North Carolina, which has borrowed billions from the federal government in recent years to pay unemployment benefits, will soon have to start paying some of that money back.

The first interest payments on the roughly $2.5 billion the state has borrowed since February 2009 is due in September.

North Carolina is one of 30 states that owes money for its unemployment programs, a situation caused by the length and severity of the downturn and the fact that many states entered the recession with too little money saved up to pay benefits.

Only a handful of states have borrowed more than North Carolina.

A preliminary report on the IT operations of the state's Employment Security Commission says that the agency lacks the necessary processes and procedures to make timely fixes to its computer system.

The report also criticizes the agency for sending out multiple letters to unemployed workers that were not easily understood and filled with "technical jargon and unexplained acronyms."

A team of IT professionals assembled by the state's Office of State Budget and Management has been interviewing current and former ESC managers.

The review began after the ESC was harshly criticized for the way it attempted to recoup $28 million in overpayments from long-time unemployed workers.

The Employment Security Commission said today that it expects by Friday to have returned nearly all the deductions it made from longtime unemployed workers benefit checks.

Spokesman Larry Parker said the agency began refunding the money late last week.

The payments are being deposited into people's accounts as individual payments, he said.

Last month, the ESC faced a firestorm of criticism after it began recouping $28 million in overpayments the agency mistakenly made to about 38,000 unemployed workers.

The ESC earlier estimated that about $4 to $5 million was deducted from unemployed workers checks before the deductions were halted.

The Employment Security Commission said today it is expanding its call center hours to help the 38,000 people affected by the $28 million in overpayments the agency made to longtime unemployed workers.

The ESC's call center will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The call center can be reached by calling 1-888-737-0259.

The ESC said today it is continuing discussions with the U.S. Department of Labor over the overpayment issue.

The deductions in benefits that the ESC began making this week have not yet been halted.

Many of those affected will receive their next benefit payment early next week.  

About 78,000 jobless people in the state who have exhausted their unemployment benefits are about to receive a letter urging them to apply for extended benefits that were recently approved by Congress.

The N.C. Employment Commission is preparing to send out the letters this month as it begins administering the latest extension. Congress boosted maximum jobless benefits five weeks ago from 79 weeks to 99 weeks in the midst of the nation's most severe economic recession in decades.

Already, about 19,900 jobless people in North Carolina have automatically started receiving benefits under the latest extension, David Clegg, the commission's deputy chairman and chief operating officer, told the commission during a public meeting today in Raleigh.