When a retired Maryland woman’s Social Security payments were slashed due to a government error, she wouldn’t take it sitting down.
In March 2024, the SSA announced some improvements to its procedures, but for many who rely on Social Security to get by, it’s not enough.
Everlon Moulton was stunned when the Social Security Administration (SSA) told her last year they would be siphoning $233 off her monthly check. She could stand to lose nearly $7,000 total – because of a $6,899 overpayment error that had nothing to do with her.
The SSA had made a mistake and overpaid benefits for years to her brother, who died in 2006. Before he passed, she stepped in to help and became his financial representative.
“He just couldn’t manage his money. And my mother being his payee, when she passed, there was no one else there to do it but me,” she explained to local station WMAR.
Little did she know that Congress passed a law that permits the Social Security Administration to collect overpayments by withholding from a representative’s benefits. What’s more, the SSA had an outdated address for Moulton’s deceased brother, so she never learned about the overpayments until November 2023.
“This is my money I earned. I worked for 30 some years in Baltimore City Schools, and this is my money,” she stated. It didn’t matter that the overpayment mistake was on her late brother’s account, she was the one paying the price.
The fiery senior fought back by attending a hearing and taking her story to local news outlets. She has words of warning for others: monitor your Social Security checks.
Moulton also has choice words for the Social Security Administration: “I would tell them that when they discover they’ve made a mistake, eat it! That’s what I would tell them. Eat it! Because it’s not fair. This is not your money you’re playing with, it’s our money,” she said.
Social Security has a history of cutting payments or removing benefits in cases of overpayment.
“You can pretty much be assured you’ll get an overpayment if you have income from work, even if you report it faithfully and do everything right,” Rebecca Vallas, a senior adviser with the National Academy of Social Insurance, recently told AARP.
According to the SSA’s most recent financial report in 2023, an eye-popping $23 billion in overpayments has yet to be recovered. SSA claims that only .5 percent of Social Security benefits are overpayments. These benefits are funded through a payroll tax deducted from employee earnings, in other words, money that wage earners have already paid into the program. On the other hand, a whopping 8 percent of all SSI payments are overpayments. Both programs serve people with limited financial resources who are aged 65 and over or have a disability.
In a congressional hearing in October 2023, then acting SSA commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi stated they send overpayment notices to about 1 million people yearly.
Moulton has pushed back through various channels, filling out a form requesting the agency to reconsider its decision and calling numerous times with no results. It wasn’t until she attended a hearing that she made any headway on her case. The collection currently has been paused for one to two months until a decision is reached.
In March of 2024, the SSA announced it would change its approach to recovering past benefit overpayments and ease some of the harsh rules that leave many seniors, people with disabilities, and the country’s most vulnerable in precarious financial shape.
SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley testified before a U.S. Senate committee that the reforms would end the “clawback cruelty” of demanding that beneficiaries immediately repay any excess payments they may have received, in some cases decades ago and often, like in Moulton’s case, through no fault of their own.
The developments are a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. “This is sad because it’s happening to other people, and they need to let you know,” Moulton said, adding, “somebody needs to get on the government.”
