ESD approved my overpayment waiver - will I get back the $4,000 I already repaid?

Congratulations on getting the waiver approved! In my experience working with several clients who had similar situations, ESD should refund money you've already paid once they approve a waiver. The $83 might be an initial partial refund with more coming later. Sometimes they process these refunds in batches rather than all at once. I would recommend calling ESD directly to confirm the status of your full refund and timeframe. They might also be applying interest to your refund, which could explain the odd amount.

Thanks for the response! I'll definitely call to see what's going on with the remaining refund. I was just worried because the approval letter didn't mention anything about getting my money back, just that the remaining balance was waived.

congrats!! i had smething similar happen last yr but smaller amount (like $1200). took about 3 weeks to get my money back after waiver approval. they didn't tell me it was coming just showed up in my acct one day. the $83 is weird tho, maybe interest??

That's reassuring to hear! I'll keep an eye on my account then. 3 weeks isn't too bad of a wait.

I went through EXACTLY the same thing in 2025!!! They approved my waiver but I had already paid back $2,750. I waited and waited and NOTHING happened. Had to call them SIX TIMES before they finally processed my refund. Their system is completely broken. When I finally got someone who knew what they were doing, they told me that refunds after waivers require a special form to be filled out by THEIR staff - it doesn't happen automatically!! The $83 is probably just some random adjustment they owed you from something else.

Oh no, that's what I was afraid of. Did you have to talk to a specific department to get that special form processed? I'm worried about getting stuck in phone tree hell trying to reach the right person.

You need to talk to the Benefit Payment Control unit specifically. The regular agents will just tell you to wait. And good luck getting through - I spent DAYS trying to reach someone who could help!

If you're having trouble getting through to ESD on the phone, I'd recommend using Claimyr. I was in a similar situation with trying to get an overpayment refund and spent weeks trying to reach someone. I found this service at claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual ESD agent in less than 30 minutes. They have a video demo that shows how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ?si=26TzE_zGms-DODN3. Honestly, it was the only way I was able to get my issue resolved - the agent I finally spoke with was able to process my refund request immediately once I explained the situation.

Thank you for this suggestion! I hadn't heard of Claimyr before. I'll check out that video demo. At this point, I'll try anything to avoid spending hours on hold.

To answer your question directly: Yes, you should receive a refund of the $4,000 you already paid. According to ESD's policies on overpayment waivers, when a waiver is approved, any money already collected should be refunded to you. Here's what's likely happening:\n\n1. The $83 could be interest or a partial payment\n2. Refunds typically come in 2-4 weeks after waiver approval\n3. You might need to verify your banking information with them\n\nI would suggest contacting them to confirm they have your correct deposit information and to get a timeline for the full refund. Be sure to have your claim ID, the waiver approval date, and documentation of your previous payments ready when you call.

Thank you for this detailed explanation! I'll gather all my documentation and try to contact them this week.

THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!!! Got approved after fighting for months but they NEVER gave me back the $6,700 I already paid!!! This was in July and I'm STILL trying to get my money back!!! ESD is the absolute WORST. They'll make you jump through a million hoops and then claim they

omg thats awful! did u ever go to your state representative? my friend had to do that to get ESD to fix something last year

I'm actually doing that this week! My cousin works for a state senator and said they can sometimes help with ESD issues. Worth a try since NOTHING else has worked!!

That's really concerning... I'm going to pull together all my payment records tonight. I do have email confirmations for each payment I made, so hopefully that helps if they try to claim I paid less.

My brother works for ESD (not in overpayments though) and he says the $83 is probably what they call a \

That's really helpful insider information, thank you! I'll be patient for a few weeks then, but will still call to confirm the bigger refund is coming.

Just a quick update - I checked with a colleague who specializes in overpayment issues, and she confirmed that ESD is currently taking about 3-4 weeks to process refunds after waiver approvals. The small $83 deposit is likely what they call a \

Thanks for checking on this! It's really reassuring to hear that the $83 is normal and the bigger refund should still be coming. I appreciate you following up with more info.