Ahmad Ghabboun broke into a sweat. It was a late night in August and he had just discovered an unexpected $14,990 debt posted to the online portal he uses to access his account with Washington state’s unemployment agency. Since May, he had been receiving payments every week through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, newly established … Read more
The coronavirus pandemic has turned American employment upside down. While some may be proclaiming recent amazing job growth in our country, the overall numbers of people unemployed is still staggering. According to the federal government Bureau of Labor Statistics, numbers are huge. To help people suddenly unemployed, the government temporarily passed enhanced benefits that meant … Read more
The expiration of the $600 boost to unemployment benefits would leave millions of Americans without a vital source of income amid a global pandemic. As of this writing, nearly 32 million Americans are claiming unemployment insurance benefits, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Some states — including Nevada and Hawaii — are more vulnerable … Read more
If you’ve been laid off, you may have serious financial concerns. You’re likely wondering how you’re going to pay your bills and feed your family if you can’t find a new job quickly. You’re not alone; there were 3.3 million unemployment claims in the third week of March 2020 alone, the highest of any week in history. … Read more
“Dear Steve, In 2009 my fiance and I had an income of approximately $60,000. We lived more than comfortably. Over the course of the next two years however, we had a sick baby whom I chose to stay home and care for, he lost his job, had to surrender one of our two new cars, … Read more
I have been at my former job for 3 years. Ive enjoyed my job and had no reason to not be. A few days ago I was working the closing shift and me and another employee were robbed. I was held at gun point and the robbers took everything. (including my security) I was told … Read more
“Dear Steve, I’m desperate for help…you see I’ve been so embarassed about my financial situation that I’ve just been stuck repeating the same behavior for years. Now I’m unemployed and back at home with my parents and my two children living off of my EDD Benefits. I really want to use this time to create … Read more
The state of South Carolina and Bank of America have teamed up together to administer unemployment benefits to South Carolina residents. Unemployment benefits used to come in the form of a check but are now being issued in the form of a Bank of America prepaid debit card. Bank of America claims that it’s good … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has halted a countrywide scheme that falsely promised consumers help to get federal government jobs through exclusive listings. According to the FTC, Frontier Publishing, doing business as American Data Group, targeted and charged consumers for information pertaining to federal government jobs (jobs that the federal government provides for free) but … Read more
James Quirin has been charged with an alleged theft of government funds on September 29, 2011 for fraudulent unemployment insurance benefits. Apparently, Quirin applied for Unemployment Insurance benefits in February, 2009, even though he was a gainfully-employed businessman receiving significant income. Quirin and several of his businesses were sued in federal court. Just before he … Read more
“Dear Steve, I am out of work and collect unemployment from florida. I also took social security at age 64 to get buy on. My wife works but will retire in Feb 2012. After all our bills not credit cars are paid we haveroughly 1200.00 left We have about 26000 in credit card debt.The excess … Read more
“Dear Steve, I am 50 years old, divorced single mother with 3 children. Two of my kids live with me (ages 15 and 18) and the 11 year old lives with ex-husband #2 but she is with me quite a lot. I live in Orange County, CA and up until now was a responsible bill … Read more
“Dear Steve, I no longer use my credit cards and have been just trying to pay off the balances for several years to which I’ve always paid the minimum and sometimes more on all my credit card bills, but recently the due dates have been changing from month to month, varying from the end of … Read more
“Dear Steve, I lost my job in December of 2010. I owe $41140.00 in credit card debt. My monthly minimum payments are approximently $1112.00. My unemployment is $1320.00 a month. My household expenses are about $1100.00. I am currently drawing from stock sales and a life insurance cash out. These assets are about $20,000.00. Right … Read more
“Hi.. I’m Walter.. a single (never-married) 38yo.. guy in Richmond Va… no kids.. renting small apartment w/ no room-mates.. (except for 2 free-loading cats).. Was laid-off September 2010.. During the initial shock and horror of this, I drew out the majority of my retirement savings.. from an IRA-account,Only to realize that claiming unemployment was (in … Read more