Social Security Overpayments – Making the Process Fairer
The Social Security Administration recently announced dramatic revisions to its system for addressing overpayments. For the first time, it is recognizing that the system as it stood was often unfair. It’s about time. For forever, the system has been arbitrary and unfair, and we have seen clients seriously impacted even though they did everything right. It is and has always been a no-fault system. If they overpaid, even if it was their error, you were liable. And these were the most needy, those on Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income.
The Previous System Was Terribly Unfair
Previously, if the Social Security Administration mistakenly overpaid your benefits, it often just took the total amount of the overpayment back from you, and you had no choice. This includes your Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income benefits.
This meant that if a person had been overpaid for decades—even through no fault of the recipient—a sizeable amount could be owed back to Social Security, and people would suddenly be in dire straits.
The Social Security Administration has finally realized that its system was draconian, and innocent people were put into dire straits. It will now work out payment plans and potentially waive repayments if you were not at fault or are not able to repay.
The New Social Security Repayment System
Social Security’s announcement advised the following:
- “Starting next Monday, March 25, we will be ceasing the heavy-handed practice of intercepting 100 percent of an overpaid beneficiary’s monthly Social Security benefit by default if they fail to respond to our demand for repayment. Moving forward, we will now use a much more reasonable default withholding rate of 10 percent of monthly benefits — similar to the current rate in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
- “We will be reframing our guidance and procedures so that the burden of proof shifts away from the claimant in determining whether there is any evidence that the claimant was at fault in causing the overpayment.
- “For the vast majority of beneficiaries who request to work out a repayment plan, we recently changed our policy so that we will approve repayment plans of up to 60 months. To qualify, Social Security beneficiaries would only need to provide a verbal summary of their income, resources, and expenses, and recipients of the means-tested SSI program would not need to provide even this summary. This change extended this easier repayment option by an additional two years (from 36 to 60 months).
- “And finally, we will be making it much easier for overpaid beneficiaries to request a waiver of repayment, in the event they believe themselves to have been without any fault and/or without the ability to repay.”
The Administration is also setting up systems to avoid making the overpayments in the first place. They will be working with payroll providers to ensure that the wage information it has is accurate.
Our Office Can Represent You, Your Family and Your Friends
Our office represents individuals seeking Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits. We work closely with you and provide the Social Security Administration with as much information as possible to ensure you get the benefits you deserve—and that Social Security has the correct information from you.
You can call our office at (610) 446-3457 or click here to send an email to set up a consultation with one of our attorneys. We will explain the process, guide you and fight to get and keep the benefits you need.
