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OT: unemployment insurance


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Being permanently unemployed, I never quite realized how that process worked...I always thought they did a transfer into a bank account. I guess a debit card is kind of the same thing. I wonder if they track your purchases?
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Being permanently unemployed, I never quite realized how that process worked...I always thought they did a transfer into a bank account. I guess a debit card is kind of the same thing. I wonder if they track your purchases?

 

Maryland decided too do debit cards instead of checks. They will track my spending since the card is through Bank of America! I can also access the account as well. Plus, i already have an account with Bank of America, which makes transferring funds easier. No fees!

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Certainly interesting seeing the differences country to country. Glad to hear you'll be able to pay some bills and cover some essentials, Paul.

 

I've been getting direct tranfers for both tax returns (for a few years) and covid stimulus. If any of youz yankees wanna read up on it, I was eligible for a few of the installments of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or CERB (general emergency stimulus) and have now been on Canada Recovery Benefit or CRB (stimulus for folks not eligible for Employment Insurance ie gig workers) for a little while. Very thankful for those, even if other policy choices might still be debatable. :)

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Certainly interesting seeing the differences country to country. Glad to hear you'll be able to pay some bills and cover some essentials, Paul.

 

I've been getting direct tranfers for both tax returns (for a few years) and covid stimulus. If any of youz yankees wanna read up on it, I was eligible for a few of the installments of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or CERB (general emergency stimulus) and have now been on Canada Recovery Benefit or CRB (stimulus for folks not eligible for Employment Insurance ie gig workers) for a little while. Very thankful for those, even if other policy choices might still be debatable. :)

 

Thank you Eric!

 

You"re lucky to live in Canada! I"m not saying the US isn"t great, it is. There are just some things that need work. I don"t want to get political this is NOT the place for that.

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I was also sent a debit card when I was on unemployment. Had an American bald eagle logo on it.

 

The card however was specifically for the $1200 stimulus, and thus separate from the regular unemployment benefits, which were sent by direct deposit into your bank account.

 

The card helped lot with grocery spending. I also used it to support local restaurants and food trucks.

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Yes! Like food, and clothing, and paying bills!

 

BTW, I can relate and am sympathetic.

 

I experienced some years of being poor, unemployment, going thru career changes, etc, in my

mid 40's.

 

I survived it , made changes, and recovered nicely.

 

If I can do it, anyone can

Why fit in, when you were born to stand out ?

My Soundcloud with many originals:

[70's Songwriter]

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I was also sent a debit card when I was on unemployment. Had an American bald eagle logo on it.

 

The card however was specifically for the $1200 stimulus, and thus separate from the regular unemployment benefits, which were sent by direct deposit into your bank account.

 

The card helped lot with grocery spending. I also used it to support local restaurants and food trucks.

 

Mine has a black eyed Susan on it. Which is Maryland"s state flower. My stimulus check was deposited directly into my bank account. Because I had my taxes done online, and the refund was direct deposit.

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Yes! Like food, and clothing, and paying bills!

 

BTW, I can relate and am sympathetic.

 

I experienced some years of being poor, unemployment, going thru career changes, etc, in my

mid 40's.

 

I survived it , made changes, and recovered nicely.

 

If I can do it, anyone can

Absolutely! I am hoping to go back to work in March!
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I was also sent a debit card when I was on unemployment. Had an American bald eagle logo on it.

 

The card however was specifically for the $1200 stimulus, and thus separate from the regular unemployment benefits, which were sent by direct deposit into your bank account.

 

The card helped lot with grocery spending. I also used it to support local restaurants and food trucks.

 

Mine has a black eyed Susan on it. Which is Maryland"s state flower. My stimulus check was deposited directly into my bank account. Because I had my taxes done online, and the refund was direct deposit.

 

Interesting. Virginia did the opposite. Direct deposit of regular unemployment benefit payment and CARES Act benefit into bank account. $1200 stimulus into debit card, with option to transfer remaining balance to bank account.

 

I thought I was going to be able to spend my unemployment time on musicianship and making music. Instead, the majority of my time went into preparing for job interviews and taking training courses related to job skills.

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Self-unemployed here as well, also independent contractor. My wife remains gainfully employed full-time, also working from home full-time as well.

 

We got our stimulus checks direct deposit, and I've been getting the gig worker unemployment directly deposited into my business checking account. I got the full $600/wk from the Feds plus $207 from the state until the $600 ran out. Then I got the $300/wk from the executive order for a few weeks, and have been getting the $207/wk only since then. It looks like if the new stimulus package passes, the extra will be $300 and not $600 this time. I'll take it.

 

I've tried to spread the word to my musician friends about this but I don't know how many of them did it. I see a lot of them gigging "because they need to work and make bread" so I expect they didn't or weren't able to. I know the process varies from state to state, but I can't imagine Texas is easier than most. :idk:

 

The new stimulus package also includes what was the Save Our Stages Act so hopefully that will work as intended and keep our independent venues around so they are there when this is all over and we can do and see shows again. :thu:

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I've been self under-employed for a decade or 3..went on the PUA for a while until it got to be $100 a week and some minor gig activity resumed, when reporting a steady $100 weekly gig cut it down to $50. So I let it go a couple months ago in favor of gig hunting and IC type day work. To qualify for health insurance I have to have a certain amount of earned income per month, anyway.

 

My area didn't regress to any more shutdowns but ye ol' American Legion crowd dwindled last few weeks to where now they may cancel the NYE gig, plus 6 weeks after. Waiting on their decision. I don't have a problem with any of that and would expect an older crowd to play it safe. I don't feel I'm entitled to make a living with gigging (although I'll keep trying). The gig needed moving on from anyway (yeah that's the ticket lol) so would be a good opportunity for a break.

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I lost half of my lesson business in March when I shut down, tried to get PUA because the description of it seemed to cover my situation - but after days of trying to get it going online and trying to navigate a web page system in S.C. that wasn't designed for "partially employed" people (endless circular-logic dead ends) I

(and hours on a phone with no answer) I gave up. Despite the CARES Act and endless politicians saying things referencing self-employed not being fully unemployed being "eligible for PUA" it was impossible for me. If you reported any income in the S.C. system it disqualified you.

 

 

The PPP loan was a joke. I was offered $1,200 - which would almost cover my rent, leaving zero money left over for my "wages" which meant I wouldn't have been eligible for forgiveness; a loan with a small but present interest to be paid back. The banks had a holiday with PPP, that was a giveaway to them.

Meanwhile I see on the list basically every last business in Augusta Georgia got loans; all the car dealerships got about $1.5 million each, lots of businesses got millions.

 

 

The $1,200 stimulus made a difference. I've burned through my savings. I'm getting by a little bit by not having to buy gas to get to work, and my office utility bill is now the base amount (which is ridiculous...). I'm in an attrition situation now, slowly losing students with "let me know when you reopen your

office" texts. For my parents living on a fixed income it meant getting out from under a little bit more; but my mother never got her $1,200, only my father - and she died in July.

 

I presume I may get vaccinated by the middle of 2022; it will probably be September or later before the numbers have a chance to bring the R0 back down to something safe enough to allow me to sit in a small room with people 30 minutes at a time. I'm not sure my business is going to make it until then; and evcen so, it will take a year to try to build a student roster back up, and that's presuming a pre-COVID economy.

 

I'm kneecapped, zero savings, dour future. I've managed to get by, but I'm at a maximal stress point.

 

 

$600? Really?

Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com

Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/

 

/ "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien

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I should mention that when I first tried to do the PUA, I got rejected or requests for more info or something like that. When I went back and tried again, Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) had updated the form to include self-employed. Once I filled that info out, I was in.

 

I would suggest that people take a look at the forms for their state and see if they've implemented changes for self-employed if they were previously rejected. These state systems are known for being old and creaky and they take a while to update. They never expected to have to do this. They may be ready for you now.

 

Good luck!

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I lost half of my lesson business in March when I shut down, tried to get PUA because the description of it seemed to cover my situation - but after days of trying to get it going online and trying to navigate a web page system in S.C. that wasn't designed for "partially employed" people (endless circular-logic dead ends) I

(and hours on a phone with no answer) I gave up. Despite the CARES Act and endless politicians saying things referencing self-employed not being fully unemployed being "eligible for PUA" it was impossible for me. If you reported any income in the S.C. system it disqualified you.

 

 

The PPP loan was a joke. I was offered $1,200 - which would almost cover my rent, leaving zero money left over for my "wages" which meant I wouldn't have been eligible for forgiveness; a loan with a small but present interest to be paid back. The banks had a holiday with PPP, that was a giveaway to them.

Meanwhile I see on the list basically every last business in Augusta Georgia got loans; all the car dealerships got about $1.5 million each, lots of businesses got millions.

 

 

The $1,200 stimulus made a difference. I've burned through my savings. I'm getting by a little bit by not having to buy gas to get to work, and my office utility bill is now the base amount (which is ridiculous...). I'm in an attrition situation now, slowly losing students with "let me know when you reopen your

office" texts. For my parents living on a fixed income it meant getting out from under a little bit more; but my mother never got her $1,200, only my father - and she died in July.

 

I presume I may get vaccinated by the middle of 2022; it will probably be September or later before the numbers have a chance to bring the R0 back down to something safe enough to allow me to sit in a small room with people 30 minutes at a time. I'm not sure my business is going to make it until then; and evcen so, it will take a year to try to build a student roster back up, and that's presuming a pre-COVID economy.

 

I'm kneecapped, zero savings, dour future. I've managed to get by, but I'm at a maximal stress point.

 

 

$600? Really?

 

I know? Right?

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