From Money.com:
It seemed too good to be true. A $60,000 deposit from the Social SecurityAdministration landed in a woman's bank account with no explanation, as if she had won the lottery without buying a ticket.
But is this a real windfall, or has she been caught up in a grand mistake? And more importantly, what should she do with the money? …
The woman who received the money is unemployed and receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), her 22-year-old child explained in the post. About three months prior, the mother's monthly SSDI payment doubled. The family was already waiting for an explanation of that increase before the $60,000 deposit arrived. …
"They said that every six months they were supposed to review her account and adjust if needed but never did that in the 23 years she was on disability," the post reads, adding that the representative also mentioned a back payment for an issue related to dependents. …
This highlights a long-standing problem at Social Security — the money usually arrives well before the explanation of the money. Sometimes no award certificate ever arrives.
Don't fret. In a few months (years) she will receive a letter telling her that she has an over payment and they would like it back all at once, tomorrow or yesterday. I am so glad I retired from this clown show. I check in every so often and I am never disappointed.
ReplyDeleteThis payment amount would have required manual action and at least one other reviewer to sign off on the payment. Behind the scenes, there's at least four systems in play - one for updating records, one for large payments, one for notices, and one for routing cases.
ReplyDeleteWhen the employee takes an action to update the record, employees generally have to code a combination of esoteric "paragraph codes" strung together with an odd machine-like syntax. If the action processes, the system will run overnight and use a combination of automation and the codes that the employee used to load a partly-finished notice into the notice system (which, itself, is older than most employees).
In an ideal world, the employee goes in to work the following morning to A) ensure the action processed, and then B) to review, complete, and mail the notice. But if said employee is busy, say, answering the phones that particular day, that notice won't get sent.
This women should go to her local SSA office ASAP and get verification that this really is her money. Meanwhile, that money should stay in her account collecting interest until everything is verified. Finally, I would write a strongly written letter to my representatives in Washington suggesting that additional training and employees are needed in this once proud agency.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the individual could make a court filing that SSA or anyone else had one year to apply for a refund or forever hold their peace. That way SSA would receive proper notice and if they came back years later, they would be shut out.
ReplyDeleteThis sort of procedure is common for the executor of a deceased person. It also is powerful. There was a case some years ago where a state probate court (probably in the mid-West) fined the IRS for coming after the estate after the one year period had closed. It stuck.
I doubt it. SSA pays underpayments if found decades later.
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