To get a replacement Direct Payment Card from your state’s Unemployment Office you must call their customer service number (New York State is 1 877 221 1634..you can do an internet search on your specific state). If, like in my case, the customer service office is automated and despite pressing “0″ or “00″ for a live person you still get no one, you must actually CANCEL your card. I did not know this and for 1o weeks desperately tried to get a replacement card. In the prompts, it should ask you to press 1 to report your card lost or stolen. Then again, to precisely choose whether it was lost… or stolen. Chose lost. It will likely say, “thank you” and leave you without any directions on how to get a replacement. But it should ask you whether you want to CANCEL your card. Choose this option. It will then take you through another round of automated Q&A where your zip code, house number, and finally whole address will be verified. The system will also let you know that if you have not had to replace the card before (despite calling many times to do so), you will not be charged a $5 fee. It will be sent directly to you via regular mail. You also have the option, for $10, to get the card overnight (not free, despite it being the first time you lost it ). I chose regular mail and got the card in 2 days. I hope this is helpful.

@ OP. So sorry to hear about your experience. I hope the issue has been resolved by now

You might want to try calling the unemployment office and letting them know about this. Also, the U.S. Attorney General has an active program on identity theft. Go to their website, and see if you can find a phone number that will reach a human being there. I’d also call my state attorney general’s office.

You’d be surprised how much banks do NOT want to be contacted by an AG’s office. The minute they get a whiff of that, they turn real cooperative.

I don’t use cash. I use a credit card.

What do I have against debit cards?

1. I have so da^^n many passwords and numbers to remember, I do not care to have to remember yet another one or two or three.
2. If someone hacks into your account with a stolen debit card, you get to foot the bill. They can drain your account all the way to the bottom of the credit reserve, and you’re out the money. With a credit card, your loss is limited to $50.
3. I don’t go into establishments in neighborhoods where I would not unlock my door; therefore, I’m unlikely to be flashing cash around in any such place. Or in any other place, since I don’t carry cash.

What do I have for credit cards?

1. Loss in case of fraud or theft is limited to $50.
2. It’s a lot easier to return things if you’ve paid with a credit card. If you pay with a check, many retailers will not take a return until your check has cleared the bank.
3. Many credit cards provide a kind of “insurance” on items that break or are stolen within a period after purchase. Debit cards and cash have no such back-up.

What’s it to you, anyway, my dear? Is there some reason I can’t have my personal taste without being subjected to your criticism?

Actually, Phil, if you’d been awake enough to read the comments, you might have noticed that the reason the card didn’t work at Circle K, Albertson’s, or the bank was that there was no money on the card! Yea verily, there never was any money on the card, despite the 12 or 15 disbursals UI made to me over the spring semester.

A great deal of my time was wasted in trying to extract this bit of intelligence. Assuredly, though, none of my students’ time was wasted in this effort.

Wouldja like to know WHY it didn’t work? Because despite telling us in no uncertain terms that even if we asked upfront for direct deposit, the first payment would be made on the card, no ifs ands or buts, the state NEVER put any money on the card. Eventually, the Department of Economic (in)Security direct-deposited the first payment. The reason it didn’t work was simply that there was no money there to withdraw, and never was.