From WSAV:
78-year-old Sheila Conary says it’s been a long seven months in terms of her finances. It started in June of 2019 when she was told by her bank (Wells Fargo) that her account was short.
“I noticed I was getting insufficient funds in my checking account and I thought that can’t be because I’ve got money in there,” Conary told me.
But she was wrong. Four Social Security checks for the months of February, March, April and May had not been electronically deposited as normal. After going to the local Social Security Administration office she was shocked by the information they provided.
“When I went to Social Security they said they couldn’t help me,” said Conary. “They told me I should go to the Bank of America and said my funds had been diverted to an account there, that the change had been set up online by me. I said ‘no I never did that’ and told me I don’t have a Bank of America account.”
She now knows that someone somehow was able to go online to Social Security and change her deposit information. ...
She says seven months later, part of the situation has been resolved, i.e. that as of June her checks went back to her own Wells Fargo account.
“But I’m still missing February, March, April and May (checks) so over $8,000 is still sitting in Bank of America under some account that I didn’t open,” Conary says. ...Yes, she should have noticed it earlier but Social Security should have been far more helpful. Why was she initially told Social Security couldn't help her? Why hasn't her money been restored? No, Social Security doesn't have to recover the money before making Ms. Conary whole. This wasn't her fault. Her situation isn't rare. It's happened many thousands of times across the country.
8 comments:
The local office should have immediately taken action to replace the funds - they have specific instructions to follow for these kinds of cases.
It totally burns me up when I read things like this. Following those instructions is NOT optional. The employee(s) she was dealing with obviously were either lazy or incompetent because My SSA direct deposit fraud has been a known problem for years and every front line employee has been made aware of what to do.
SSA’s online access has cost so much and created so many ancillary costs. The money would have been better spent on more field workers. And more office hours.
Did they even send her a letter saying it was charged. I know if i change my husbands account 2 a different bank they send letters that it was changed
9:49 I strongly disagree. The online services has been extremely handy to social services working with the aged and disabled and have route countless people out of the SSA offices. Millions of transactions are being handled by the online portals of both SSA and Medicare that use to require an office visit or hours on the phone.
Quit thinking last century, this is the new norm. It will get better and better and be used more as we move to the Younger Boomers that had to work with computers as part of daily life. As we move the the end of the Boom the next Generations are much better at using these online services and will benefit greatly from the convenience.
I know the rock throwing will begin now, but the reality is what it is and not supported by your statement at all. Thanks.
Between the bank and the SSA Office, the matter should have been resolved. Sometimes it's nice to have a little local bank who knows to call you when something out of character goes on. My bank called me when there was a charge from Brazil and they know I seldom cross the state line.
But still, SSA can access your bank account as ss benefits.
@949--Over half of the retirement claims and near that of disability claims are filed online. While these require staff to process them, most of the work is done by the claimants.
If we are going back in time, let's go back to ordering earnings record via teletype and receiving them by mail two weeks later. (They take about 1 second now.)
@9:37 just curious what are the instructions they are to follow for replacing the check?
@6:36 replace the payment immediately, have treasury investigate the payment and a fraud referral to OIG.
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