Social Security Overpayment Policy: Today, the Social Security Administration (SSA) started a new rule. This rule changes how they take back money when they pay too much. Now, if the SSA overpays someone, they will take all of that person’s monthly check until the debt is gone. Before, they only took 10%.
This change hits new overpayment cases starting today, March 27. People who already owe money will still pay back 10% each month.
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Lee Dudek, who is in charge of the SSA for now, said this rule helps the agency get back the money they overpaid. Also, the SSA, along with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will cut costs. They plan to do this by letting many people go and closing offices.
People who help older adults worry about this new rule. They say it could make many seniors have big money problems.
Dan Adcock, who works at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said, “the policy of withholding 100% of payments ‘leaves beneficiaries with no money for basic needs like food'”. He adds that this is very bad for people who get most of their money from Social Security. About 40% of people who get Social Security rely on it for more than 90% of all their money.
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A report from the SSA in 2022 shows that the agency often makes mistakes with payments. The agency’s system does not work well to check if the payments are correct. In 2024, the government under President Biden briefly lowered the payback amount to 10% because taking back 100% caused big problems. But it looks like the new rule now changes that.
People who get Social Security must watch their payments. They should also tell the SSA when they have new information. This helps stop overpayments. If problems happen, people need to call the SSA right away. However, due to less staff the service provided from SSA will most likely be more difficult to acquire.
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