Payment from the overpaid
06.27.08 (8:52 am) [edit]
We are only humans and we are bound to commit mistakes at one time or another. Some of us, more often than the other.
However, what if the person who committed mistake is an institution – a huge government institution like the SSA?
Can we still say, to err is human to forgive divine?
SSA overpayment claims, though not totally common, are neither unheard of. Several persons are surprised that one day they receive a letter demanding from them the return of thousand dollars or so of overpayment in their SSA claims.
Overpayment can result from a wrongful computation. With their bunch of analysts, lawyers and accountants, we might ask – how can they commit mistakes?
The answer to that question is theirs to make. What we can question now is the propriety of their claim, demanding money from people who already spent the money they get from SSA several years or ages ago.
Take the case of an orphan who began receiving survivor benefits when her mother died. Three decades later came SSA in his doorstep demanding that he return $662 of overpayment. Of course, the orphan who is now 50 years old cannot pay, or would not pay.
And the old man goes… “Why only now?” Overpayment claim of a childhood debt, however you put it, just didn’t feel right.
To those who didn’t know it yet, there is no time limit for the agency to collect overpayment. However, it would not be as bad as it looks because the system would let you pay it in smaller monthly installments.
Another good thing is that the agency may waive the debt once it determines that the overpayment was not the beneficiary’s fault, he/she cannot meet the necessary living expenses or if it recovers the overpayment.
However, before paying, you can still ask for a re-computation. Who knows, may be the SSA is wrong again.
However, what if the person who committed mistake is an institution – a huge government institution like the SSA?
Can we still say, to err is human to forgive divine?
SSA overpayment claims, though not totally common, are neither unheard of. Several persons are surprised that one day they receive a letter demanding from them the return of thousand dollars or so of overpayment in their SSA claims.
Overpayment can result from a wrongful computation. With their bunch of analysts, lawyers and accountants, we might ask – how can they commit mistakes?
The answer to that question is theirs to make. What we can question now is the propriety of their claim, demanding money from people who already spent the money they get from SSA several years or ages ago.
Take the case of an orphan who began receiving survivor benefits when her mother died. Three decades later came SSA in his doorstep demanding that he return $662 of overpayment. Of course, the orphan who is now 50 years old cannot pay, or would not pay.
And the old man goes… “Why only now?” Overpayment claim of a childhood debt, however you put it, just didn’t feel right.
To those who didn’t know it yet, there is no time limit for the agency to collect overpayment. However, it would not be as bad as it looks because the system would let you pay it in smaller monthly installments.
Another good thing is that the agency may waive the debt once it determines that the overpayment was not the beneficiary’s fault, he/she cannot meet the necessary living expenses or if it recovers the overpayment.
However, before paying, you can still ask for a re-computation. Who knows, may be the SSA is wrong again.