EDD payment stuck on pending after certifying - 48+ hours and nothing happening

There could be a few reasons for this. First, EDD systems sometimes experience delays during high-volume periods. Second, if this is your first certification or if you answered any questions differently than usual (reporting income, not being available for work, etc.), your payment might require manual review. Third possibility is that your claim hit its benefit year end (BYE) date. Have you checked your claim status page to see if there are any notices or flags?

SAME EXACT THING happening to me!!!!! Certified Sunday morning and still pending. This is ridiculous. My car payment was supposed to auto-deduct tomorrow and now I'm screwed. EDD is a freaking joke. They expect us to certify on time but can't be bothered to process payments on schedule. No warning, no explanation, just leaving us hanging.

This happened to me last month. Turned out there was a quarterly review flag on my account that required them to verify my identity again. Try calling them - I know it's nearly impossible to get through, but that's the fastest way to resolve whatever the issue is. Could just be a system delay but if it goes longer than 3 days, definitely worth trying to speak to someone. In my case, they fixed it while I was on the phone and payment processed that night.

I wouldn't wait until Thursday honestly. It's nerve-wracking but calling sooner is better. There's always a chance it could be something simple they can fix quickly OR something more complicated that requires additional steps. Either way, getting the process started now is better than later. When I had a pending issue last year, waiting just made things worse because it took longer to resolve once I finally got through.

I was in the exact same situation a few weeks ago with my payment stuck in pending after certification. After 2 days of constant calling and getting nowhere, I tried Claimyr (claimyr.com) to connect with an EDD rep and actually got through in about 25 minutes! Turns out there was a random quarterly review flag on my account, and the rep cleared it while I was on the phone. Money was in my account the next morning. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km. Definitely saved me days of frustration!

@profile5 It's not a scam - they just automate the calling process that gets you in the EDD queue. You still talk directly to actual EDD reps and they don't ask for any sensitive claim info. I was skeptical too but was at my wit's end after getting the stupid "we're experiencing higher than normal call volume" message 50+ times.

i had a simlar issue in dec. certifyd on a sunday but didnt get paid til friday!! no explanation ever. just suddenly went from pending to paid. EDD website said something about "most payments process within 48 hrs but can take up to 10 days" when i looked it up. super frustrating but might resolve itself

Quick update regarding payment processing: EDD has been implementing a new fraud detection system that occasionally flags routine certifications for additional review. This has been causing some random delays in the system since January 2025. If your certification included any work hours, even if you reported them correctly, it might trigger a manual review. From what I've seen helping other claimants, these random reviews usually clear within 3-5 days without any action needed, but calling can expedite the process.

I've been on unemployment three times in the past five years and let me tell you, the whole system is designed to be frustrating. My brother works for the state (not EDD) and says they're chronically understaffed. Like 50% of the people they need. So everything takes forever. And their computer system was built in the stone age. Last time my payment was pending, I just waited it out and it switched to paid after 4 days with no explanation. But I get being nervous about rent - my landlord doesn't exactly accept "EDD is slow" as an excuse lol

UPDATE: Good news! I called first thing this morning (took about 15 attempts to get through) and spoke with a rep. She said there was indeed a random quarterly review flag on my account that was holding up payment. She was able to clear it while I was on the phone, and my status just changed from pending to paid! She said I should receive the deposit by tomorrow. Thanks everyone for your advice and support!