Withdrawal and Payout Policy (including KYC)

1. Identity verification is mandatory before any payout

No creator can withdraw any amount, however small, before completing identity verification. Earnings continue to accrue in the ledger, but the withdrawal option stays locked until verification passes.

• Legal name, date of birth (18+), nationality and residential address.
• A government-issued photo ID: national ID, passport or driving licence.
• A selfie matched to the document for liveness and likeness.
• Phone number, confirmed by one-time code.
• Tax identifier where the creator's country requires one, including a KRA PIN for Kenyan creators.
• Payout destination — M-Pesa number or bank account — that must be in the creator's own verified name. Third-party payout accounts are refused.
• Business creators, news pages and channels additionally provide a certificate of registration and details of directors or beneficial owners.
• Screening of every creator against sanctions, terrorism and PEP lists at verification and periodically thereafter.

2. Enhanced Due Diligence

EDD is carried out by a reviewer before funds leave, and is triggered by any of the following:

• Cumulative earnings or withdrawals above USD 1,000 in a rolling 30 days, or USD 5,000 lifetime.
• A single withdrawal request of USD 500 or more.
• A sanctions, terrorism or PEP screening hit, or a creator based in a jurisdiction on the FATF grey or black list.
• Gifting concentration: most earnings from one or a few accounts, from newly created accounts, or from accounts sharing a device, IP or payment instrument with the creator.
• Rapid buy-gift-withdraw cycling, refund or chargeback activity linked to the gifts, or any indication the gifts pay for something off-platform.
• A mismatch between the verified identity and the payout account, or a change of payout destination shortly before a large request.

3. What EDD involves

• Re-verification of identity documents and a live video verification call with the creator.
• Source-of-funds and source-of-gifting review across the ledger, including the identity and payment history of the main gifters.
• Proof of address and, for businesses, registration documents and beneficial-ownership confirmation.
• Adverse-media and open-source checks.
• Outcome recorded in the case file, with payouts released, held pending further information, or refused and, where required, a suspicious-transaction report filed with the Financial Reporting Centre. We do not tip off the subject of a report.

4. Withdrawal process

• The creator opens their wallet and submits a withdrawal request choosing M-Pesa or bank.
• Earnings sit as pending for 14 days after the gift, which covers the chargeback window; only matured, available balance can be requested.
• Minimum withdrawal USD 10. Default maximum USD 2,000 per request and USD 5,000 per rolling 30 days; higher limits only after EDD.
• Every request is queued for human review in Zumi's internal desk, where the agent sees the creator's verification status, ledger, gifter pattern, dispute and ticket history.
• Approved requests are paid from Zumi's own settlement funds via Paystack Transfers to the verified account, normally within 3 business days. Rejected requests return the amount to the wallet with a written reason and a right of appeal.
• Payouts are never made in cash, never to a third party, and never to an unverified destination.

5. Holds, reversals and recovery

• Any fraud signal, chargeback, dispute, unauthorised-use report or EDD trigger freezes the affected wallet and suspends pending payouts until the case closes.
• Earnings arising from a reversed or fraudulent purchase are reversed from the creator's wallet; if already paid, the amount is recovered from future earnings or recovered as a debt.
• Creators are told when a hold is applied, why, and what is needed to clear it, and may appeal to a senior reviewer.

6. Tax

Creators are responsible for their own taxes. Zumi issues earnings statements and applies any withholding or reporting required by Kenyan law.