, this could lead to the disablement of the payout account.

Similarly, while payout hold is a measure introduced to protect the interests of the content creators, restricted payout account is introduced to ensure and maintain sanity of the Facebook platform.

When Does Facebook Restricts A Payout Account?

Facebook restricts payout whenever one or some of the underlisted statements is true for the payout account;

• Numerous change in payout account admins within a short period of time. Short period of time could mean back and forth change of the same admins within say; 5 to 15 minutes intervals.
• When a critical change occurs in a payout account using an alien device or IP address. Critical change could mean a change in payout method, payout account admins or updates to the payout account info.
• When a payout account or any of the Pages linked to the payout account have successfully been reported to Facebook as been exposed to hacking or any unauthorized access of sort.
• Suspicious activity can be triggered if an admin that controls several payout accounts accesses all or most of the accounts at an unusually fast pace. This is especially true with agencies or Facebook managers that manage Pages for clients.
• This could be a bug but Facebook once restricted 3 of my payout accounts when my verified Facebook profile (that is also admin to several payout accounts) failed to renew. If it happened once, it may be a coincedence. It actually happened twice but I was able to resolve all of the accounts.
• When Facebook carries out their routined scrutinization procedures on certain payout accounts and payout account admins.

Although there could be many more reasons for which a payout account could be restricted, the list above encompasses the reasons for my personal encounters with restricted payout accounts.

Typically, Facebook requires you to verify your identity in order to remove the restrictions on your Payout Account and unless you successfully do that, Facebook will not issue payments for the balances in the restricted payout account. And this brings us to the part...what you should do if your payout account has been restricted by Facebook.

What to Do If Your Payout Account is Restricted?

1. First, check your payout account settings tab and verify that all the information you have on the payout account info and payout account owner sections exactly match the info you have on your documents. The name, the birthdate, the address and even a slight change in the payout method could make the process difficult.
2. If there are any necessary modifications, attempt to modify the info to match what you have on your documents before you initiate the payout account verification procedure.
3. If you are not the ONLY admin to the payout account, for better chances and smooth sailing, let the admin whose info appears in the payout account owner section initiates and completes the verification procedure. NOTE: this is not compulsory rather, it is a recommendation.
4. If the name that appears on your Payout Account's payout bank account does not match the names that appear on the Payout Account owner info, make sure you change the payout bank account to another that matches exactly the names that appear on the Payout Account owner info section. NOTE: if you make changes here, I recommend that you DO NOT initiate the verification procedure until after 48 hours.
5. Ensure that the address that appears on your Payout Account owner section matches the address that appears on your bank account's statements of account as your bank's statement would be requested by Facebook. If necessary, adjust the address before you proceed.
6. Finally, proceed to verify your restricted Payout Account. NOTE: Except for sometimes when Facebook encounters error, Facebook currently allows you to verify your Payout Account using Facebook app that is installed on your phone. Just open your Facebook app, go to the affected Payout Account and continue to verify the Payout Account.

That is it! If you follow through the steps above correctly, your restricted Payout Account would be fixed within 24 hours. Otherwise, your restricted Payout Account would be disabled if you fail to scale any of the vetting processes.

Now, what if your Payout Account is disabled, what should you do?

Before we discuss how to fix your disabled Payout Account, it is important that we discuss what a disabled Payout Account is, what are the effects and limitations of a disabled payout account among others.

But, let us put the first thing first.

What is A Disabled Payout Account?

Disabled Payout Account is a paperweight that serves little to no use, at least for now. Facebook may decide to change their policies in the future hence, how disabled payout accounts are treated may change. However, this does not imply that a disabled payout account should be discarded. You could make it serve some purposes.

Part of these purposes include;

• For record keeping: all transactions history, if any, can still be accessed in the payout account.
• From there, payout admins can still be managed, thus, add and remove payout account admins.
• Contact Payout Support and get responses.
• You still need the disabled payout account to resolve potential future issues on Pages that are linked to the Payout Account.

If you have been following through, you probably have noticed the connections between Payout Account Hold, Restricted Payout Account and Disabled Payout Account and perhaps, the question; "why is my Facebook payout account disabled due to unusual activity?" answered.

Correct?

If you still do not see the connections, please read again from the Payout Account Hold section but this time, slowly.

Effects and Limitations of Disabled Payout Account

If you check the list of purposes disabled payout account could still serve, you will notice that not much as changed but in effect, the most important needs for the payout account, Page monetization and payments have been stripped off.

In order words, the main effects and limitations of disabled payout accounts are;

1. Limited Monetization: all the Pages that are connected to disabled payout accounts are demonetized.
2. Disabled Payments: payments are disabled for disabled payout accounts thus; all pending balances in the payout account are not paid out.

In extreme cases, where serious, multiple or repeated violations have led to the disablement of the payout account, the following effects are to be expected;

• Limited Distribution: you may notice reduced distribution of your Facebook posts. this applies to specific profiles ONLY
• Limited or Restricted Profile: the payout admin user profile may be limited for a period of between 12 to 18 months.
• Outright Loss of Profile: Facebook may delete the payout admin user profile.

So, what's the way forward?

What to Do If Your Payout Account is Disabled

1. Disconnect your Page from the Payout Account. Since monetization has been disabled, to return monetization to your Page, you must transfer your Page to another payout account that is not affected.
2. Remove the payout admin user profile access from your Page - this is to ensure that your Page is not further affected beyond the Page's demonetization.
3. Keep your focus on growing your Page.

Basically, those are the 3 things you ought to do after your payout account has been disabled but technically, disconnecting a Page from a disabled payout account may not be easy for everyone especially, if you are not an approved or registered Meta business partner in any way.

So, instead of starting with the step 1 thus; disconnecting your Page from the disabled payout account, you may consider prioritizing the step 2 and 3 while you work on the step 1.

The question now should be; "how to transfer your Page from a disabled payout account?".

How to Transfer A Page from A Disabled Payout Account

For this, you have 3 options. Starting from the cheapest but less successful to the costliest and nearly 100% of success rate, you'll find them in the list below.

1. Merge Your Page

   If your Page is eligible for this, you may be able to merge the Page to another Page that has no monetization issues.

   For this to work, you need to prepare the Page that would be receiving your Page by;

   1. Making sure that the two Pages have the same name.
   2. If the Page you are mergin/moving has an address, be sure the address is the same as the Page you are merging with.
   3. Both Pages must be in the same Business Portfolio (formerly, Business Manager Account).
   4. Be sure the Page you are moving is not the primary Page for a Business Portfolio.
   5. If your current Page is verified, be sure the Page you are mergin with is also verified.

   For more clarity, you can check official Facebook instructions on mergin 2 Pages here.

   Once you have successfully merged the Page, your previous Page would be deleted but your followers would be moved/merged to the new Page. And your new Page, if already monetized, should continue to monetize.

2. Contact Payout Support

   Unlike the previous option that is based on Page's eligibility, this option relies more on your approach hence, this option is more reliable if you use the proper approach.

   By proper approach, this involves;

   • Being able to contact Payout support via the appropriate channel.
   • Reporting the appropriate issue.
   • Securing the attention of the appropriate Payout Support agent.

   Use the link here to contact Facebook Payout Support.

   Because individual's issues vary, therefore, the one size fits all approach does not apply here.

   One thing should be noted though, even with the right approaches, this method takes at least, two weeks to scale. But it is well worth it if you are eventually able to recover from your disabled payout account.

3. Utilize the Meta Partner Tool or Consult A Verified Agent for Help

   This is the fastest, easiest and more professional way to go about this issue. But unless you are already a verified Meta Partner, this method is costly.

   You can decide to become a verified Meta partner agent yourself, that is if you have met the eligibility criteria for verified Meta partner or consult an agent who is versatile enough to help you resolve this issue.

   If you are in contact with the right partner, this is a 100% working solution to fix your payout on Facebook.

   You can read about becoming a Meta Business Partner here and the eligibility criteria for becoming Meta Business Partner for Agencies here.

   If you prefer this option, consider contacting us from here for help.

ARYKTECH IO is recognized by Meta as a Business Partner for our ability to help businesses grow by utilizing the advanced tools made accessible to verified Business Partners by Meta, enabling us to deliver results more effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is A Payout Bank Account?

   Payout Bank Account refers to the payout method that is connected to your payout account. Your payout method, depending on what is acceptable by Meta for your region, could be a PayPal account, virtual bank account or any of the mainstream banks bank account that has been linked to your payout.

2. How Do I Fix My Payout on Facebook?

   To begin with, every single payout issue has its own unique solution or solutions. Several payout fixes have been prescribed from above in this article, if none of the above solutions could fix your payout issue, then your payout issue is not probably listed here in the first place.

3. What is A Disabled Bank Account?

   As far as I can tell, Facebook does not disable payout method. Only payout accounts are being disabled in this context. So, your bank account is fine and good.

4. Can I Use Disabled Payout Bank Account in Another Payout Account?

   Absolutely! You can use the same bank account that is linked to your disabled payout account on another payout account without any negative effect whatsoever.

5. Can I Link Pages to Disabled Payout Account?

   Yes. You can. BUT YOU SHOULD NOT! Because any Page that is linked to a disabled payout would be demonetized. It is only a matter of time and when.

6. Can I Withdraw Balances in My Disabled Payout Account?

   No. You can not. Because payments have been disabled for disabled payout, you cannot get to receive the balances except Facebook decides to relief the bans on disabled payouts in the future.

7. Are Meta Pay Account and Payout Account the Same?

   No. Although they are both payments profiles, by design, they are entirely different. Meta Pay Account is the payment profile that is setup to manage and handle your Meta ads and campaigns payments while Payout Account, on the other hand, allows you to receive and manage revenues earned from Facebook platforms.