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“Action Required: Your Payment is on Hold.” What USAC’s notice means, and how to clear it.

Reviewed September 9, 2026 · E-Rate Wave · Check official records and current guidance before acting.

As of September 8, 2026, USAC pays every Universal Service Fund invoice, including E-Rate BEAR reimbursements, to the bank account tied to the entity’s SAM.gov registration. USAC still accepts the invoice. But if the FCC Form 498 in EPC has no UEI (Unique Entity ID) on it, or the SAM.gov registration is not active with valid banking information, the payment is held and the remittance contact gets an email with the subject line “Action Required: Your Payment is on Hold.”

This is a change to how money is routed. It does not change your funding commitments, your invoicing deadlines, or anything on the Form 471 side.

The three things USAC checks before it pays

1. An active SAM.gov registration for the billed entity. Registrations expire every year and must be renewed.
2. A bank account linked to that registration in SAM.gov. Since September 8, this is the account USAC pays, not the one you gave USAC years ago.
3. The UEI on your FCC Form 498 in EPC. This is how USAC connects your 498 to your SAM.gov record.

If all three are in place, you do not need to do anything. If any one is missing, payment is held until it is fixed.

Which of the three is your problem?

The free check answers the third one from USAC’s published data, and shows the Form 498 status USAC has. Read the result this way:

• UEI on file, status Approved. The 498 side is ready. If a payment is still held, the problem is in SAM.gov: an expired registration or no bank account attached to it.
• No UEI on the 498. The most common case. Add the UEI in EPC (steps below). If you do not have a UEI yet, register at SAM.gov first.
• Status Bank Rejected. USAC publishes no definition of this status; its name and USAC’s banking-validation step indicate that USAC could not validate the banking information submitted with the Form 498. BEAR invoices paid through that form are not paid until it is corrected, whether or not a UEI is there. Correct the banking information and documentation in EPC and resubmit.
• Status In Progress. A change was started but the form has not been re-certified. USAC’s guidance says the form shows In Progress until you re-certify it.
• Status Rejected, Deactivated or Certified. A Rejected or Deactivated form is not one USAC pays against; Certified means submitted and not yet approved. USAC publishes no glossary for these, so confirm the form in EPC.
• No Form 498 for this BEN. Usually correct. The applicant 498 belongs to the entity that files BEAR invoices, which for most schools is the district. If your entity does file its own BEAR invoices and has no 498, that is a real gap. One more reason for a miss: USAC’s data set lists only entities that filed a BEAR invoice in the last two years, so an older Form 498 with no recent BEAR does not appear either.

How to add the UEI to your Form 498 in EPC

From USAC’s SAM.gov UEI requirement page:

1. Log in to EPC.
2. Open the Records tab and select FCC Form 498.
3. Click the form’s nickname or 498 ID.
4. Choose Related Actions, then Modify FCC Form 498.
5. On the Organization Numbers page, enter the UEI and click Verify.
6. Click Save and Continue through to submission.
7. Re-certify the form. Until you do, it shows In Progress.

USAC notes that the SAM.gov registration must be active, and that the EIN on the SAM.gov record, the FCC Registration Number and the Form 498 must match.

Don’t know your UEI?

If your entity is registered at SAM.gov it already has one; search for your entity there. Use the legal name on your charter or incorporation documents, not the name on your letterhead. Districts are often registered under a name nobody uses day to day, and a search on the everyday name comes back empty.

If you are not registered, register at SAM.gov. A UEI is assigned during registration, but it takes time twice over: USAC says the registration process can take up to six weeks, and that it can take another four to six weeks after registration for SAM.gov to activate the UEI so EPC will accept it. Start now and file BEAR invoices as usual; USAC holds the payment rather than rejecting the invoice.

The alternative: SPI

An applicant that does not want to register in SAM.gov can use Service Provider Invoicing, where the provider invoices USAC and passes the discount through. USAC says applicants that only use SPI are not required to register. Switching changes your cash flow and your vendor coordination, so treat it as a decision, not a workaround.

Already held? Who to contact

Once the UEI is on the form and the SAM.gov registration is active with banking information, USAC releases the held payment. If a notice has already arrived, USAC’s Customer Service Center at [email protected] can confirm what is still missing.

Questions

Why is my USAC payment on hold?

Since September 8, 2026, USAC pays every Universal Service Fund invoice, including E-Rate BEAR reimbursements, to the bank account tied to the entity's SAM.gov registration. If the FCC Form 498 in EPC has no UEI on it, or the SAM.gov registration is not active with valid banking information, USAC accepts the invoice but holds the payment and emails the remittance contact with the subject line "Action Required: Your Payment is on Hold."

How do I check whether USAC has a UEI on my Form 498?

USAC publishes an applicant Form 498 UEI data set on USAC Open Data. E-Rate Wave's free lookup reads that data set: type your Billed Entity Number and it reports whether USAC's record shows a UEI on the Form 498 and what status the form is in. It does not need a login or a SAM.gov key. Inside EPC, open Records, then FCC Forms 498, and look at the Organization Numbers page.

How do I add the UEI to my FCC Form 498?

In EPC, open the Records tab, select FCC Form 498, click the form, choose Related Actions and Modify FCC Form 498, enter the UEI on the Organization Numbers page, click Verify, save through to submission, and re-certify the form. USAC's guidance says the form shows In Progress until it is re-certified.

My school has no Form 498 at all. Is that a problem?

Usually not. The applicant Form 498 belongs to the billed entity that files BEAR invoices, which for most schools is the district. A school or library branch that never invoices USAC itself does not need its own Form 498. An entity that does file its own BEAR invoices needs one, with a UEI on it. USAC's data set also lists only entities that filed a BEAR invoice in the last two years.

What does a Form 498 status of Bank Rejected mean?

USAC publishes no definition, but the name and USAC's banking-validation step indicate USAC could not validate the banking information submitted with the Form 498. BEAR invoices paid through that form are not paid until it is corrected, whether or not a UEI is on the form. Correct the banking information and documentation in EPC and resubmit; USAC says it responds to banking documentation within two business days.

Consultants: this is a list, not a research project

Every applicant in a book has the same three checks, and most of the gaps are not mistakes; until this month nobody had a reason to look. E-Rate Wave shows USAC’s UEI-on-file flag and Form 498 status for every client, alongside the SAM.gov registration status and expiry from the keyed lookup, so the ones to chase are a sorted list.