HOUSTON, Texas — A woman living in Texas is having a hard time filing for unemployment benefits and she says it’s all because of a mixup here in Michigan.
After getting ahold of the Fox 17 Problem Solvers, her issues now seem to be fixed.
“I’ve been on the phone all day, all night, all morning, trying to figure something out,” said Tametha Allen.
She lives with her four service dogs in Houston, Texas, more than 1,200 miles from Michigan. She has no family here, never lived here, and never worked here.
“Never done anything with Michigan so I’m trying to figure out why do I have a claim in Michigan if I’ve never even lived nor worked there,” said Allen.
She tells FOX 17 she got laid off in October and tried filing for benefits. But the state of Texas wouldn’t allow it saying she had an open case in Michigan.
“I talked to one of their contractors and they told me what I needed to do before they could do anything was get the claim resolved in Michigan.”
Someone filed for benefits using her information. But like thousands of others, she could not get through to the agency.
“I went on the website because that’s what it kept telling me to do and I submitted in a fraud claim but it’s not telling me anything,” she said.
Then she reached out on a Facebook group and someone put her in touch with Fox 17.
“I’m to the point now of almost losing my home, almost losing my electricity that I have. I have four service dogs that need to be cared for and if I lose a home and lose my electricity what am I gonna do?”
She says her next step is contacting the credit agencies to freeze her accounts. She’s also concerned about how it might affect her taxes.
“I guess the biggest things is just I need this resolved as soon as possible. I mean, that’s where I’m at,” she said.
Michigan’s UIA says it never sent any money out on the fraudulent claim.
Tametha got a call from the agency after we reached out and said she had a letter in her email that same day saying the claim is closed and she should be able to file in Texas.
