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If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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I'm going through something similar right now! Got laid off in March with a 10-week severance and my claim has been pending ever since. Reading through everyone's experiences here has been really eye-opening - I had no idea the severance essentially puts you in a "still employed" status for unemployment purposes. I've been faithfully doing my weekly certifications but was getting frustrated not seeing any movement on my claim. Now I understand I just need to wait out the full severance period. One question though - has anyone had experience with severance that includes health insurance continuation? My package includes COBRA payments for the severance period and I'm wondering if that affects the unemployment timeline at all, or if it's just the cash portion that matters for the waiting period calculation.
Great question about the COBRA payments! From what I understand, the health insurance continuation shouldn't affect your unemployment waiting period - it's only the cash severance that counts as "wages" for unemployment purposes. The COBRA payments are considered a benefit continuation, not wages, so they shouldn't extend your waiting period beyond the 10 weeks. But I'd definitely recommend confirming this with a DOL representative when you get a chance to speak with one, since every situation can have nuances. Keep doing those weekly certifications though - you're doing the right thing!
This whole thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation - got laid off in February with a 12-week severance package and was completely confused about why my unemployment claim wasn't moving forward. The NYS DOL website really doesn't explain this clearly at all. I've been doing my weekly certifications but was starting to panic that something was wrong with my application. Now I understand I just need to wait out the full severance period before benefits kick in. It's frustrating but at least now I know what to expect. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences - it's so much more helpful than trying to decode the official government explanations!
I completely agree - this thread has been a lifesaver! I'm also dealing with a severance situation and was getting so frustrated with the lack of clear information from NYS DOL. It's really reassuring to hear from so many people who've been through this exact same process. The waiting period is definitely stressful, especially when you're not sure if you're doing everything right, but it sounds like as long as we keep up with the weekly certifications, everything should work out once the severance period ends. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences here!
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Just be careful because some severance agreements DO include salary continuation which would count as earned income. Read your severance paperwork carefully to make sure it's truly a lump sum dismissal payment.
Good point - mine was definitely a one-time payment, not salary continuation. Thanks for mentioning that distinction!
I went through this exact situation a few months ago. Emma is right - lump sum severance is typically not considered earned income for unemployment purposes in NY. The key thing is that it's a one-time payment for job loss, not wages for work performed. I'd still recommend keeping all your severance paperwork just in case NYSDOL ever asks for documentation, but you shouldn't need to report it on your weekly claims. Just make sure you're still actively looking for work and reporting any actual earnings from new employment!
This is really helpful! I've been stressed about this for weeks. Did you have any issues with your claim because of the severance, or did everything go smoothly once you didn't report it? I'm just paranoid about getting flagged or having to pay anything back later.
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You can also set up text notifications through your my.ny.gov account settings - I found this really helpful since I don't always remember to check the website daily. Go to your profile settings and look for notification preferences. It won't replace checking your online messages but at least you'll get a heads up when something new is posted to your account.
Oh wow, I had no idea you could set up text notifications! That's super helpful - I've been worried about missing something important. Going to set that up right now, thanks for the tip!
Just wanted to add that while they don't send regular emails, you might get one if there's an issue with your weekly certification or if your claim gets flagged for review. I got an email once when I missed my weekly filing deadline - it was pretty generic but did direct me to log into my account to resolve the issue. The key thing is definitely checking your online messages frequently since that's where all the real communication happens.
That's really good to know about getting emails for missed deadlines! I was worried I might miss my weekly certification without realizing it. It sounds like they do send emails for urgent stuff even if most regular communication is through the website. Thanks for sharing your experience - makes me feel better about the whole process.
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This thread is incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - been waiting 3 weeks for my NY unemployment claim to move from "pending review" status. Reading through everyone's experiences here gives me hope that it's normal (even if frustrating) and that there are actual solutions like the Claimyr service. It's reassuring to see that @Jibriel Kohn got their full back pay once everything was resolved. Going to try calling at 8am again tomorrow, but if that doesn't work I'll definitely look into that calling service. Thanks for documenting the whole process - this is exactly the kind of real-world info that's hard to find elsewhere!
I'm in the same boat as you @Freya Christensen - just hit the 3 week mark myself and getting really anxious about it. This whole thread has been super reassuring though! It s'crazy how the system seems so inconsistent - some people get approved in days while others wait over a month. I m'definitely going to bookmark that Claimyr service as a backup plan if I can t'get through on my own. The fact that @Jibriel Kohn got their full back pay so quickly once the actual issue was identified gives me hope that most of these delays are just bureaucratic logjams rather than actual problems with our claims. Thanks for sharing your timeline too - it helps to know others are going through the exact same thing right now!
Just wanted to add my recent experience to help others! I filed my NY unemployment claim in early February and it took exactly 5 weeks to get approved. Like @Jibriel Kohn, mine was stuck on "review in progress" with no additional messages or alerts in my account. I tried calling the regular NYSDOL line dozens of times with no luck - always got disconnected or busy signals. Finally broke down and used the Claimyr service everyone mentioned here, and it was honestly worth every penny. Got through to an agent in about 15 minutes who found that my claim was flagged because my previous employer took the full 10 business days to respond (even though they didn't contest it). Once the agent noted that in my file, I was approved within 2 business days and got all my back pay. The waiting is absolutely brutal when you're stressed about money, but it really does seem like most of these delays are just system backlogs rather than actual issues with people's claims. Keep certifying weekly no matter what - you'll get paid for all those weeks once it goes through!
Thanks for sharing your experience @Connor O'Brien! It's really helpful to hear another success story with the Claimyr service. I'm curious - did they charge you upfront or only after they successfully got you through to an agent? I'm at week 3 of waiting and starting to seriously consider it, but want to understand the cost structure first. Also, it's interesting that your delay was just because your employer took the full 10 days to respond - makes me wonder how many of these "review periods" are really just waiting for slow employer responses rather than any actual investigation of the claim itself.
Brianna Schmidt
This whole situation is such a mess! I've been using my Chime account for unemployment since February and just found out about this change when I tried to certify yesterday. Like others have said, I got absolutely zero notification about this. I'm going to go with the NY Direct Payment Card option for now since I can't afford to wait weeks to open a new bank account. Does anyone know if there are any fees associated with the state debit card? And can you use it at any ATM or just specific ones? Really frustrated that they made this change with such little notice. Some of us rely on these payments and can't just switch banks overnight!
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Zoe Papadakis
•I'm in the exact same boat! Just found out about this yesterday too. From what I've read, the NY Direct Payment Card doesn't have monthly fees, but there might be ATM fees if you use out-of-network ATMs. You should be able to use it at most ATMs that accept MasterCard or Visa (whichever network the card uses). There's usually a list of fee-free ATMs that comes with the card info. Also, you can typically do one free withdrawal per month at any ATM. Hope this helps - we're all figuring this out together!
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Pedro Sawyer
Just wanted to share my experience for anyone still dealing with this mess - I switched to a local credit union after this Chime thing happened and it was actually way easier than I expected. Took about 30 minutes to open the account online and they had zero fees for basic checking. The direct deposit switch in the NYSDOL portal was instant once I had the routing/account numbers. I know it's frustrating having to change everything, but honestly the credit union has been better than Chime in a lot of ways. No random holds on deposits, better customer service, and I don't have to worry about them randomly changing their policies. If anyone needs suggestions for fee-free credit unions in NY, I can share what I found!
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Kaitlyn Otto
•That's really helpful to know! I'd definitely appreciate any suggestions for fee-free credit unions in NY. I'm in the Buffalo area if that makes a difference. I was dreading having to deal with traditional banks and all their fees, but if credit unions are actually better than what I had with Chime, maybe this change won't be so bad after all. How long did it take for your first unemployment deposit to go through to the new account?
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