SOCIAL SECURITY ABANDONS SOME DEBT COLLECTION EFFORTS

As a Social Security attorney practicing Social Security law for 34 years in Michigan I regularly hear from persons who wish to appeal overpayments. These are difficult cases and rarely won. The person with the overpayment must demonstrate they were without fault in generating the overpayment plus have the inability to repay. Since Social Security will often accept payments as low as $25 per month from Michigan Social Security recipients this second requirement is particularly difficult to meet. And the added scrutiny can cause Michigan Claimants to lose Social Security disability benefits entirely.

Especially frustrating are overpayments generated by a parent or guardian when the recipient was a child. Tax refunds for these Michigan residents have been seized in a program begun in 2008. Previously only debts less than 10 years old could be recovered. Since 2008 $55 million has been collected on these old debts. Social Security estimates it is owed $714 million by about 400,000 people, many of them Michigan recipients of Social Security benefits, either SSDI or SSI. Many, if not most, of these Michigan residents are disabled and entitled to Social Security disability and/or SSI benefits.

Now Acting Social Security Commissioner, Carolyn W. Colvin, has announced a suspension of the collection program, pending an internal review. Colvin encouraging persons who believe they have been incorrectly assessed an overpayment to ask for a review.