Losing a job is stressful enough without worrying about whether or not you will receive your unemployment payment. There are some things you can do to increase your chances of receiving your unemployment money quickly.

What can you do?

Many states are reporting backlogs in processing unemployment claims. There are a number of reasons for these delays, only some of which are in your control. First, make sure you answer all of the questions on the application completely. Double- and triple-check that you have included all of the information and documentation requested and that you answered all of the questions thoroughly; missing documents or information are common reasons that unemployment claims are delayed, as incomplete applications cannot be processed automatically but, rather, need to be manually processed adding significant delays to processing. Provide the necessary information to have your unemployment money direct deposited into your bank account. This will allow you to get paid as quickly as possible.

This all leads to one of the main reasons why unemployment claims are delayed outside of your control: state unemployment agencies are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of claims while many agency employees are working remotely. Not surprisingly, this has created an extensive backlog of applications that require human intervention to be resolved while, at the same time, it may take longer to manually verify the information on an application (work history, earnings and reason for leaving) because the applicant’s previous employer may also be understaffed with employees working remotely. Adding to the human bottlenecks, many states have admitted that their unemployment agencies have outdated systems that were not designed to handle the huge volume of new claims being processed.

Following Up

Once all the paperwork has been processed, you may still find that your unemployment direct deposit payments are delayed for several reasons. First, while it seems obvious, double- and triple-check that you provided the correct bank routing and account numbers to the state unemployment office; if you’re unsure of these numbers, simply ask your bank to confirm the information before providing it to the unemployment office. Relatedly, if you change your bank or bank account number, your payments cannot be deposited until you contact your state unemployment office and provide the new routing and account information. 

Also, many people don’t realize that direct deposits are not processed on bank holidays and some bank holidays are not commonly known (like President’s Day). So, if your unemployment money should be deposited on a bank holiday, don’t presume that it has been deposited, verify that the deposit has been made.