Will I receive benefits after my 10-week EDD penalty period ends with outstanding overpayment?

When your penalty weeks are over, EDD typically begins processing regular benefits again, BUT they will apply part of your benefits toward your outstanding overpayment. The standard collection rate is 25% of your weekly benefit amount (they take 25% and pay you 75%), but you can request a lower rate if that would cause financial hardship. Since the one-week waiting period was waived due to the disaster declaration, you should receive benefits for both weeks, minus whatever portion goes to your overpayment. So if your weekly benefit amount is $450, you'd normally get $900 total, but with 25% going to your overpayment, you'd receive $675 and $225 would go toward your $642.75 balance.

Thank you!!! This makes more sense now. So after they take the $225 from my benefits to apply towards my overpayment, I'll still owe around $417 in overpayment, right? And then they'll keep taking 25% from future payments until it's paid off? Do I need to call them to make sure they process this correctly since my penalty period just ended?

congrats on finishing ur penalty weeks! i had a 6 wk penalty last yr and yes u will get paid but theyll take some of it for the overpayment. usually its like 25% that they keep each week until ur debt is paid off. the waiting period waiver is seperate from the overpayment collection tho

Thanks for sharing your experience! Did EDD automatically start payments after your penalty weeks ended or did you have to call them? I'm paranoid something will go wrong with my account after all these penalty weeks.

Let me clear something up - the overpayment collection and penalty weeks are two different issues. Penalty weeks mean you serve time without benefits as a penalty. Overpayment means you owe money back. After your penalty period ends, you'll start receiving benefits MINUS the amount they take for recoupment (usually 25% of your weekly benefit). So if your WBA is $450, you'd get $337.50 per week after the 25% reduction. The one-week waiting period waiver is good news though - that means you'll get paid for both weeks instead of just one on your first certification after the penalty.

is that 25% thing set in stone? my cousin had an overpayment and they were taking like half of his benefits

this happened to me too! finished my penalty weeks back in January and had a small overpayment left. The EDD system is weird because on my UI Online it showed full payment amount in the

That's really helpful to know! Did your UI Online account show both the full amount and the reduced amount anywhere? I'm trying to figure out how I'll know exactly how much I'm getting.

THE EDD SYSTEM IS SO FRUSTRATING!!!! I went through something similar last year and let me tell you IT'S A NIGHTMARE trying to figure out how much money you're actually going to get. I had to call them 37 TIMES before I got through to someone who could explain how my payments were being calculated with the overpayment deduction. They never give you a clear breakdown online of how they're applying the payments to your overpayment balance. RIDICULOUS system!!!

If you're having trouble reaching EDD, I'd recommend trying Claimyr. It helped me get through to a rep after weeks of calling on my own. They have a system that calls EDD for you and gets you in the queue. I watched their demo video (https://youtu.be/JmuwXR7HA10?si=TSwYbu_GOwYzt9km) and gave it a try when I needed answers about my overpayment situation. They got me connected with an actual EDD agent who explained exactly how my remaining overpayment would be collected. Their website is claimyr.com if you're interested.

wait so u still owe money even after 10 weeks of no benefits??? thats crazy man the system is rigged

Penalty weeks and overpayments are handled separately. Penalty weeks are essentially serving time without benefits as punishment, while overpayments are when you need to return money that EDD believes you weren't eligible to receive. You can have both at the same time, which is unfortunately what happened to the original poster.

One more thing - when you certify on March 2nd, make sure you answer all questions accurately. Since you're just coming off penalty weeks, your claim will likely get extra scrutiny. Double-check your work search activities are properly documented. The system should automatically calculate the correct payment after applying the partial offset for your overpayment. If your payment seems incorrect or doesn't arrive within 3 business days of certification, then it's worth calling EDD to check if there's an issue.

That's great advice. I've been keeping detailed records of my work search activities during the penalty period. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly with this certification! After 10 weeks without benefits, I really need this payment to come through.

also if ur having trouble paying bills while they take money for the overpayment u can ask for a hardship reduction i think they can lower how much they take each week

That's correct. You can request an Overpayment Recovery Reduction through your UI Online account or by calling EDD. If approved, they may reduce the standard 25% collection rate to as low as 10% depending on your financial situation. You'll need to provide evidence of financial hardship.