'They overpaid us' couple says after Social Security claimed they owed $81k – & would keep benefits until we returned it | J316L90 | 2024-03-08 19:08:01
Kat Conner and Jim Lehfeldt from Palm Seashore Gardens, Florida, have been shocked to receive a letter from
A WOMAN drained her retirement account after being advised she owed over $81,000 in Social Security because of a system error.
Kat Conner and Jim Lehfeldt from Palm Seashore Gardens, Florida, have been shocked to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration last summer time.
"Principally what it says is that they overpaid me a bit of bit over $81,000," Conner informed WPTV.
"We have been like what can we do?" Lehfeldt added.
The letter dated July 2023 informed the couple that over 4 years, the SSA had incorrectly paid Conner.
Consequently, the SSA would hold her monthly disability funds and retirement benefits till the debt was repaid.
Surprised by the news, the couple immediately tried to contact the association however described the experience as a "nightmare."
"First we tried calling Social Security. That was a nightmare, just on maintain and you get passed and passed and passed," Conner defined.
"Then we went to Social Security and spoke with anyone [who] stated, principally, he didn't have entry to all of our data.
"So I depleted one among my retirement accounts and began repaying."
"It's their error, not our error and we really feel that it's incorrect," Lehfeldt added.
It wasn't until the pair heard about another couple who acquired an analogous Social Safety letter that they tried to take further motion.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> "We have been thrilled that there was anyone else and we decided to contact WPTV and [Congressman] Brian Mast."
The other couple Conner and Lehfeldt read about had carried out the same and Mast managed to get their checks resumed.
"I might encourage anybody having issues with the SSA or some other federal company, to contact my office for assistance," Mast beforehand advised the news outlet.
A& report& by the Office of Inspector Common present in fiscal yr 2022 that the company recovered $four.7 billion in overpayments and nonetheless had $21.6 billion uncollected.
"The SSA have to be a responsible steward of the funds entrusted to its care by minimizing the danger of creating improper funds and recovering overpayments once they happen," the OIG stated in an audit.
Conner and Lehfeldt contacted the congressman in January however it's unclear if he was capable of resolve their state of affairs.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Congressman Mast and the SSA for remark.
After beforehand reaching out to the SSA for touch upon similar stories, The U.S. Sun has been informed that the administration does not touch upon particular instances as a consequence of privacy considerations.
Nevertheless, it has sent the following assertion in response to our previous inquiries:
"Getting an overpayment notice could be unsettling and we work with individuals to navigate the process.
"We inform individuals concerning the reality and quantity of the overpayment, their proper to attraction, and the options to repay or, in some instances, have the debt waived.
"Individuals have the appropriate to attraction the overpayment choice or the amount.
"They will also ask Social Security to waive collection of the overpayment if they consider it was not their fault and may't afford to pay it back."&
"We do not pursue recoveries whereas an preliminary attraction or waiver is pending," The SSA continued.
"We look at every waiver request to determine, among other elements, if the individual induced the debt and their potential to repay.&
"Even if they don't need to attraction or request a waiver, the notice says to contact us if the planned withholding would cause hardship.
"We've got flexible reimbursement choices—including reimbursement of as little as $10 per thirty days.&
"Every individual's state of affairs is exclusive, and we handle overpayments on a case-by-case basis.
"To deal with this drawback more systematically, in October 2023, SSA launched a complete evaluate of our overpayment insurance policies and procedures.
"For instance, as we announced last month, we are working to scale back wage-related improper payments through the use of our authorized authority to determine info exchanges with payroll knowledge suppliers that we anticipate will considerably scale back the variety of improper payments as soon as carried out."
The pair have reached out to their Congressman to help them attempt to resolve the difficulty[/caption]
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