By Matt Durr
mlive.com
(TNS)
WASHINGTON — Your Social Security benefits check could be significantly smaller than usual starting later this month thanks to a new policy from the Social Security Administration (SSA) if you are among those who were previously overpaid. The policy calls for overpayments made by the SSA to beneficiaries to be collected at a rate of up to 50% of monthly benefits until the overpayment is recouped.
For instance, if your monthly benefit payment is for $2,000 per month and you had previously been overpaid by $3,000, the agency can take $1,000 of your monthly benefits for three consecutive months in order to recoup the overpayment.
Why is the SSA taking back the money?
The SSA is required by law to recoup overpayments, but no law determines how much the agency can take from benefit payments in order to recover the overpayments. In March, the SSA announced it planned to recoup the money by taking back up to 100% of a monthly benefit check. However, an emergency message sent to employees on April 25 settled on the 50% recovery rate.
Under former President Joe Biden, overpayments were recovered at a rate of just 10%.
How do I know if my benefits might be reduced?
As part of the decision made in April, the SSA said it would begin sending 90-day notices to those who had previously been overpaid.
What can I do if I receive a notice?
The notice gives the beneficiary the chance to pay back the overpayment entirely in one chunk. If you cannot afford to do so, you still have a handful of options that can help.
If you receive a notice, you can appeal the overpayment decision or the amount you owe. You can also request that the SSA waive the overpayment collection if the mistake was not your fault and can’t afford to pay it back. Beneficiaries can contact Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or contact their local office to request a lower rate of recovery.
Once a beneficiary submits a request for waiver or reconsideration before 90 days has passed from receiving the notice, the SSA says it will not begin collection of the overpayment until a decision is made.
What if I don’t request a change in collection?
If within the 90 days of the notices being issued the beneficiary does not request a lower rate of withholding, a reconsideration, or a waiver, the money will begin being recouped.
Because the notices would have been issued on April 25, that means they likely go into effect on July 24. By then, all Social Security benefits for the month would have been paid out for July, when the new recovery rates apply. Beneficiaries would begin seeing the reduced payments starting with their August check.
How does the policy apply to Supplemental Security Income benefits?
The policy change does not apply to overpayments made to those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Overpayments made on SSI benefits will continue to be collected at a 10% rate.
It is unclear how many beneficiaries are at risk of having monthly benefits trimmed. A report compiled in August 2024 by the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General found that at the end of fiscal year 2023, the SSA still needed to recover $23 billion in overpayments.
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©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Marlene Peck July 3 2025 at 10:36 am
Why is this happening. This should have been caught ages ago. Sone people hardly make it now in what they get with meds and all