19-year-old Teen Required to Pay SSI Overpayments

A 19-year old girl is required to pay SSI overpayments by the Social Security Agency.

The overpayment occurred when the agency mistakenly overpaid the benefits of the teenager’s mother who suffered from disabling condition.

Johnna King was clueless about the payments and now, after more than ten years, the agency is asking the teenager to repay the money amounting to more than $1,000. King felt so helpless and nowhere to go to ask for help and even for an advice.

King was barely 12 when her mother died because of heart disease. She was too young then and would simply accept life as it is. She wasn’t even aware that the benefits she had been receiving for more than a decade were all just a mistake—until she was received a notice of overpayment last summer requiring her to pay the full pledge of $1,282.

King first thought that it was a big joke or something. She didn’t even understand why it took more than a decade for the agency to find out about its own mistake. Now, King was left lost and didn’t know who to talk to or what to say and think.

King’s situation has brought many concerns from other citizens who can relate to King’s story. Some asked whether a child can be held liable for something that he or she doesn’t have any control and awareness of and if so, if there’s a chance for the child to file for an appeal to get out from such legal accountability.

In a news report, it is noted that similar issues occur in the California Department of Social Services. A lawsuit preventing the state from running after children for the overpaid benefits has been filed in another part of California. Advocates say that children who received SSI overpayments from the agency are in a little better position. The agency has its due process of appeal.

As King sought for help, she found out that she could be entitled for a waiver once she exhibit hardship on her part. In King’s status, it is easy for her to qualify for the waiver because she is actually delaying college due to lack of sufficient funds to support her schooling. Her only source of income is handcrafting and selling of miniature toys. Consequently, her earning is just enough to cover her basic needs and obviously, she cannot afford to repay the said SSI overpayment.

Eventually, King qualified for the waiver through the help of the Social Security Administration itself and of other concerned citizens. King made it from the appeal process through the case resolution wherein the waiver has been granted in her favor. King will no longer have to pay the inadvertently SSI overpayment.

Once a claimant wishes not to repay the SSI overpayment, a request for the Social Security Administration can be made to forgive the overpayment or, in other words, to have it waived. In the waiving process, the benefits recipient has to prove that he or she was not at fault and that he or she does not have sufficient source of income to repay the overpayment.

Common Mistakes to Avoid after a Social Security Disability Income Denial – Part II

After the initial list of the most common mistakes that a recipient must avoid after filing for a social security disability claim, below are the additional points to avoid after being denied with your initial application.

• Not providing updated info with the Social Security Agency. Take note that the agency is responsible for making disability determinations. In return, a recipient must also be responsible in providing health details to the state Disability Determination Services (DDS). Don’t hesitate to provide the true and correct details since they are asked only for the purpose of updating the records that the agency already has.

• Not keeping copies of previous transactions. Proofs of your prior transaction records such as applications, forms, and other records should be kept in a safe place to avoid extra cost, time, and efforts if ever a disability examiner requests for those records again.

• Recipients often underestimate the extent of their disability. A lot of recipients tend to declare at the appeal level that their condition hasn’t changed because they are afraid of modification. They should at least inform the agency whether they are experiencing more pain or were hospitalized again.

• A lot of recipients overlook the essence of representation service during the process. In truth and in fact, those claimants who reached the hearing level cases have their own representatives. A social security disability lawyer can provide such services right from the filing for social security disability through appeals.

Now, the best way to avoid such mistakes, as well as to have a great deal in getting your social security disability income claim, is to take the risk of paying for a representative right at moment of filing for social security disability. This is until the final resolution of the appeal since you do not have to pay for the representative, unless he or she won the case in favor of the client.

Common Mistakes to Avoid after a Social Security Disability Income Denial – Part I

Usually, applications for the Social Security Disability Income are denied during the first time of filing.

Social Security Disability Income application can be denied for several reasons. It can be a hard disappointment, but it is important to take note that one should never give up if denied for the first and instead, file and pursue an appeal.

Here are some of the most common mistakes that applicants should avoid after their SSDI application was denied:

• Giving up. Always remember that you should never give up in filing for a SSDI. An applicant may consider denial as a natural occurrence in filing for the SSDI application; but, keep in mind that SSDI is a program that requires every applicant to meet certain guidelines and undergo a process.

• Missing the appeal deadline. An applicant who has been denied for the application often misses the deadline for filing an appeal. Though the appeal process is lengthy, it would provide more opportunity to provide additional points to your claim.

• Preferring not to appeal. Choosing not to file for an appeal simply means that you are giving up at an early stage of a fight. It is well within your rights to file for an appeal once the application for SSDI has been denied; hence, you should seize the opportunity to pursue your application.

• Not providing enough details. Most of the time, applicants fail to provide enough information about their mental or health status and its effect on their job performance.

• Wasting time on the previous decision. Instead of wasting your time arguing the previous decision or trying to correct a previous mistake, it’s better to file for an appeal and just use it as an opportunity to add details and better explain a claim.

These are just some of the most common mistakes that applicants often do during denials of their SSDI claims. Further details about the most common mistakes done by most applicants can be seen on this blog’s next post a week after this.

The Social Security Disability Income program is a very helpful program for disabled people who need financial assistance. In the said program, a petitioner can be a retiree, a disabled individual, or a representative. In case of death, the surviving family may file the application to avail of the benefits due the deceased member.

Downsizing Company Affects Rising Social Security Disability Claims

Nowadays, some companies that were experiencing difficulties often strive to downsize in order to save money as well as to increase their productivity. This downsizing will then affect the increasing number of social security disability claims.

In 1995, downsizing has been highly commended for being one of the factors behind the increase in productivity growth.

Downsizing might be good in the economy. However, it does not always bring a positive result. Workers who are less productive often lose their job during the process. Usually, workers with ages 50 and above are those that are often kicked out of their job. Such workers may already have mental or physical problems that can limit their ability to perform their job well.

More often, terminated workers would have a hard time in finding a new job and eventually, they will end up opting to apply for a social security disability claim.

For many years, social security disability costs moderately, but in the past couple of decades the cost increased. Definitely it is due to the downsizing efforts done by most companies.

Obviously, a faster increase in productivity will mean an increase in the social security disability claim as well.

Meanwhile, economists describe social security disability as a political swamp and one of the main reasons why the federal expenditure and budget shortage are hard to deal with.

Apparently, choosing which one must prevail between the less productivity with less disability claims and the excellent productivity with high disability claims is difficult to do. It seems that there’ no way to go between both of them.

However, when it comes to approval of the social security claims, it still depends on the agency whether to grant or deny such applications. Sometimes, a claimant sees having social security disability lawyers as their advantage in filing for a claim.

How to Effectively Deal with SSI Overpayments

Unfortunately, for several reasons, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) overpayments happen. And once the Social Security Agency (SSA) discovers that it has overpaid a recipient, the agency will soon send a Notice of Overpayment to the recipient.

The Notice of Overpayment usually tells the recipient how much the SSA has overpaid and will ask the recipient to return the money back within 30 days. It may probably sound alarming but don’t panic. There are actually several ways to deal with SSI overpayments.

• Read the Notice carefully – This is the very first thing to do once a recipient received a Notice of Overpayment. Check the information stated if it is accurate. Check the amounts and dates and then try to figure out if you were really overpaid as the notice states.

• Choose the best repaying options (if you agree that you were really overpaid) – The options on how you would like to repay the overpayment are all yours. You can opt for a monthly installment, withhold a portion or the entire amount from the monthly benefit payment or send a check to the agency for full or partial payments until the overpayment amount is paid back.

• File for an appeal immediately (if you don’t agree that you were overpaid) – If you think that you were not overpaid or the amounts stated on the Notice of Overpayment are incorrect, you can file for an appeal not over than 60 days of receiving the notice.

• Request for a waiver or appeal (if overpayment was not your fault) – You may request for an appeal or a Waiver of Recovery if the overpayment was not your fault and paying for it would cause you financial troubles. If an appeal or a waiver has been submitted, you must wait for its decision declaring that all recoveries were suspended.

• Don’t ignore a notice - Once you receive a Notice of Overpayment don’t just ignore the letter because no matter what, the agency would still find its way on how to recover the overpaid amount from you especially if you are a wage earner, a tax payer or currently receiving benefits.

Never hesitate on paying your SSI overpayments since no matter how long it would take in paying back an overpayment, the agency don’t provide any interest on the same.