What happens if you don't pay back Washington ESD unemployment overpayment?

That's what I was afraid of. How long do they usually give you before they start garnishing wages?

Usually they'll send a few more notices first, but once they start the collection process it moves pretty fast. You might have 30-60 days from the final notice.

I've tried calling but can never get through to anyone. The phone lines are always busy or I get disconnected after waiting an hour.

I had the same problem trying to reach Washington ESD about my overpayment. Found this service called Claimyr that actually got me through to an agent in like 20 minutes. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/7DieNd3C7zQ and their site is claimyr.com. Ended up setting up a payment plan for $50/month which was way better than having my wages garnished.

Never heard of that but I'm desperate at this point. Did they charge you a lot for the service?

The notice is dated from 3 weeks ago so I might still have time to appeal. How do I know if it's worth fighting?

Look at the specific weeks they're claiming overpayment for and check if you actually reported your earnings correctly. If you have documentation showing you reported everything properly, definitely appeal.

This is exactly why I keep all my old pay stubs and screenshots of my weekly claims. The system makes mistakes all the time.

Wow that's brutal. Did they at least give you any warning before taking your refund?

They sent one more notice after the original overpayment letter, but I was dealing with other stuff and forgot about it. Big mistake.

They can also take your state refund even if you move to another state. The debt follows you.

25%?! That would put me on the street. There has to be some kind of hardship exception right?

There are some protections for very low income earners, but the thresholds are pretty low. That's why setting up a voluntary payment plan is so much better.

The garnishment also shows up on your credit report in some cases. Another reason to be proactive.

Yes, they can offset future unemployment benefits to collect overpayments. They'll take a percentage of each weekly payment.

That's messed up. So you can't even collect unemployment properly if you owe them money from before.

The offset is usually 25% of your weekly benefit amount, so you'd still get something but not the full amount.

How long did the appeal process take? I'm worried about them starting collection while I'm appealing.

It took about 6 weeks total. They can't start collection actions while your appeal is pending, which is another good reason to file one if you have grounds.

This is good to know. I thought once they made a determination it was final.

Wait, they charge interest on top of the overpayment? That seems like kicking someone when they're down.

Yep, it's considered a debt to the state so they treat it like any other loan. The interest stops accruing once you set up a payment plan though.

Another reason to deal with it sooner rather than later. The debt just keeps growing.

Damn, I wasn't planning to move but good to know they can follow you across state lines.

States have agreements to help each other collect debts. Moving doesn't solve anything.

Plus it probably shows up on your credit eventually which makes moving even harder.

I'm definitely going to try that service. Better than having my wages garnished or losing my tax refund.

Exactly. They were actually pretty reasonable once I explained my situation. Much better than the horror stories I was imagining.

Same experience here. The anticipation was worse than actually dealing with it.

Good point. I don't want to burn bridges in case I need benefits again someday.

Plus the garnishment process probably costs them more money, so they'd rather work with you on a payment plan.

Makes sense from their perspective too. Easier to get steady payments than fight for garnishments.