How to check my NY unemployment forfeit penalty balance - need to know total amount

You need to go to your online account portal and look for the 'Overpayment and Penalties' section. It should be under the 'Payment History' tab. There should be a line item that says 'Forfeit Day Penalty Balance' or something similar. The remaining amount should be listed there. If you can't find it, you might need to request a formal statement of your balance by submitting a secure message through the portal.

the ny unemployment website is USELESS for this!! i had the same problem last year. you wont find it online trust me. you HAVE to talk to someone on the phone. good luck with that tho lol

The forfeit penalty information isn't clearly displayed on the regular account pages. You need to request a formal statement by sending a message through the secure messaging center. Go to your account, click on 'Messages', then 'Compose New', and select 'Overpayment/Forfeit Days' as the subject. Explicitly ask for your current forfeit penalty balance. They should respond within 5-7 business days with the information. Alternatively, if you received a determination letter originally, it should have included information about how many forfeit days were assessed. Each forfeit day equals your daily benefit rate, so you can calculate the total amount owed by multiplying those numbers.

I recently went thru this whole nightmare. The messaging center takes forever to get a response. I wasted 3 weeks waiting. The only thing that worked was getting through to a live agent who could pull up my file and tell me exactly how much I had left to pay. I finally got thru using Claimyr (claimyr.com) - it's a service that connects you to an agent without the hours of waiting. There's a video that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/Rdqa1gKtxuE The agent was able to tell me my exact balance, when my forfeit period ends, and how my previous payments had been applied. Totally worth it after weeks of frustration.

another option is to check ur mail for the most recent statment they send u updates like every 3 months i think? mine shows how many forfeit days left and how much $$ that equals. if u lost it u can request a duplicate be mailed to u.

This whole forfeit day system is absolutely ridiculous!! Why make it so complicated to find out what you owe? They sure didn't have any trouble finding me when they decided I owed them money in the first place. The system is DESIGNED to be confusing so people give up and overpay. I ended up having to get a supervisor on the phone after WEEKS of trying because nobody else could tell me the correct amount.

@OP - I forgot to mention that when you do connect with an agent (however you manage to reach one), ask them to email you a statement of your remaining balance. That way you have documentation in writing. Some agents will just tell you verbally, but having it in writing is important in case there are any disputes later.

My brother had this same issue last month and he ended up going to the local DOL office in person. Said it was way faster than trying to do it online or by phone. They printed out his balance statement right there. Might be worth a try if you have one nearby.

I wanted to update with some information I just verified. As of 2025, NY unemployment has actually added a new way to check forfeit day balances. If you have the NY.gov ID app on your phone, go to the Documentation section and look for 'Monetary Determinations'. Recent forfeit balance information should be available in the latest determination document. This feature was added in January but isn't widely known yet.

Update: I finally got the information! I tried the NY.gov app suggestion first but my documents weren't updated there. Then I used Claimyr to get through to an agent this morning. The agent was able to tell me my exact forfeit day balance (18 days remaining, which equals $972), and they emailed me a statement for my records. Thank you all for your help!