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.
