What are intercepts on unemployment benefits from NYS Department of Labor?
I just got a notice from NYS Department of Labor saying there's an 'intercept' on my unemployment benefits. I have no idea what this means or why it's happening. My weekly claim was approved but now they're saying some of my money is being held back. Has anyone else dealt with intercepts before? What causes them and how do I get this resolved?
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Aisha Abdullah
An intercept means NYS Department of Labor is withholding part of your benefits to pay off a debt you owe to a government agency. This could be for things like unpaid taxes, child support, student loans, or even an overpayment from a previous unemployment claim. You should have received a separate notice explaining what the debt is for.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•I didn't get any other notice though! Just this one paper saying intercept. How do I find out what debt they're talking about?
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Ethan Wilson
same thing happened to me last year, turned out to be old child support i forgot about. they took like half my benefits until it was paid off
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NeonNova
You'll need to contact NYS Department of Labor directly to get details about the intercept. The agency that's collecting the debt should also send you information, but sometimes there are delays. Common intercepts include IRS tax debt, state tax debt, defaulted student loans, and court-ordered support payments. Check your my.ny.gov account first to see if there are any messages about the specific debt.
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Mateo Rodriguez
•I've been trying to call NYS Department of Labor for three days but can never get through! The phone system just hangs up on me after waiting forever.
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Yuki Tanaka
•I had the same problem getting through to NYS Department of Labor about my intercept issue. After weeks of trying to call, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that actually got me connected to an agent. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/qyftW-mnTNI that shows how it works. Within 30 minutes I was talking to someone who explained my intercept was for an old overpayment from 2023 that I never knew about.
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Carmen Diaz
The whole intercept system is such BS! They can just take your money without even properly explaining why. I had an intercept for supposedly owing money to some agency I'd never heard of and it took months to prove it was a mistake. Meanwhile I'm trying to pay rent with whatever scraps they left me.
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Andre Laurent
•That's terrible! How did you finally get it sorted out?
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Ethan Wilson
also check if you owe anything to other states, sometimes those show up as intercepts too even if you filed in NY
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