Kree Flowers had lately gotten married and determined to log into her account on the Social Safety Administration’s web site in February to examine on the standing of her retirement advantages. She was shocked to see an enormous purple quantity on the high of the web page. In keeping with the company, she had been overpaid by $17,121.21.

“At that time, my thoughts instantly goes to fraud,” she mentioned. “Somebody collected advantages beneath my identify — that’s what I used to be pondering.”

The subsequent morning, when Ms. Flowers referred to as the company, a consultant advised her that she had been overpaid for advantages between 1995 and 2003 and was anticipated to repay the steadiness. This didn’t make sense to her: She was 10 years previous when the disputed funds started. “My first intuition was to giggle and proper him,” she mentioned.

However Ms. Flowers mentioned the consultant had appeared unfazed by her age and directed her to fill out a type to dispute the fees. Just a few days later, her sister realized that she had been overpaid by the identical quantity.

Yearly for the previous 4 years, the S.S.A. has despatched out between $6 billion and $10 billion in overpayments for varied profit packages, in accordance with federal disclosures. The company has an uncollected overpayment steadiness of $23 billion as of October. It is a small fraction of the greater than $1.4 trillion that the company pays to about 71 million individuals annually.

A latest investigative report from KFF Well being Information and Cox Media discovered that whereas overpayments typically consequence from errors made by the company or beneficiaries, “a lot of the fault lies inside the system.” Profit guidelines are onerous to comply with, the S.S.A. is understaffed, and there are ceaselessly lengthy lags between adjustments in beneficiaries’ revenue and changes to their advantages. These can all result in overpayments that will go unnoticed for years.

Ms. Flowers, 38, referred to as the company dozens of occasions in search of solutions. “Nobody might ever actually inform us what occurred,” she mentioned. Earlier notices in regards to the overpayment have been despatched to an previous tackle, which was why Ms. Flowers needed to uncover it on her personal. She suspects the problem stems from incapacity funds the company made to her estranged father. (Social Safety representatives advised her that they weren’t allowed to reveal her father’s non-public info.)

Within the Nineties, when her dad and mom have been separated and residing in several states however nonetheless married, Ms. Flowers’s father utilized for and acquired funds via the Social Safety Incapacity Insurance coverage program, which might cowl recipients’ kids. Her mom recalled receiving month-to-month funds of $100 or $120 for a yr or so, however nowhere close to $34,000 over eight years.

Individuals who obtain Social Safety incapacity advantages are usually not allowed to earn greater than $1,470 per thirty days in extra revenue after a nine-month trial work interval; past that threshold, their advantages are usually reduce off. However there’s typically a lag between the time individuals turn out to be ineligible for advantages and the time their funds cease, both as a result of they don’t understand they should report a change in circumstances or as a result of the administration is gradual to course of their case.

In an interview, Ms. Flowers’s father mentioned that he believed he had been eligible for advantages in the course of the overpayment interval and that it was unclear to him what had occurred. He mentioned it was “outrageous” that the S.S.A. would search to recoup cash from individuals who have been kids when the funds have been made.

The overpayment was not the fault of the Flowers siblings, and it might not have been their father’s fault, both. But the sisters have been on the hook for it.

“I’d say that work-related overpayments are the rule, not the exception,” mentioned Denise Hoffman, principal researcher at Mathematica, a analysis and information analytics consultancy. Her analysis has discovered that whereas overpayments are uncommon in incapacity insurance coverage general, individuals whose earnings exceeded the edge have been overpaid about 80 % of the time. Ms. Hoffman discovered that the median overpayment lasted 9 months and totaled $9,282.

In keeping with company guidelines, dependents or spouses who’re listed on the recipient’s information could be held answerable for overpayments. Individuals will also be held liable in the event that they handle funds on behalf of one other individual, like an underage youngster or an older relative with dementia.

It’s not clear how ceaselessly the company tries to recoup overpayments from family members of account holders. A spokesperson for the S.S.A. mentioned that its system was not designed to simply decide this info, and that efforts have been being made to make clear the problem. In keeping with a 2016 report from the Authorities Accountability Workplace, about 30 % of the individuals whose overpayments had been written off within the earlier fiscal yr have been beneath 18 when their dad and mom acquired advantages.

Stopped Funds, Withheld Tax Returns

In 2015, when Sarah Benavidez’s daughter was 2 months previous, Ms. Benavidez and the kid’s father visited their native S.S.A. workplace to inquire about receiving advantages for the woman. They have been advised that their daughter was eligible for funds as a result of her father, a former police officer, had been injured at work and certified for incapacity insurance coverage. Finally, Ms. Benavidez acquired about $300 per thirty days.

“It helped quite a bit, particularly when she was in diapers,” she recalled.

The kid’s father left quickly after, Ms. Benavidez mentioned, however she continued to obtain checks for his or her daughter. In 2020, she acquired a letter from the S.S.A. that mentioned the daddy had been receiving employees’ compensation funds whereas additionally receiving incapacity checks, leading to an overpayment.

The dad and mom had reported the employees’ compensation on the outset, however overpayments can nonetheless happen if “no one at Social Safety did the right budgeting,” mentioned Anne Callagy, director of the federal government advantages follow on the Authorized Assist Society in New York. “After which years later, they get an overpayment discover.”

Because of this, Ms. Benavidez’s 5-year-old daughter owed the Social Safety Administration $12,768. “I used to be like, is that this a rip-off?” Ms. Benavidez mentioned.

The letter said that she had 30 days to repay the cash or else her daughter’s Social Safety funds would cease. Ms. Benavidez requested for the cost to be reconsidered, however was unsuccessful. It wasn’t sufficient to point out that the overpayment was not her fault — to win the enchantment, she would additionally should show she couldn’t repay the cash, mentioned Kathleen Romig, director of Social Safety and incapacity coverage on the Middle on Price range and Coverage Priorities.

“Nearly nobody completes the method efficiently,” she mentioned of overpayment waiver requests.

Ms. Benavidez’s daughter was nonetheless eligible to obtain $120 per thirty days, which the S.S.A. is withholding and crediting towards the overpayment steadiness. If nothing adjustments, her daughter’s overpayments will likely be thought-about repaid in 2030. Greater than 75 % of recovered incapacity insurance coverage overpayments are collected by way of withheld funds, in accordance with the 2016 G.A.O. report.

“I simply really feel like they’ll take the cash till they really feel like they’ve paid off the factor,” Ms. Benavidez mentioned. “I don’t even know if I would like it again. I’m going to be paranoid.”

Recipients typically obtain overpayment letters lengthy after they’ve stopped getting advantages, and the S.S.A. tries to recoup the cash in different methods.

Temi Aina, a resident of Queens, discovered she was being charged for an overpayment when she didn’t obtain an anticipated tax rebate. Just a few weeks later, a letter arrived from the S.S.A. saying she had acquired overpayments on her father’s account totaling $11,681 throughout 4 years that started in 2005, when she was 13. Her brother owed cash, too.

She fought the case, offering proof that confirmed her father had not used the cash for her profit. The case dragged on for 2 years. She misplaced two tax refunds totaling about $1,000, and at one level, she acquired a letter stating that the S.S.A. would start garnishing her wages. However she had switched jobs by the point the company contacted her former employer, so the change was not instantly efficient.

Preventing the Debt

Ms. Benavidez, Ms. Flowers and Ms. Aina all tried to battle their overpayment debt via the usual enchantment course of.

After Ms. Flowers submitted her enchantment paperwork, she noticed a TikTok video posted by somebody in an analogous state of affairs. The individual had contacted the native consultant in Congress in regards to the challenge. Ms. Flowers, who lives in Norcross, Ga., reached out to Consultant Lucy McBath, whose workplace contacted the S.S.A. Ms. Flowers appeared at a listening to this summer season and was advised that the monetary info she had submitted proved she couldn’t repay the cash. Her $17,121 overpayment was taken off her account. Her sister’s case is constant.

Ms. Flowers made a viral TikTok video about her expertise and mentioned she had heard from a whole lot of individuals with comparable tales.

Ms. Benavidez, who lives in Louisiana, noticed Ms. Flowers’s video and tried to contact her Home consultant, Clay Higgins. She is hopeful she’ll get assist resolving the overpayment. The S.S.A. continues to withhold her daughter’s $120 funds.

An company consultant mentioned it labored with individuals to navigate the overpayment course of. Individuals have the correct to enchantment any overpayment or pursue a compensation plan with choices as little as $10 per thirty days.

Ms. Aina finally linked with a lawyer on the Authorized Assist Society who helped her. In July 2021, her remaining overpayment steadiness was waived.

Ms. Aina mentioned she had cried tears of pleasure when she discovered the remaining debt had been cleared. “I’m simply actually glad that it labored in my favor, as a result of I really feel like no one ought to should undergo that in the event that they’re not at fault,” she mentioned. Her brother’s overpayment stays unresolved.