# Illinois Dopers: how long are unemployment benefit payments actually taking right now?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-dopers-how-long-are-unemployment-benefit-payments-actually-taking-right-now/917994>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 13, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-dopers-how-long-are-unemployment-benefit-payments-actually-taking-right-now/917994 "2020-08-13T13:14:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-dopers-how-long-are-unemployment-benefit-payments-actually-taking-right-now/917994/1 "2020-08-13T13:14:08Z")

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To make a long story short, I was approved for unemployment benefits and just certified for the first time on Monday. I set up direct deposit, and the IDES website says I should receive the funds within 2 - 3 days of certification, but nothing has shown up yet.

OTOH I know the system has been completely slammed. (And in fact, I tried twice to certify and it looked like it hadn’t gone through, so I logged out and logged back in again, at which time the system said my certification was being processed.) If I log in now, it says my certification is still being processed.

Boy, I am glad we have savings to fall back on! This whole experience has definitely been a lesson in the need to have a personal safety net. I haven’t needed to look for a job when I didn’t already have one in a really long time, and it’s rough out there.

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**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-dopers-how-long-are-unemployment-benefit-payments-actually-taking-right-now/917994/2 "2020-08-19T00:24:33Z")

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:: bump ::

Does anyone here have recent personal experience with this? I still haven’t received anything, but when I logged in yesterday (my regular certification day), the system allowed me to certify for an additional week and said that I could receive funds by direct deposit. Clearly the original 2 - 3 days after certification is out the window at this point, and I am seeing reports that are all over the place. It seems like some people actually get benefits in 2 - 3 days after certifying, and some people have been waiting months.

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**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illinois-dopers-how-long-are-unemployment-benefit-payments-actually-taking-right-now/917994/3 "2020-08-19T01:00:34Z")

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> [@Eva\_Luna](#):
>
> It seems like some people actually get benefits in 2 - 3 days after certifying, and some people have been waiting months.

yeah.  
No personal experience. but my friend needed to apply back in april, it took him a month to get certified and then another month went by with no benies, so after a few days of trying to get an actual person on the phone, he found out he was supposed to have received a debit card in the mail, which he didn’t know and probably threw away. He got a new one in the mail less than a week later with funds already in it and has received regular payments evey two weeks.  
It may work different for DD but it looks like a 2 wk turnaround on payments, so you may have to wait that long.