Great news! Thanks for updating us. This is helpful information for others who might face similar situations with TWC and school attendance.

So glad to see this worked out for you! I was following your situation because I'm actually in a similar spot - just started taking weekend classes at San Antonio College while collecting benefits after my retail job got eliminated. Your experience gives me hope that TWC will be reasonable about it. I've been documenting everything carefully just in case they call me too. It's reassuring to know they focus on whether school actually interferes with your work availability rather than just automatically cutting benefits. Thanks for sharing the outcome - it really helps the rest of us navigate this process!

Thank you all SO MUCH for these responses! I feel like I have actual options now instead of just panicking. Here's my plan based on your advice: 1. Call the Collections department tomorrow to discuss a lower monthly payment 2. Apply for the hardship waiver using my detailed call notes as evidence 3. Contact my state representative's office 4. File a complaint about the ignored Open Records Request with the AG's office 5. Reach out to the legal aid organizations for possible free help I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share your experiences and knowledge. This community has been more helpful than the actual TWC! I'll update once I've made some progress.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this nightmare! The TWC system is absolutely broken when they can give you wrong information and then turn around and punish YOU for following it. One thing I wanted to add to all the great advice here - if you do end up having to pay, ask about whether they'll accept a lump sum settlement for less than the full amount. Sometimes if you can scrape together like 60-70% of what they're demanding, they'll call it even rather than deal with years of monthly payments. My neighbor did this with a $4,000 overpayment and settled for $2,800. Also, document EVERYTHING from here forward - every call, every letter, every interaction. The fact that they ignored your Open Records Request is a big red flag and could actually work in your favor if you end up needing to escalate this further. You've got a solid plan and this community has your back. Don't let them intimidate you into just accepting whatever they demand - you have rights and options!

Has anyone tried faxing their appeal? I know it sounds old school, but I've heard it might get processed faster.

I'm dealing with the same nightmare right now! One thing that's helped me is calling the Tele-Center at exactly 8:00 AM when they open - like literally have your finger ready to hit call at 7:59:59. I've also heard that if you call around 11:30 AM or 2:30 PM, you might catch them during shift changes when there's less volume. Also, make sure you have your appeal paperwork ready to submit online or by mail as a backup - don't rely solely on getting through by phone. The deadline for appeals is usually pretty strict (I think it's 14 days from when you received the determination letter), so you don't want to miss it while waiting for a callback. Stay strong! This system is absolutely broken but people do eventually get through. 💪

UPDATE: I used the Claimyr service that someone recommended here, and I FINALLY got through to a TWC representative today! For anyone curious, here's what they told me: 1. My claim was indeed on hold because of the severance payment 2. They're treating my $5,200 severance as 4 weeks of regular pay (just like someone here predicted) 3. The reason I didn't get any letters is because there was a mailing address error in my file The agent fixed my address and said I should receive my determination letters within 7-10 days. They also confirmed that I'll be eligible for benefits after the severance period ends, and that all my payment requests are in the system. Such a relief to finally know what's happening! Thank you all for the advice and support.

Wow, what a journey! Thanks for sharing the update - this is really helpful for others who might be dealing with similar situations. An address error causing all those missing letters is such a simple but frustrating issue that could have been resolved weeks ago if TWC's phone system wasn't so hard to navigate. Your experience really shows how important it is to actually speak with a representative when things seem stuck. The fact that your claim was processing correctly the whole time but you just weren't getting notifications is both relieving and maddening at the same time. Hope your determination letters arrive soon and your payments start flowing after the severance period! Thanks for circling back to let everyone know how it turned out.

try going to ur local workforce center in person if u can. i had payment problems and had to go to the office and they fixed it right there. bring all ur paperwork and id with u. sometimes thats faster than waiting on the phone forever

Just wanted to follow up - sometimes these website errors happen when the system is trying to process your overpayment status. If you recently received the overpayment notice and it's in the "establishment phase," the payment system might not be fully set up yet, even if they gave you a due date. This happened to me and was very confusing. Make sure you document every attempt to pay, including screenshots of errors and notes about phone calls. If you do end up with a late fee, you can appeal it with this documentation and have a good chance of getting it removed. Good luck!