Some frustrated with company NC uses to verify IDs to get unemployment money

CHARLOTTE — Some people have said they’re frustrated with the company North Carolina uses to verify their identity to get unemployment money.

The state uses ID.me to verify your identity, with the goal of preventing unemployment fraud.

Multiple people contacted Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke saying the process takes too long, and that it’s hard to track someone down to resolve it.

Asheley Baggett said she applied for unemployment last month and did everything she was supposed to on ID.me.

“ID.me (is) telling me I’m verified. I got an email from ID.me stating that I was verified,” she said.

In fact, the message said she was “all set!”

Baggett told Stoogenke that the North Carolina Division of Employment Security didn’t seem to know that the website claimed she was verified.

“They tell me my claim is on hold because I have not processed what I need to through ID.me,” Baggett said. “But ID.me (is) telling me, ‘Well, you’ve already been processed. There’s nothing else for you to do.’”

Others contacted Stoogenke to say:

“ID.me has locked me out of my account with no way to contact them directly.”
“I have been patiently waiting ... they give me the runaround.”
“I can’t get anyone to answer me.”

“We understand folks are desperate, and they’re frustrated,” ID.me CEO Blake Hall told Stoogenke in a Zoom interview. “We’re literally working around the clock to verify folks and anyone who’s eligible, and our staff is committed to doing that.”

[Here’s what to do if you’re having issues getting unemployment benefits]

Hall said the company works with unemployment agencies in 20 states.

He said it handles hundreds of cases in North Carolina daily.

He said ID.me confirms about 90% of applicants identities within minutes, but some people trigger red flags, which causes delays.

Hall said the problem is usually that people upload documents wrong and that some do it multiple times.

“Even after they fail the first time, we give them specific feedback, like, ‘Your documents failed for this exact reason.’ They are still two to three times (more) likely to upload the documents in an incorrect fashion a second or third time.”

If ID.me can’t confirm your identity, it gives your case back to the state to research more carefully, which takes time.

“It’s been weeks and nothing,” Baggett said. “It impacts my family in a big way. You’ve got bills. You have car payments. You have childcare. You have, I mean, my daughter is 12. There (are) things she needs.”

DES told Stoogenke, “Most people have no issues completing the verification process” and gave him two websites to pass along to people having problems:

Last week, South Carolina started using ID.me, as well. No one there has complained to Action 9 about the company.