SACRAMENTO, Calif — Many people have texted into the Dollars and Sense team saying their accounts to get their unemployment benefits are frozen. They get a runaround response with Bank of America and the Employment Development Department.
Senator Holly Mitchell, who represents the 30th senate district, encourages people to reach out to their local official.
“All of us have district offices with staff,” Senator Mitchell said. “Field deputies who are there to help. I’m proud of the district staff that I have, who have been working tirelessly to help our constituents close cases."
The reason why accounts are frozen is due to EDD and Bank of America fighting fraud.
In October, EDD, working with Bank of America who issues the debit cards, announced it had temporarily suspended approximately 693,000 claims that they deemed likely fraud. However, tens of thousands of those frozen accounts were actual unemployed people.
EDD said it reached out to people to provide additional documents to verify but some of our viewers say no one reached out to them and they can’t get a straight answer on what to do.
Before you reach out to your elected official make sure you’ve done everything you can first. This means you’ve already reached out to EDD or Bank of America. And if you do hear from them, ask what a realistic timeframe is of when you’ll hear back or when you’ll get your payment.
“You can ask them what’s a realistic timeframe by when you should expect to have a response or your first check,” Senator Mitchell said. “I understand these are desperate times and people are afraid and in desperate situations, you are dealing with a governmental agency that is responding to millions of Californians that are in your same boat."
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If you haven’t heard back, Senator Mitchell says to call them back or reach out to your elected official for help.
The best way to find your elected official is by going to your local county of registrar voters website to find your assemblyperson or senator.
“I don’t think people should elected official hop,” Senator Mitchell said. “You should really call your own elected official based on your zip code.”
EDD has legislative liaisons and they’ve been helping people close cases through working with elected officials.
Do you have a personal or business finance question that needs an answer? Let the Dollars and Sense team know by texting us at 916-321-3310.
