CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A WCNC Charlotte viewer reached out to consumer investigative reporter Bill McGinty, saying she was fighting the state to keep the unemployment money they had paid her.
The unemployment benefits flowed for Melinda at first, albeit she was only on state unemployment for a brief few months.
“I had to jump through the hoops to get the PUA, it was $132 a week, not much, but hey, it was $132 a week, and everything was fine," she said.
But then the state emailed her, saying she had to pay them back because they had overpaid her. The state actually had not seen the paperwork she had uploaded -- paperwork they asked for and required.
WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to the Defenders team by emailing money@wcnc.com.
"And then in June, they write me a letter saying that they have overpaid me by the sum of $3,024 and you need to repay it," Melinda said. "I wrote them, I faxed them, I emailed them, but all I kept getting was statements saying you owe us this money."
The last letter she got said the state was going to garnish future wages. At this point, Melinda reached out to WCNC Charlotte, and Bill McGinty got involved on her behalf.
Five days later, the case was dropped.
"I wrote you in the end of September, and a week later I got a letter from them saying the case was closed," Melinda said.
So in this instance, WCNC Charlotte's Bill McGinty didn't get someone money they were owed -- he prevented her from paying what she wasn't supposed to pay.
Contact Bill McGinty at bmcginty@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook.