Contact your state assembly person!!! This worked for me when I couldnt get any help from unemployment directly. Google your district rep and their office will help escalate your case.

I went through this exact same situation last year! You absolutely should get those 3 weeks of backpay - that money is legally yours if you certified for those weeks before your BYE date. The fact that they show as "processed" with $0.00 payment is actually a good sign because it means they're in the system but just stuck. Here's what worked for me: I called right at 8am on a Tuesday (seems like less busy than Mondays) and got through after about 45 minutes. When I got an agent, I specifically said "I need help with outstanding payments from my previous benefit year that show as processed but never paid out." Having that exact phrase seemed to help them understand the issue faster. The agent was able to see the stuck payments immediately and released them with some kind of manual override. I got all the money within 2 business days. Don't let them tell you the money is gone - it's not! You just need someone with access to actually process the release. Also keep track of exactly which weeks you're owed (sounds like April 9th for sure, maybe others depending on your exact BYE date). Having specific dates ready helps speed up the call. Good luck! 🤞

The whole system is ridiculous honestly. They make it so complicated when it should be simple - you lost your job, here's what you get based on what you made. Instead they have these weird quarter calculations and base periods that nobody understands. And good luck getting anyone at NYS Department of Labor to explain it clearly!

same boat here, trying to figure out my weekly amount before my first payment. the waiting is killing me

Just wanted to say hang in there! Partial benefits really helped me when my hours got cut. The important thing is to keep filing every week even if the amount seems small. Better than nothing while you're looking for something full-time.

I went through this exact situation last year when my hours got cut at a clothing store. One thing that helped me understand the calculation was to think of it this way: NYS lets you keep 75% of whatever you earn from work, and then gives you the remaining benefit amount. So if you're supposed to get $300/week in unemployment but you earn $100 from your part-time work, you keep $75 of that $100 (the 75%), and they subtract $25 from your $300 benefit, leaving you with $275. It's actually pretty fair once you understand it. Just make sure to certify every week and be honest about your earnings - they will find out if you don't report correctly!

talk to your landlord NOW and explain the situation. most will work with u if u show them the approval letter. better to be upfront than wait till rent is due and u still dont have the $$

I'm going through the exact same thing right now! Got my approval letter 6 days ago and still nothing in my account. The "payment pending" status is driving me crazy because there's literally no way to know what's actually happening behind the scenes. I've been reading through all these comments and it sounds like anywhere from 5-17 days is normal, which is such a huge range. Really wish NY would update their system to give us more transparency about where our payments actually are in the process. Hang in there - sounds like we just have to wait it out unfortunately.

The whole system is an absolute joke. I couldn't update my bank info online AT ALL regardless of what bank I tried. Spent literally 6 hours on hold over 3 days. Found a service called Claimyr that got me through to a person in about 45 minutes. The agent I spoke with manually updated my banking info right there on the call. Highly recommend if you're stuck in this nightmare: claimyr.com

I'm dealing with this exact same issue right now! Just had my Chime account rejected when trying to update my direct deposit info. It's so frustrating because like you said, getting paid 2 days early was really helpful for budgeting. I've been looking into some of the suggestions here - thinking about trying a local credit union since multiple people mentioned they work well with government payments. Has anyone had experience with Navy Federal or USAA if you're eligible for those? Also seeing a lot of mentions of that Claimyr service for actually getting through to someone on the phone - might have to try that since I've been on hold for hours with no luck.