Help From A Newspaper

From the Post-Tribune of Merrillville, IN:

Dear Fixer: In mid-April, the Social Security Administration deposited $11,620 in my checking account by mistake. They insisted it was mine. I said it wasn't.

In June, they took away all my Social Security payments, plus part of my husband's. I also have to pay my Medicare separately.

After months of trying to resolve this, I received a bill -- for $23,202! I've called a lawyer and my congressman; so far no results.

Darlene Land, Cedar Lake

Dear Darlene: The Fixer has wanted to wait to see if they would screw up again and accidentally deposit $23,202 in your account. That would be one way to take care of this bill.

Instead, we got in touch with Antonio Henderson at Social Security. Henderson was able to get that enormous bill off your back -- at least most of it. But not before running into a little more red tape.

For starters, you said -- even after you paid back much of the $11,620 that was given to you in error -- you were billed $15,111. You also were notified that Social Security would withhold payments until September 2011.

After more investigating, the people at the Social Security Administration agreed you owed them only another $5,000 -- an amount you say should be lower, but at least you're getting closer. They've also agreed to resume sending your regular Social Security checks.

Well, she did call a lawyer before contacting the newspaper and there is probably a lot more to the story than is in this newspaper article, but I still have to wonder if this lady is getting the help she needs. Where did this remaining $5,000 overpayment come from? Is it possible to get the remaining $5,000 overpayment waived? Will she be getting the regular monthly checks only because she agreed to a repayment schedule for an overpayment that she does not understand and which might be waived if she asked? Is she getting the regular monthly checks only because Social Security is still trying to straighten out this mess? Is the problem really solved or just deferred?

In fairness to the newspaper, claimants often seem to omit key pieces of information when they talk with me about overpayments, especially information about their fault in causing the overpayment.