I-TEAM: Social Security reinstates clawbacks taking 100% of people's checks until money repaid
The move overturns a policy that the Social Security Administration implemented in 2024 after News Center 7 reported on billions in Social Security overpayments.
News Center 7's I-Team Investigator John Bedell has been following this story for years. He investigated the new change, why it's happening, and how it could impact Ohioans.
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Kara Kendall of Miami Township is an SSA overpayment recipient, and she said, 'I was in full panic.'
Kendall is referring to the moment she first got a surprise bill from the federal government for more than $17,000. It was an overpayment tied to her Social Security disability benefits.
Bedell asked Kendall if she had ever figured out what caused the overpayment. She said, 'No. Nothing at all. Got no information.'
>> RELATED STORY: I-TEAM: Social Security's overpayment fixes help many but remain unfinished
Kendall worked out a payment plan with the SSA. For 18 months until this time last year (April 2024), to clawback the overpayment debt. The SSA reduced her monthly checks, her only income, by nearly half.
'Because otherwise, I would have been completely without a check,' Kendall said.
But now, a new policy change means all SSA overpayments going forward will be handled by withholding 100 percent of monthly benefits to get back any overpayments.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana brought up concerns in a Senate Confirmation hearing last week. 'Now, it's one thing for somebody who's well off to pay back, and it's another thing for someone who basically lives on cash flow and then you're asked to repay that, which has, you know, been spent.'
>> I-TEAM: How Social Security claws back billions of dollars it mistakenly sends to people
In a series of News Center 7 I-Team investigations, done in partnership with our Cox Media Group sister stations and KFF Health News, we've heard from more than 400 families who've gotten demand letters from Social Security asking them to pay back thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
Often, the mistakes were not their fault, but the SSA's.
After our reporting, the agency changed its policies last year, limiting clawbacks to 10 percent of a monthly check.
But now Acting SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek says he's undoing that policy change to 'properly safeguard taxpayer funds.'
The SSA says the change could save taxpayers $7 billion over the next decade.
But, last week, President Donald Trump's nominee to be the new full-time SSA Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, left open the possibility of further changes when Sen. Cassidy questioned him.
'I know there was one way to do it. We've implemented another. I'm going to make sure that we recover all the money we should recover. But, on the other hand, we have to be humans in the process, too.'
The change applies to people with an overpayment after March 27. It does not include Social Security Supplemental Security Income or SSI. Those withholdings will stay at 10 percent.
Bedell said it's expected the change will impact about half of the two million Americans each year who our investigations uncovered are dealing with Social Security overpayments.
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