EDD card activation and certification before eligibility interview - urgent help needed

You should absolutely certify for benefits BEFORE your eligibility interview. Certification and card activation are separate from the interview process. Here's what you need to do: 1. Activate your Money Network card right away 2. Certify for any weeks that are available in your UI Online portal 3. Continue certifying every two weeks as prompted The eligibility interview is to determine if you qualify for benefits overall, but you want to have weeks certified so if you're approved, they can pay you immediately for those weeks. If you wait until after the interview to certify, you might delay your payments unnecessarily.

omg i had the EXACT same worry last month!! activate the card for sure, better to have it ready. i certified before my interview and everything turned out fine

Listen, the EDD system is DESIGNED to be confusing on purpose! They want people to mess up the process so they can deny benefits. I've been through THREE eligibility interviews this year because they kept "losing" my employment records. Yes, certify and activate the card ASAP. But DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! Take screenshots of your certifications, save emails, write down the date/time you activated your card. You'll need this evidence when they inevitably screw something up and try to blame you for it. The system is rigged against us regular people!!!

i waited to certify until after my interview and regretted it big time. took an extra 3 weeks to get paid bc of backlog. definitely do it now!!

I dealt with this exact scenario in January. Here's what happens: when you certify, your payments will typically show as "pending" until after your eligibility interview. If approved, they release all pending payments at once, usually within 24-48 hours after the interview. For your interview, make sure you have detailed information about: - Your last employer (exact employment dates) - Reason for separation (use specific terms like "laid off due to lack of work") - Any severance or vacation payout amounts - Any part-time or self-employment work And yes, activate that Money Network card immediately! The activation is completely separate from the eligibility process.

Not related to your question but I had my interview last week and the EDD person never called at the scheduled time! I waited by my phone for 3 hours and nothing. Then they sent me a letter saying I missed the interview! Now I'm appealing. Make sure your phone accepts unknown/blocked numbers for the interview day.

Trying to reach EDD can be incredibly frustrating. I struggled with the same issue until I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com). They helped me get through to an EDD representative in about 10 minutes when I'd been trying unsuccessfully for weeks. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km But to answer your question directly: Yes, you should activate your Money Network card immediately and certify for all available weeks before your interview. The interview determines your ongoing eligibility, but having weeks already certified means you'll get paid faster if approved.

To answer your follow-up question about direct deposit - yes, you can switch to direct deposit instead of using the Money Network card. After you've activated your account, log into UI Online, go to "Profile" and then "Payment Preference" to set up direct deposit with your bank account information. However, any payments that have already been issued to the card will remain there, so you'll need to withdraw those funds separately.