Texas Woman Faces Financial Hardship After $40K Overpayment Notice from Social Security
A woman from Richardson, Texas, has shared her frustration with the Social Security Administration (SSA) after receiving a demand to repay $40,000 in benefits she allegedly overreceived. The Texas woman, who has been on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) since 2011, says she was shocked by the sudden request and was given just a month to repay the substantial amount.
The woman, diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder, chronic migraines, and depression, began receiving SSDI benefits at the age of 24. Initially, she did not work full-time and was only employed briefly in the first few years on SSDI. However, in 2015, she began working full-time but inadvertently earned too much money, resulting in an overpayment of approximately $12,000. She wasn’t informed of this error for two years, and once aware, she paid it back over the course of three years through reduced SSDI payments.
In 2017, the woman took a part-time job delivering food while keeping careful records. Everything seemed to be going well until, in 2019, she received a devastating notice from SSA demanding repayment of more than $40,000 within 30 days. To make matters worse, the SSA stopped her SSDI payments entirely. Over the next two years, she continued to work as an essential worker during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the stress of the situation took a toll on her health, and she ultimately quit her job.
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After a lengthy battle, the woman was reinstated and received back pay for two and a half years. However, in December 2023, she was hit with another shock: the SSA sent a letter demanding over $49,000 in repayment, threatening to stop her SSDI once again.
Karen, the woman’s mother, expressed her frustration with the SSA’s handling of the case. She emphasized that her daughter had been medically qualified for SSDI the entire time, and the SSA never notified them of any issues until it was too late.
Karen’s daughter’s experience is far from unique. An investigation by Cox Media Group and KFF Health News found that millions of Americans have been asked to repay billions in overpayments. The SSA recovered about $4.9 billion in overpayments during the 2024 fiscal year, with another $10 billion scheduled for repayment.
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The SSA recovers these funds by reducing or halting monthly benefit payments, intercepting tax refunds, or seizing wages. The lack of a statute of limitations on how far back the SSA can look for overpayments has led to many beneficiaries facing demands for repayment on errors that occurred years ago. Unfortunately, for many Americans, such large repayment demands are simply unaffordable.
In addition to Karen’s daughter, other Social Security recipients have experienced significant hardships due to overpayment claims, including one elderly woman who was forced to return to work after her benefits were drastically reduced by $300,000 and another couple left in distress after being told they owed $84,000. The growing issue of overpayments continues to affect many Americans who rely on Social Security benefits for their livelihood.
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